Kerner (surname)

Kerner is an occupational surname of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) origin. There are various possible derivations, including as a name for a farmer or a nickname for a small person, from a Middle High German kerne ("kernel seed pip"); German Kern or Yiddish kern (grain), among others. Middle English kerner is a variant of cherner ("churner; one who churns butter").^[1] It may also derive from "carter" or "carrier", from the German word kerenere. The name was found in Bavaria, Germany, in the medieval period.^[2]

People with the surname include:

• Charlotte Kerner (born 1950), biographer and science-fiction writer
• Elizabeth Kerner (born 1958), fantasy author
• Justinus Kerner (1786–1862), a German lyric poet of the Swabian school

• Johann Georg Kerner (1770–1812), political journalist, critical chronicler of the French revolution, brother of Justinus Kerner
• Otto Kerner, Jr. (1908–1976), Illinois Governor and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Otto Kerner, Sr. (1884–1952), an Illinois Attorney General and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

• Nena (Gabriele Susanne Kerner; born 1960), German singer who became famous with the New German Wave songs "Nur geträumt" and "99 Luftballons"
• Jordan Kerner, film producer
• Johannes B. Kerner, (born 1964), German television broadcaster

• Jonathan Kerner (born 1974), American basketball player
• Marlon Kerner (born 1973), American football player

• Boris Kerner, (born 1947), German physicist
• Anton Kerner von Marilaun (1831–1898), Austrian botanist

• Ian Kerner, American sex counselor

Surname list

This page lists people with the surname Kerner.
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