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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : occupational name for a mariner or boatman, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schif ‘ship’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Schiffer ‘boatman’, ‘skipper’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from the Yiddish female personal name Shifre, derived from a Hebrew word meaning ‘beautiful’.

Famous people with this last name

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