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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : occupational name for a farmer or a nickname for a small person, from an agent derivative of Middle High German kerne ‘kernel’, ‘seed’, ‘pip’, German Kern or Yiddish kern ‘grain’.
  • German : occupational name for a carter, from Karren ‘cart’ (see Karner).
  • Alemannic occupational name for a baker using spelt (a type of wheat) or for a spelt dealer.
  • German : variant of Körner (see Korner).

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