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Help[Surname] Re: German name? Eglinsdoerfer
in reply to a message by Maxine
Your surname looks very German indeed. It could well be from southern Germany (Bavaria) or maybe Switzerland. The place-name Eglinsdorf does not seem to exist any more. There is Egling and Eglingen, both in Bavaria.
I don't know, what the Eglin- part could be. "Egel" means "leech" in German or else it can be an old form of "Igel" "hedgehog". The word can also denote a part of a grass or grain plant: awn, stalk or generally chaff.
But all of this doesn't seem to make much sense with a place-name. There is an old personal name Egill, probably from the Germanic root AG meaning "sharp edge" (of a weapon).
So Eglinsdorf may once have been "Egills village".
I don't know, what the Eglin- part could be. "Egel" means "leech" in German or else it can be an old form of "Igel" "hedgehog". The word can also denote a part of a grass or grain plant: awn, stalk or generally chaff.
But all of this doesn't seem to make much sense with a place-name. There is an old personal name Egill, probably from the Germanic root AG meaning "sharp edge" (of a weapon).
So Eglinsdorf may once have been "Egills village".
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