English (chiefly Kent and Sussex): occupational name for a
designer or engineer, from a Middle English reduced form of Old French
engineor ‘contriver’ (a derivative of engaigne
‘cunning’, ‘ingenuity’, ‘stratagem’, ‘device’). Engineers in the
Middle Ages were primarily designers and builders of military
machines, although in peacetime they might turn their hands to
architecture and other more pacific functions.
German: from
the Latin personal name Januarius (see January
1). Jänner is a South German word for ‘January’, and so it
is possible that this is one of the surnames acquired from words
denoting months of the year, for example by converts who had been
baptized in that month, people who were born or baptized in that
month, or people whose taxes were due in January.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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