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OFFNER Family History

This is an ancient metonymic surname of pre-medieval origins which describes one who owned or managed an iron smelting works (the oven), in the pre-medieval period. The origins are equally Olde English and Anglo-Saxon (German), although the latter referred specifically to a baking oven, one large enough for the whole village to bake their bread in. In both cases the early spelling was "ofen", and whilst the surname form which developed was generally in the spelling of Oven if English, and Offen if German, both spellings appear in both countries.