Bann
Top
Frequency: (200)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. German: from Middle High German ban ‘area (of fields or woods) banned from agricultural or other use’, hence probably a topographic name for someone who lived by such a reserve. See also Banwart.
2. English: of uncertain origin. Reaney suggests that it may be from an unrecorded Old English personal name Banna, or a metonymic occupational name for a basket maker, from Old French bane, banne ‘hamper’, ‘pannier’. Compare French Bane.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
Read more