Odenbrett?
It's my family's surname, and I've yet to figure out any origin or meaning for it ... I've also never met any non-related Odenbretts so, do you have any ideas?
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Odenbrett and its variants Odenbreit/Odebrett/Odenbrecht are composed of the Germanic roots od- 'fortune, riches' and berht 'bright'. For genealogical information on the American Odenbretts, see http://tr.im/kdew. For a list of Odenbretts in the US, see http://tr.im/kdft.
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You will find 42 entries ODENBRETT in the German phone directory, most of which are concentrated around the Cologne/Aachen area.
There is village called Udenbreth about 50 km SSE of Aachen. I have no idea, though, whether your last name and that place-name are connected in any way.
In Germany there a forest called Odenwald (in the south west of Germany, though), but obviously the meaning of the Oden- part is unknow. Brett/Breth could well be conneceted to "breit" (broad).
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