Kalman

Family name origins & meanings

• Hungarian (Kálmán) : from the old Hungarian personal name Kálmán, meaning ‘remainder’ (from Turkic kal ‘to remain’), hence a protective name, which was given to infants to ward off evil and harmful spirits. In medieval times the name became particularly popular because it was confused with a Christian name of Irish origin; St. Colmán (see Coleman) was an influential Irish missionary to Central Europe in the early 7th century.
• Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from the Yiddish personal name Kalmen, an everyday form of Kloynemes (from Hebrew Kalonimos, which is from Greek kalos ‘lovely’ or kallos ‘beauty’ + onyma ‘name’). This Hebrew name is first recorded in the Talmud and has been used continuously since then. Among Hungarian Jews, it was sometimes confused with 1 above.