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Re: Surname Pech
The surname Pech is from Middle High German pech 'pitch, tar', presumably a nickname for someone with exceptionally dark skin or hair, or a metonymic occupational name for someone who prepared, sold, or used pitch. Pechau is a placename in Germany but there's nobody with that surname there now as you can see at tinyurl.com/y3upux98.There are references to a Julius Ferdinand Pech from Germany who settled in Iowa at tinyurl.com/y3jcqbao and tinyurl.com/yyqzgrop.
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Pech is also a French surname. According to Albert Dauzat ("Noms et Prénoms ...") it is an Occitan version of puy, a hill of a particular shape.
A lot of French Huguenots took refuge in Germany, e.g., Prussia, after fleeing persecution in their homeland.
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