# Name origin help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776 "2004-06-29T21:52:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/1 "2004-06-29T21:52:43Z")
I am trying to figure out the origin of the name: Korman It doesn’t appear hispanic, I think it’s Portugese… Anyone with knowledge, input will be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/2 "2004-06-29T23:08:31Z")
Portugese, as best as I can tell, does not use the letter “k”. So unless the name was spelled differently in an earlier time, a Portugese origin is unlikely. I tried Googling the name just for kicks to look for pages in other languages. I hit several pages in (I think) Polish that included the name “Korman”. A crude tool, I’ll admit, but perhaps it might point you in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/3 "2004-06-29T23:24:38Z")
Googling ‘Kormann’ (double N) and ‘Kurmann’ both produce quite a lot of German pages. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/4 "2004-06-29T23:25:49Z")
\*German _language_ pages - a lot are Austrian or Swiss. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/5 "2004-06-29T23:37:51Z")
Karman and Karmann seem to crop up across central Europe. Corman, on the other hand, is Gaelic. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/6 "2004-06-29T23:48:58Z")
Harvey Korman’s middle name is Herschel–not very Portuguese. ---
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/7 "2004-06-30T01:18:24Z")
so is it safe for one to assume that the name is definitely European? It wouldn’t also be a jewish name would it? I also tried googling and yahooing in the search for answers, it produced simialr results, I was hoping that someone was a language expert and knew off the bat precise origins. Right now I am convinced it is of German/Austrian origin. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/8 "2004-06-30T01:30:26Z")
It certainly seems to be central European. My first reaction, too, was that it was Jewish, but the various Google results suggest this isn’t the case (“name + jewish” didn’t give anythign helpful for any of the variants). What context are you dealing with? Tracing family history, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-origin-help/252776/9 "2004-06-30T04:08:51Z")
What on earth would make you think it might be Portuguese or Hispanic? It doesn’t look or sound remotely Iberian. \_\_\_man/mann endings are virtually always Germanic, as others here have found by empirical means (my own RL name of English origin being an exception!). It’s not a Jewish name in the sense that, say, Goldberg is, but someone with that name could easily be Jewish. What is the context here? Why does it matter whether it’s Jewish or not?