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The berlin Surname

berlin Name Meaning and History

Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: habitational name from the city of Berlin, capital of Germany. This city takes its name from a West Slavic word meaning ‘river rake’, a scaffold of beams built over a river to prevent logs from jamming; the river in question is the Spree. Folk etymology, however, has put a bear into the arms of the city, as if the name were derived from Bärlin, a diminutive of Bär ‘bear’. The German name is also found in the Hamburg area, where it may be derived from the village of the same name, but uncertain origin, in Holstein. In some cases the Jewish name may be a patronymic from a pet form of the Yiddish personal name Ber (see Berenson).

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The berlin name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the berlin family name as far back in history as possible.

berlin Family Facts

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Distribution of berlin Families in the US in 1920
Number of berlin families
 121-240
 41-120		 1-40
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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