Recorded as Dub, Dubs, Dubendorfer, Diebendoerfer, Dubsky, which is Polish-German, and possibly others, this is probably a Germanic residential and topographical medieval surname, although there are other possible origins. It is generally believed to be taken from the pre 7th century Old High German word "dub or tub" meaning a marsh or swamp, with the surname describing either a person who lived by such a place, or at a village by a marsh. Residential surnames of this type were often the earliest to be created, as any prominent feature, whether natural or man made, was an obvious source of identification amongst the small communites of the Middle Ages. However a second possiblity is that it was was originally a early personal name, which may account for the later spelling of Dubel or Tubel, meaning "Litle Dub" or possibly "son of Dub or Tub". This spelling is first recorded in the year 1315 when Hainrich Tubel of Walddorf appears in the charters of that town, and Martin Dubelin, a double diminutive version, was recorded in Tiengen in 1591. Finally the name may be a fused version of the early and popular French surname du Bois, meaning "from the wood", which over the centuries has been recorded in many spellings of which this may be one.

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