Licht Family History

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a chandler, from Middle High German lieht, Yiddish likht ‘candle’, ‘light’. In some instances the German name may have arisen as a nickname from the same word in the sense ‘light’, ‘shining’, and the Jewish name may have been ornamental. German: habitational name from places called Lichta or Lichte, both in Thuringia. Dutch: nickname for a slight man, from licht ‘light (in weight)’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press