Recorded in many forms including Doerr, Doerre, Dor, Dore, Doore, Dorr, Derr, Dirr, Durr, Doerrer, Dorrer, Dorrbeck, and Dorrbecker, this is a German and sometimes English surname. It has several possible origins. It may be cognate with the English word and surname 'Dear' and share the same origins. If so then this was a personal or baptismal name given literally as a form of endearment in that its precise meaning was 'beloved one' or 'bold one'. Several such name forms have come down from the period of the Anglo-Saxon's of the pre 7th century a.d. and these include 'Doerrling', the English surname 'Darling'. The name can also derive from the word 'deor' meaning deer and as such in both countries was a nickname given to one fleet of foot, a fast runner or messenger. It can be locational and particulary from the village of Dore, near Sheffield in Yorkshire, England. Early examples of the surname recordings shown the general spread and development of the surname include Henchen Doerren of Berleburg, Westfalen on October 24th 1643, Johan Doers, christened at Breyell, in the province of Rheinland on September 22nd 1647, Andreas Doerr, whose daughter Anna Maria, was christened at Bacharach, Rheinland on November 24th 1650, and Maria Dorrer, who married Andreas Scherzinger, at Gutenbach, Baden, on January 7th 1797. The first recorded spelling of the name in any form is probably that of Albert Dorre, which was dated 1381, in the Registers of the city of Lubeck, during the reign of Emperor Wencelas of the German Empire, 1378 - 1400. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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