 The word is extant in other languages as well, for example in Polish where the term "kapłan" translates as "priest", in Hungarian 'káplán' means a priest of the royal court or that of an aristocrat; in Norwegian where it also has the meaning of priest while retaining the original, elongated form.Kaplan or Caplan is also a surname common among Ashkenazi Jews, usually indicating descent from the priestly lineage (the kohanim), similar to the etymological origin of the common Hebrew surname "Cohen".One of the earliest modern records of Kaplan as a family name is that of Abraham Kaplan in 1698.