Frequency: (4554)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English and North German: from Middle English peper, piper, Middle Low German peper ‘pepper’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a spicer; alternatively, it may be a nickname for a small man (as if the size of a peppercorn) or one with a fiery temper, or for a dark-haired person (from the color of a peppercorn) or anecdotal for someone who paid a peppercorn rent.
2. Americanized form of the Ashkenazic Jewish ornamental name Pfeffer, or Fef(f)er, a cognate, from Yiddish fefer ‘pepper’.
3. Irish: variant of Peppard.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
