Kern Family History
14-Day Free Trial
GIVE ME ACCESS
Kern Name Meaning
Irish: reduced form of McCarron. German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kerne ‘kernel’, ‘seed’, ‘pip’; Middle Dutch kern(e), keerne; German Kern or Yiddish kern ‘grain’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a farmer, or a nickname for a small person. As a Jewish surname, it is mainly ornamental. English: probably a metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of hand mills, from Old English cweorn ‘hand mill’, or a habitational name for someone from Kern in the Isle of Wight, named from this word.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
Similar surnames: Korn, Ken, Kirn, Kerr, Corn, Hearn, Bern, Kearn, Kerl, Kort