Family name origins & meanings
- German, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French : from the personal name Melchior (a derivative of Hebrew melech ‘king’ + or ‘light’, ‘splendor’). This was in use as a slightly unusual personal name throughout the Middle Ages, having been ascribed in popular Christian tradition to one of the Magi. The surname is also borne by Ashkenazic Jews, in which case it is an adoption of the German surname.