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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch and North German : nickname for a short person, from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German kort ‘short’.
  • German (Körte) : Westphalian variant of the personal name Kurt.
  • German : from Sorbian khort ‘hunting dog’, hence possibly a nickname for someone resembling the animal in some way or for someone who kept hunting dogs.
  • Hungarian (Körte) : from körte ‘pear’, a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of the fruit.

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