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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : nickname for a noisy person, from Middle High German kreiss, kreisch ‘cry’, ‘noise’.
  • German : topographic name for someone who lived by a circular feature, from Middle Low German kreis (Middle High German kreiz) ‘circle’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from German Kreis ‘circle’, ‘circular field’, ‘border’.

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