Kellerman
A surname most likely linked to a place-name or occupational label involving a cellar or rock-stone feature, with several possible European roots.
The #7,793 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 72,612 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kellerman is usually explained as a Germanic surname built on Kell- plus -man, but the first element can be interpreted in more than one way. It may relate to German "Keller" meaning "cellar," suggesting someone who worked in, lived near, or managed a cellar or storage area. In some cases it may also reflect a place-name or a topographic term connected with rock or stone forms, so the exact origin can vary by family line.
History
The name appears in German-speaking and other Central European records, and later spread widely through migration to North America. English-language sources sometimes record it as a family name without settling on a single derivation, which fits the surname’s multiple plausible roots. The form is also found in Jewish surname traditions in some cases, often through Germanic naming patterns.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname was borne by several notable French military figures of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era in the wider Kellermann family line, helping the name become historically recognizable.
From the historical record
“(Hortense), Borghese, D'Abrantes, Ney, Murat, Le Febvre, Massena, Souchet, Duroc, Desaix, Marmont, Junot, Soult, Davoust, Mortier, Lannes, St. Cyr, Kellerman, Bessieres, Bernadott^, Kleber, Jourdan, Oudinot, Moncey, Grouchy, Berthier, Bertrand, Las Casas, La Vallette, Fouche, Dupont, Vaillant, - Louis Philippe, -…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames