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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : status name for a feudal tenant or vassal, Middle High German lēheman, lēnman (from lēhen ‘to hold land as a feudal tenant’ + man ‘man’). The tenant held land on loan for the duration of his life in return for rent or service, but was not free to transfer or divide it.
  • Jewish (western Ashkenazic) : from an identical Jewish personal name of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Leo 3.

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