Last name: ALTER

Back
Welcome at Geneanet!

Welcome at Geneanet!

With Geneanet, find your ancestors from home, create your family tree for free, and explore and share your family history. Genealogy has never been easier, thanks to our database of 9 billion individuals, and our community of enthusiasts.

Discover Geneanet

All you have to know about the last name ALTER

Last name frequency

ALTER : This last name is indexed 25,720 times on Geneanet!

Origin of last name

ALTER : 1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): distinguishing epithet for the older of two bearers of the same personal name.2: Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Alter an inflected form of alt ‘old’. This was in part an omen or well-wishing name expressing the parents’ hope that the child would live a long life; in part a protective name given to a child born after the death of a sibling but also said to have sometimes been assumed by someone who was seriously ill. The purpose is supposed to have been to confuse the Angel of Death into thinking that the person was old and so not worth claiming as a victim.3: German: from a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name formed with alt ‘old’.

Learn more

Variants of last name

The spelling of names may have changed over the centuries. Knowing these names variants will help you build your family tree.

Search a name

Discover your ancestors and build your family tree step by step through billions of data included in our members' family trees and through civil records.

Most popular first names

Most indexed places

Most indexed countries

Available collections for this name