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Re: HOLLENBECK :meaning and origin?
in reply to a message by YinFL
Holle, cf. modern Hohle, means 'hollow, depression in the landscape', something like that. Beck, cf. modern Bach, means 'brook'. So this is originally the name of a small stream, I guess one with higher and steeper banks than usual.
Later, towns were named after the streams that ran near them. There are 4 or 5 places with this name in Germany and Austria.
After that, people from these towns started to use it as a surname.
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