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Updated June 9, 2019

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’.

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