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[Surname] Meaning of the surname Kness
Does anyone know the origin and the meaning of the surname Kness? I thought it may be of Jewish origin. The family is from Italy.
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Kness is an Americanization of the German name Knöss which you can situate at http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/kn%25C3%25B6ss.html. I don't know the etymology.
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I found it on ancestry.com and it said Kness is an Americanized form of the Slavic name Knez, which means "prince" or "chief".
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If you go to http://tr.im/w9NA, you'll find that Kness is an Americanization of German Knoess which is just a variant spelling of Knöss. The relation between Kness and Knez is pure fiction.
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