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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from Middle High German gebel, gibel, meaning ‘gable’ but also ‘head’, ‘skull’, hence probably a name for someone living at a house with prominent gables or a nickname for someone with a large or otherwise remarkable head. The personal name Giebold or Geb(w)alt, from the stem geb- ‘gift’, may have been the origin in some instances.

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