Recorded in many forms including De Senn, Senn, Senne, Senner, Zenne, de Zenne, de la Zenne, Zenner and Von Senner, this is a surname of Germanic origins. It is either occupational for the head man of a dairy farm or possibly a shepherd, or it may be locational for somebody who comes from a place whose name means the dairy farm. It is also possible that the name overlaps with the French locational name Sein, Seine, de Seine, or Dessein, describing a person from the valley of the Seine. Locational surnames were usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes and who had moved somewhere else. It was an easy form of identification to call such people by the name of their former home. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent, and local accents very thick, soon lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings. In this case early examples of the surname recording taken from early surviving charters and registers include those of Cunrad Cenner of Speyer in 1276, Peter de Senne of Munchen in 1282, Haintz Senner of Ravensburg in 1384, and Hans Zenne of Koechenitzsch, 1on May 16th 1717.

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