Frequency: (373)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
North German: 1. from a short form of a Germanic personal name composed with a cognate of Old Saxon ort ‘point’, ‘sharp weapon’. 2. topographic name for someone who lived in a nook or on a corner, Middle Low German ort, or a habitational name from any of several places in Oldenburg named Ohrt.
GIVEN NAMES: German 6%. Gunther (2), Gerhard, Hans, Otto.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
