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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from Middle English clevere ‘one who cleaves’ (a derivative of Old English clēofan ‘to split’), hence an occupational name for someone who split wood into planks using a wedge rather than a saw, or possibly for a butcher.
  • English : topographic name from Middle English cleve ‘bank’, ‘slope’ (from the dative of Old English clif) + the suffix -er, denoting an inhabitant.
  • Americanized spelling of German Kliewer or Klüver (see Kluver).

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