Frequency: (133)
(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: topographic name for someone who lived by a ‘prickly thicket’, from Middle Low German dorn ‘thorn’ (the -h- reflects the long vowel, as in the occasional spelling Doorn-).
GIVEN NAMES: French 5%; German 4%. Camille; Ilse, Klaus.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
