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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • South German : from a pet form of the personal name Ru(o)diger, a compound of Old High German hrōd ‘renown’ + gēr ‘spear’, ‘lance’ (see Roger).
  • North German : from a short form of a personal name containing the Middle Low German element rīk(e) ‘rich’, ‘powerful’.

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