Recorded in several spellings including Lieb, Lieber, Leverman, Liberman, Liebmann, Liepmann, Lipman, Lipmann, Lippman and Lipmanovicz, this is an English, German, Polish, and sometimes Jewish surname of German origins. It is derives from the pre 8th century word and baptismal given name "Lieb" or "Lib" meaning good or beloved, plus the suffix "man or mann" which in this context means friend or servant of Lieb. The words lieb and lib are to be found in both ancient German and Hebrew, making it even more difficult to decide the precise origin. The first recording of the surname in any spelling is that of Conrad Liepmann, in the charters of the town of Vaihengen, Germany, in the year 1394, making it one of the earliest of German surname reordings.Later examples taken from the authentic registers of the relevant period include Anna Justina Lipman, the daughter of Michael Lipman, baptised at Dresden, on November 19th 1661, Anna Elizabeth Liebmann, recorded at Leipzig, on August 8th 1700, and Carl Gottfrid Lippmen, also of Dresden, recorded there on November 22nd 1801.Surnames were first recorded from the 13th century in most European countries, although record keeping varied greatly from good in England to rare and erratic in Poland. Given that before the 20th century local dialects in most countries were very "strong" and that education standards were low, this often resulted in the spelling of the surname being subjected to continual change, even within the same family.

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