German: from Middle High German kranz ‘garland’,
‘wreath’; a metonymic occupational name for a maker of chaplets and
wreaths, a habitational name for someone who lived at a house
distinguished by the sign of a garland, or a nickname for someone
whose hair was tonsured.
In some cases it may also be one of the several
German spellings of the Slovenian habitational name Kranjec
(also found as Krajnc or Kranjc), denoting someone from
Kranjska province (Latin Carniola, German Krain), an old
name for the historical central part of Slovenia.
Jewish
(Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Kranz or Yiddish
krants ‘wreath’, ‘garland’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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