Mandelbrot ("Almond Bread"), Bosendorfer ("Evil villages"), Depp ("Idiot"), Spielberg ("Play Mountain"), Brauneis ("Brown Ice"), etc. Why are so Many German Last Names So... Weird?

by DigForFire90

In English you of course have people whose last names are professions or places but how do you get a name like "almond bread"?

Noble_Devil_Boruta

These might be indicative of the Jewish ancestors who lived in the German-speaking countries, including territories annexed by them prior to 19th century. Before other responses come in, you might be interested in this thread, where I touch upon the topic of mandatory last name change that the Jewish inhabitants of mentioned areas were subjected to in early 19th century. In addition, u/SeeThemFly2 writes about the toponymic names that could have changed quite substantially over time, giving the impression of being 'unusual' nowadays.