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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch and German : from Middle Dutch top, Middle Low German topp ‘crown of the head’, ‘plait’, ‘lock of hair’, hence a nickname referring to a feature of someone’s head, perhaps baldness or a particular hairstyle.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : metonymic occupational name for a potter, from Yiddish top ‘pot’.

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