Frequency: (1544)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
German: regional name from the province of Holstein, long disputed between Germany and Denmark. This gets its name from holsten, the dative plural, originally used after a preposition, of holst, from Middle Low German holt-sate ‘dweller in the woods’ (from Middle Low German holt ‘wood’ + sate, sete ‘tenant’). The final syllable has been erroneously altered by analogy with North German Steen ‘stone’, which in South German and standard German has the form Stein.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
