Klinge Family History
Klinge Name Meaning
German: topographic name for someone who lived in a valley or ravine, or near a mountain stream, Middle High German klinge ‘murmuring brook’. There are many places named with this word, and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of them. North German: topographic name for someone living near a ford or on boggy moorland, from Low German klinge ‘ford’, ‘muddy heath’, or a habitational name from Klinge in Schleswig-Holstein, Klingen, or any of several other places containing the element klinge ‘ford’. German and Danish: metonymic occupational name for a cutler or swordsmith, from Middle High German klinge ‘metal blade’, ‘sword’ (a later imitative derivative of klingen ‘to ring or clatter’). Dutch and Belgian: topographic name meaning ‘valley’ or habitational name from places named Klinge in East Flanders and Zeeland. Swedish: variant of Kling.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press