Frequency: (306)
(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 (also Grönewold): topographic name for someone who lived by a verdant forest, from Middle Low German grōne ‘green’ + wald ‘woods’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example Grönwohld near Trittau.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
