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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : probably an occupational name for a baker, from Middle High German krengel ‘doughnut’.
  • Dutch : nickname for someone with curly hair, from Middle Dutch cringel ‘curl’.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from Polish kr(e,)giel ‘skittle’.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : from German Kringel ‘(cake) ring’, either an ornamental name or a metonymic occupational name for a pastrycook.

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