The meaning of a German surname can often be found in a German-
    English dictionary (e.g., Schmidt means smith, M"uller means
    miller).  Sometimes spelling modifications, pronunciation shifts,
    or dialectal origins hide the original meaning.  In such cases,
    a general or specifically German name lexicon can be useful.
    Three standard German works are
      _Deutsche Namenkunde_ by Max Gottschald,
      _Deutsches Namenlexikon_ by Hans Bahlow,
        also available in English as _Dictionary of German Names_, and
      _Das grosse Buch der Familiennamen_ by Horst Naumann.
    Please note that name interpretation is often speculative.

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