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Indeed the Dictionary of American Family Names has this theory. However, given the extreme rarity of the surname in Ireland, the high frequency in the US (which has the greatest number), and its notable presence in Germany and Poland, I think it is far more likely Slavic in origin (see https://forebears.io/surnames/demps). Furthermore, immigration records for Demps on Ancestry almost exclusively list Germany as the country of origin (https://www.ancestry.ca/search/categories/40/?name=_Demps&pg=1&count=50).

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Although I could not find a direct source for the etymology of the German or the Polish name, I did find several phonetically similar names (which could have been Americanised if Demps was not the original form):

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- Damps (Germany): ultimately from the Pomeranian or Polish root 'dąb' meaning "oak". While the entry does not list an E variant, I think it is very likely as 'dąb' usually inflects to 'dęb' in Polish and related languages. Source: http://www.namenforschung.net/id/name/57909/1

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- Dempc, Dampc, Damps (Poland): variants of Dębiec or Dąbiec which again come from the root 'dąb' meaning "oak". Source: https://nazwiska.ijp.pan.pl/haslo/print/name/DEMPC

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Edit: found the spelling Demps listed as a variant here (no article though): http://www.namenforschung.net/id/name/182916/1

This message was edited 1/18/2025, 6:17 PM