Klee
Stolperstein of Helene Klee
Pronunciationˈkleː or as in "clay"[1]
Language(s)German, Yiddish, French
Origin
Language(s)German, Hebrew
Region of originAlsace, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany
Other names
Alternative spellingKlée
Variant form(s)Kleeblatt, Kleegman, Kleeberg, Kleefeld, Kleeman, Kleemann, Kleiman

Klee (Yiddish: קליי) is a German and Ashkenazi Jewish surname. Variations include Kleefeld, Kleeblatt, Kleegman, Kleiman, Kleeman and Kleeberg. In German, it means "clover" and is possibly a toponymic surname like Feldman.[2][3][4]

According to researchers at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, the name Klee originates from the Greek Kalonymos (Hebrew: קלונימוס), a translation of the Hebrew "shem tov" (שם טוב‎) meaning "good name". Klee is documented as a Jewish surname in Alsace in France since the 18th century, along with similar names such as Kleemann.[5]

In France, the name is associated with the Alsatian commune of Katzenthal, near Colmar.

People with the name Klee

An artwork by Paul Klee

People with the name Kleeblatt

People with the name Kleiman

Naum Kleiman – Odessa International Film Festival – 17 July 2010 – 1
Käte Stresemann, née Kleefeld, and Wolfgang Stresemann 1906

People with the name Kleeman

People with the name Kleefeld

People with the name Kleeberg

Clotilde Kleeberg by Charles Gerschel

People with the name Kleegman

Look up Klee in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ^ McConkey, Wilfred J. (1987). Klee as in Clay. UPA. ISBN 9781461702276.
  2. ^ Weiss, Nelly (2002). The Origin of Jewish Family Names: Morphology and History. P. Lang. ISBN 0820456446.
  3. ^ Hank, Patrick (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0195081374.
  4. ^ Heinrich Walter Guggenheimer, Eva H. Guggenheimer (1992). Jewish Family Names and Their Origins: An Etymological Dictionary. Ktav Publishing House. ISBN 0881252972.
  5. ^ "KLEE Origin of surname". ANU – Museum of the Jewish People. Retrieved 27 December 2021.

Other sources

See also

This page lists people with the surname Klee.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
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