Last name origin & meaning: German: regional name from the province of Holstein, long disputed
between Germany and Denmark. This gets its name from holsten,
the dative plural, originally used after a preposition, of
holst, from Middle Low German holt-sate ‘dweller in the
woods’ (from Middle Low German holt ‘wood’ + sate,
sete ‘tenant’). The final syllable has been erroneously altered
by analogy with North German Steen ‘stone’, which in South
German and standard German has the form Stein.
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