Home | Site Map | Search | Schlectweg and Becker Family History

The Origins of the Names Schlectweg, Slackway, Dickinson, Becker and Kiehl

The Origins of the Names Schlectweg and Slackway

The German family name Schlecht may have two origins:

  1. a nickname for a straightforward person, from the older German word sleht: direct, natural (which later came to mean "bad").
  2. a place name found e.g. in Mecklenburg and Upper Palatinate, from the older German word sleht: flat.

Source:  Hanks & Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames, 1988.

When Charles and his brother Samuel used the name Slackway, this English-language version of their family name seems to have pointed to the second possible origin; the German Weg is "way" in English.  One meaning of the word slack is "a pass between hills". And I later found the following about the name:

"SLACKWAY (Eng.) Dweller at the path or road across the valley."

Source:  E.C. Smith, New Dictionary of American Family Names, 1973.

Schlectweg is a variation of Schlechtweg.

The Origin of the name Dickinson

"DICKINSON (Eng.) The son of little Dick, a pet form of Richard (rule, hard)."

Source:  E.C. Smith, New Dictionary of American Family Names, 1973.

DICKINSON. Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Dicken, Dickin, a pet form of DICK.

DICK. Scottish and English: from a short form of RICHARD. Although found in every part of Britain, the form Dick is especially common in Scotland, and it was from there, in the 17th century, that the surname was taken to northern Ireland. [Also a surname in German having several origins unrelated to the English name]

RICHARD. English, French, German, and Dutch: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements rīc 'power(ful)' + hard 'hardy', 'brave', 'strong'.

Source:  Dictionary of American Family Names, ed. Hanks, volumes 1 and 3, 2003. (According to this work's database of 88.7 million listings, of its 1.75 million family names, DICKINSON is found 11,036 times.)

The Origins of the Name Becker

The name Becker is both German and English.  Its origin may be (1) a place name: dweller at a brook; or (2) an occupational name: one who made bread, a baker.

Source:  E.C. Smith, New Dictionary of American Family Names, 1973.

Estimated to be 94,980 persons named Becker in the United States.  238th most popular surname.

Source:  E.C. Smith, American Surnames, 1969.

The Origins of the Name Kiehl

The German name Kiehl may be a place name in origin: one who came from Kiel, an area of standing water, the name of several places in Germany.

Source:  E.C. Smith, New Dictionary of American Family Names, 1973.

KIEHL. German:

  1. from Middle Low German kīl 'wedge', applied as a metonymic occupational name or as a pejorative nickname for a ruffian.
  2. possibly a habitational name from Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, from Dutch and Frisian kil 'stagnant water' (see KIEL [but this family name is from northern Germany, Hamburg]).
  3. South German: variant of KÜHL ...
  4. from a pet form of the personal name Kilian.
  5. in Bavaria, a nickname for a fool, probably from the Middle High German kīl 'wedge', used figuratively for a bumbler.

KUHL German (also Kühl):

  1. topographic name for someone who lived by a hollow or depression, Middle Hight German kūle, Middle Low German kule or habitational name from one of the numerous minor places in North Germany named with this word ...
  2. KÜHL: nickname from Middle High German küel, 'cool', 'calm'.
  3. from a short form of a Germanic personal name formed with an element cognate with Old Norse kollir 'helmet' ...

Source:  Dictionary of American Family Names, ed. Hanks, volume 2, 2003.

The URL of this Web page: https://www.roangelo.net/schlectweg/slehtweg.html
Last revised: 22 September 2016 : 2016-09-22 by Robert [Wesley] Angelo

Back to top of page

Home | Site Map | Site Search | Schlectweg and Becker Family History