Family name origins & meanings
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from Yiddish wald ‘forest’ + man ‘man’. Very few Jews would have been living anywhere near a forest at the time when they acquired surnames, so in most cases this is probably an ornamental name. In other cases it many be a metonymic occupational name for someone whose job was connected with forestry, such as a woodcutter or lumber merchant.
- Americanized spelling of German Waldmann.
- English : topographic name for a forest dweller, from Old English w(e)ald ‘forest’ + mann ‘man’.