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Archivesmeaning of Vashner
A character in one of O.Henry's stories is Eloise Vashner. Can someone help me with some information about the origin of such a peculiar name?
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Guessing that it's supposed to be an americanised form of a German surname, something like Waschner. Whether such a name exists in the real world, or is a product of O. Henry's fertile imagination, I couldn't say.
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Following your suggestion, I tried to find out about a German surname WASCHNER. It obviously exists, I got almost 1500 hits for Waschner on sites from Germany.
My book of German surnames (Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Familiennamen, Mannheim 2000) doesn't list it, but it has WAS(N)ER: Someone living on or by a "wasen", which is a piece of lawn.
My book of German surnames (Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Familiennamen, Mannheim 2000) doesn't list it, but it has WAS(N)ER: Someone living on or by a "wasen", which is a piece of lawn.
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