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Hello. I'd like to figure out what the surname "Fitzmayer" means. I know that the Fitzmayer family came to America possibly in the early to mid 1800's and they were from Germany. The original spellings of the name included "Phitsenmeyer and Phitzenmayer." In the early 1900's, it was cut down to just "Fitzmayer." I think "Fitz" is Irish and "mayer" is of German origin. The Fitzmayers were of Jewish background, so I think that's were "meyer" comes into play. But, I'm really curious, because I haven't seen very often the prefix "Phits" on a German name. Also, the name is extremely uncommon--the only people that use the name are all related, though there are a few in England which I find peculiar, but it must be a different story with them. Any help into figuring this out will be greatly appreciated.

Stef