Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : metonymic occupational name for a maker or painter of shields, from Middle High German, Middle Dutch schilt ‘shield’.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from German Schild ‘shield’, ‘(house) sign’, applied either as an ornamental name or as a habitational name for someone who lived in a house distinguished by a sign. Compare Rothschild and Schwarzschild.