Family name origins & meanings
- German : from Klöppinger, which is either a patronymic from an old personal name formed with Old High German, Middle High German liut ‘people’, ‘clan’; or from Middle Low German kloppen ‘to knock, pound, or beat’, which in place names also denoted ‘defense’.
- Johann Georg and Anna Margaretta Schreiner Klöppinger emigrated from Pfungstadt, Hesse, in 1737, and settled in PA. Three of their sons spelled their name Kleppinger; two others adopted the spelling Clippinger.