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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch : patronymic from a short form of the Germanic personal name Rutger (see Roger) or some other personal name formed with hrōd ‘renown’.
  • Dutch (van Rutten) : habitational name for someone from Rutten in the Belgian province of Limburg.
  • German (also Rütten) : Westphalian and Rhenish topographic name from a field named aus den Ruthen; the element Ruthen is contained in numerous place names, for example Rüthen and Rütenbrock. It is most probably a variant of Reute ‘clearing’ (see Reuter).

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