Family name origins & meanings
- German : from Middle Low German kolt, kolde ‘cold’, a nickname for an unfriendly person; alternatively, it may be a habitational name, a shortened form of Koldenhof ‘cold farm’ in Mecklenburg (standardized form: Kaltenhof, a frequent place name in northern Germany, East Prussia, Bavaria, and Württemberg).
- Norwegian : habitational name from a farm called Kolden, from Old Norse kollr ‘rounded mountain top’.