Kissinger
A German surname that most likely began as a place-based name for someone from a place called Kissingen or a similarly named locality.
The #5,390 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,830 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kissinger is best understood as a German locational surname. It likely means "someone from Kissingen," with the ending -er used in German to indicate origin or association. In this kind of surname, the place name comes first and the family name later developed from identifying a person by where they came from.
History
The name is German in form and is especially familiar in German-speaking and German-American family lines. Like many locational surnames, it would have been adopted when people moved away from their home district and were identified by their place of origin. The surname is also widely recognized in the English-speaking world because of Henry Kissinger, the German-born American statesman.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is strongly associated with the Bavarian spa town of Bad Kissingen, which fits the common locational pattern behind the name.