Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Muslim : from a personal name based on Arabic qādir ‘powerful’ or qadīr ‘able’, ‘capable’. Both Al-Qādir ‘the All-Powerful’ and Al-Qadīr ‘the Capable’ are attributes of Allah. Qādir is found in combinations such as ‛Abd-ul-Qādir ‘servant of the All-Powerful’ or Nur-ul-Qādir ‘light of the All-Powerful’. ‛Abdul-Qādir al-Jilānī (1077–1166) was one of the most celebrated Sufis in Islam.
  • Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : occupational name from Hebrew qador ‘potter’.
  • Czech (Kadeř) : nickname for someone with curly hair, from kadeř ‘curl’, now a rather old-fashioned term. Compare Kudrna.
  • German : perhaps from the Germanic personal name Cado.