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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Swiss German : topographic name for someone living on or near a peak or summit, from Kipf ‘edge’, ‘verge’, ‘point’.
  • German : from a derivative of the personal name Giebfried, from Old High German geba ‘gift’ + fridu ‘protection’, ‘peace’.
  • South German : from the dialect word Kipf or Kipferl ‘croissant’, ‘crescent-shaped roll’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a baker or pâtissier.
  • Respelling of Swiss German Küpfer (see Kupfer).

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