Frequency: (119)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
German: 1. Nickname from Old High German blanc ‘bright’, ‘white’. 2. From Middle Low German plengen ‘to stir’, ‘bring about strife’, ‘deceive’, hence an unflattering nickname for a troublemaker. 3. German and Danish: unexplained.
GIVEN NAME German 6%. Fritz.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
