Acker comes from German or Old English, meaning "ploughed field"; it is related to or an alternate spelling of the word acre . [1] [2] Therefore, Ackerman means "ploughman". Ackerman is also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname of Yiddish origin with the same meaning. The Ashkenazi surname Ackerman sometimes refers to the town of Akkerman in Bessarabia, south-west of Odessa. [3]