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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from Middle High German sun(nen)tac, German Sonntag ‘Sunday’, a nickname for someone who had some particular connection with Sunday. The German surname may have arisen from a personal name for a child born on a Sunday, for this was considered a lucky day. Among Jews, it seems to have been one of the group of names referring to days of the week that were distributed at random by government officials.

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