Frequency: (116)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Northern German: from the Tanger river or a habitational name from any of several places so named in Brandenburg and Pomerania.
2. North German: nickname for a waspish person, from Middle Low German tanger ‘strong’, ‘fresh’, ‘biting’, ‘sharp’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
