frese

Frese is a surname of German origin. It is found in Germany and among communities with German ancestry. Like many German occupational surnames, Frese is believed to derive from an association with crafts such as milling or metalworking, and it may be connected to related words in German that refer to milling activity. The spelling Frese can also appear as a variant in records where diacritics are not used or where names were transliterated into non-German contexts.

In German, the word Fräse (with an umlaut) denotes a milling machine or a milling cutter, and fräsen means to mill. The non-umlauted form Frese may appear in historical documents or in texts produced outside German-speaking regions, reflecting variations in orthography over time and across countries. As a surname, Frese and its variants are found among the descendants of individuals who historically participated in milling, metalworking, or related crafts, though the modern distribution is widespread due to migration and diaspora.

The name Frese does not correspond to a single modern concept beyond its use as a family name. It is part of the broader category of German surnames that originated from occupations or trades and has persisted in various regions and languages through genealogical and historical records. Contemporary bearers of the name may be found across a range of professions and locales, reflecting the dispersion of German heritage worldwide.

See also Fräse, the German term for milling equipment, and the related verb fräsen.