The nave Surname
nave Name Meaning and History
- English: occupational name for a servant, from Middle English knave ‘boy’, ‘youth’, ‘servant’.
- English: possibly a metonymic occupational name for a maker of wheel-hubs, Middle English nave (from Old English nafa, nafu).
- German (also Näve): variant of Neff (see Neve).
- Dutch (de Nave): variant of Naef 1.
- In some cases possibly Portuguese: topographic name from nave ‘plain’ (a variant of nava), or a habitational name from a place named with this word. Compare Nava.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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