Family name origins & meanings
- German : unflattering nickname for an annoyingly persistent person, from Middle High German klette ‘burr’, by extension ‘nuisance’.
- German : nickname from Middle Low German klatte ‘tatter’, ‘rag’.
- German : from a byname for a social climber or upstart, related to klettern ‘to climb’.
- German : topographic name for someone who lived in a hovel, from a Slavic word meaning ‘hovel’ or ‘shed’, e.g. Polish kléta, klete ‘shack’.