Family name origins & meanings
- German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from Middle High German hūs ‘house’ + man ‘man’, German Haus + Mann. In the Middle Ages the majority of the population lived in cottages or huts rather than houses, and in most cases this name probably indicates the steward of a great house or someone who had some other connection with the largest and most important building in a settlement. In some cases it may indicate a householder, someone who owned his own dwelling as opposed to being a tenant. Compare Haushalter.