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Occupation

Kramer surname meaning

A German and Ashkenazic Jewish occupational surname for a shopkeeper, trader, or peddler.

Confidence
High
US frequency
Rank 547 · 60,950 people
Common variants
Krämer, Kraemer, Kramer, Krammer

The short story

Kramer is an occupational surname for a shopkeeper, trader, or peddler. It comes from German Krämer, related to a word for a stall, booth, or small trading business. The name occurs in German, Dutch, Low German, and Ashkenazic Jewish contexts, so no single migration route should be assumed. Kraemer, Krämer, Krammer, and Kramer reflect spelling and regional differences. Occupation is the high-confidence catalog type because the trade meaning is direct, although the exact goods sold by any particular Kramer are not recoverable from the surname alone.

Also seen as: Krämer, Kraemer, Kramer, Krammer

Sources used
  • Ancestry, last-name entry 'Kramer' (German occupational surname)
  • FamilySearch, surname entry 'Kramer' (shopkeeper or merchant)
  • US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census by Race and Hispanic Origin: Top 1,000 (Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic_Top1000.xlsx), released April 2026