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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch and North German : unflattering nickname for a worthless person, from klein ‘small’ + heksel ‘chaff’.
  • German : possibly from a nickname composed of klein ‘small’ or ‘young’ (see Klein) + hexel, a short form of a Germanic personal name composed with hag ‘enclosure’, as in Hageman.

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