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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : patronymic from a reduced form of Meyer 2, + German Sohn ‘son’.
  • French : metonymic occupational name for a trader, from Old French mers (Latin merx) ‘wares’, ‘merchandise’.
  • Scottish : probably a metronymic from a short form of the female personal name Mary (see Marie).

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