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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : metonymic occupational name for a trapper, from a derivative of Middle English trapp ‘trap’.
  • German : nickname for a stupid person, from Middle High German trappe ‘bustard’ (of Slavic origin).
  • German : topographic name for someone living by a step-like feature in the terrain, from Middle Low German treppe, trappe ‘step’, or by a flight of steps, standard German Treppe.
  • Thomas Trapp (b. 1635) was in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, by 1659. He or his family probably came originally from Great Baddow, Essex, England.

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