What does the German last name Kohne mean?
As a word it doesn’t mean anything in the contemporary German language. They have lost their original meaning in the course of many centuries. I will give you several possible origins for this last name. The most famous dictionary for the German language, the ‘Duden'[1], suggest that this last name relates to the short version of Konrad, a quite widespread German first name. Konrad meant something like ‘good advice’ in the Middle High German language (there: Kuonrât). Or, as a variant of Kuhne, it is linked to German ‘kühn’, which means keen (same Germanic root!) or bold. It is suggested in the German wiki-article for ‘Kuhn'[2], which does sound very similar, that this name might be a patronymic form of Kuno < Kunibert, which are both ancient German first names again. Kunibert derives from Old High German 'kunni' (kin) and 'beraht' (radiant, brilliant). If this name descends from Ashkenazi Jews however, this last name might indicate that said family belongs or originally belonged to th
