Family name origins & meanings
- English : from the male personal name Manasseh, Hebrew Menashe ‘one who causes to forget’ (see Manasse), borne in the Middle Ages by Christians as well as by Jews. Hebrew Menashe and its reflexes in other Jewish languages have always been popular among Jews.
- English : occupational name for someone who made handles for agricultural and domestic implements, from an agent derivative of Anglo-Norman French mance ‘handle’ (Old French manche, Late Latin manicus, a derivative of manus ‘hand’).