Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : occupational name for a servant in a monastery or for a lay member of a monastic community, from Middle High German klōster monastery (see Kloster) + man ‘man’. The surname may also have denoted someone who farmed land belonging to a monastery and who paid rent in the form of provisions for the monks.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe