Frequency: (468)
(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, Czech (Kunšt), and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kunst ‘wisdom’, ‘skill’, in German-speaking communities a nickname for a knowledgeable or skillful person. Among Jewish communities, this was adopted as an ornamental name in the sense ‘knowledge’, ‘wisdom’, ‘dexterity’, or ‘art’. In Slavic regions, the word acquired negative connotations, ‘trickery’, ‘sleight of hand’, and hence ‘ridicule’, ‘scorn’, or ‘mockery’.
2. German: from a short form of the personal name Konstantin, German form of Constantine.
3. German: from the personal name Kunz, a short form of Konrad.
GIVEN NAMES: German 7%. Gerhard (3), Kurt (2), Otto (2), Alfons, Alois, Franz, Ilse.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
