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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from Middle High German schif ‘ship’, applied as a metonymic occupational name for a sailor, or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a ship.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name or habitational name (see 1 above), from German Schiff ‘ship’.

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