Family name origins & meanings
- North German : habitational name from any of various places in East Prussia named Stamm.
- German and Swiss German : from Middle High German, Middle Low German stam ‘family tree’, ‘descent’, ‘stock’, hence ‘son and heir’, possibly applied as a nickname for the eldest son of a family.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Stamm ‘stem’, ‘stock’, or perhaps in some cases a short form of names such as Aronstam ‘stock of Aaron’ (the first high priest), Kohenstam ‘stock of the kohenim’ (see Cohen), and Löwenstam ‘stock of the Levites’ (see Levi and Lowe 2).