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Updated June 9, 2019

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.

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