Aalto FinnishFrom Finnish
aalto meaning
"wave". A famous bearer was Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).
Abano ItalianOriginally denoted a person from the town of Abano, Latin
Aponus, which was derived from the old Celtic root
ab meaning "water".
Abasolo BasqueMeans
"priest's meadow" from Basque
abas "priest" and
solo "meadow".
Abbaticchio ItalianMeans
"little abbot" from Italian
abate and the diminutive suffix
-icchio, from Latin
-iculus.
Abelló CatalanFrom the Latin given name
Abellio, which may have been derived from the name of a Pyrenean god.
Acconcio ItalianFrom the medieval Italian given names
Accuntius or
Acconcius, of uncertain meaning.
Addario ItalianDerived from the given name
Addarius, of unknown meaning.
Adesso ItalianPerhaps a nickname for a punctual or fast person, from Italian
adesso meaning
"now, at this moment".
Aggio ItalianPossibly from the name
Aggius, probably related to the Germanic name
Agi.
Aguado SpanishDerived from Spanish
agua "water", indicating a person who lived near water or worked with water.
Aiello ItalianFrom various place names in Italy, such as Aiello del Friuli, Aiello del Sabato and others. They are derived from Latin
agellus meaning "little field".
Albero ItalianFrom Italian
albero meaning
"tree", ultimately from Latin
arbor, referring to someone who lived in the woods or worked as a woodcutter.
Aleppo ItalianFrom the name of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is from Arabic
خالاب (Khālāb), of uncertain meaning.
Alfaro SpanishOriginally denoted someone who was from the city of Alfaro in La Rioja, Spain. It is possibly derived from Arabic meaning "the watchtower".
Alvarado SpanishFrom a Spanish place name, possibly derived from Spanish
alba "white".
Amano JapaneseFrom Japanese
天 (ama) meaning "heaven" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Appelo DutchIndicated a person who was from a farm called Aperloo, probably a derivative of
appel meaning "apple".
Aquino Italian, SpanishFrom the name of an Italian town near Rome, derived from Latin
aqua meaning "water", the home town of the 13th-century saint Thomas Aquinas. In Italy the surname is derived directly from the town's name. As a Spanish-language surname, it was sometimes bestowed by missionaries in honour of the saint as they evangelized in Spanish colonies.
Araújo PortugueseDenoted a person hailing from one of the many areas that bear this name in Portugal, which is of unknown meaning.
Asano JapaneseFrom Japanese
浅 (asa) meaning "shallow" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Avellino ItalianFrom the name of a town in Campania, Italy, called
Abellinum in Latin, of unknown meaning.
Baggio ItalianOriginally denoted a person from the Italian town of Baggio (now part of Milan). It is probably derived from Latin
Badalocum meaning "watch place".
Basso ItalianOriginally a nickname for a short person, from Latin
bassus "thick, low".
Basurto SpanishFrom the Basque place name
Basurtu, a village (now part of Bilbao) in Biscay. It means "middle of the forest".
Bello Spanish, ItalianMeans
"beautiful" in Spanish and Italian, originally a nickname for an attractive person.
Bellomo ItalianFrom a nickname derived from Italian
bello "beautiful, fair" and
uomo "man".
Blanco SpanishMeans
"white" in Spanish. The name most likely referred to a person who was pale or had blond hair.
Borgnino ItalianFrom a nickname derived from the Piedmontese dialect word
borgno meaning
"one-eyed". This was the real surname of American actor Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012).
Boško m SlovakDerived from Slovak
bosý meaning
"barefoot".
Bosko PolishDerived from Polish
bosy meaning
"barefoot".
Botello GalicianOccupational name for a maker of bottles, from Galician
bottela meaning
"bottle".
Boyko UkrainianOriginally indicated a member of the Boykos, an ethnic group of western Ukraine.
Brivio ItalianFrom the name of the town of Brivio in Lombardy. Supposed it derives from a Celtic word meaning "bridge".
Bruno Italian, PortugueseMeans
"brown" in Italian and Portuguese, a nickname for a person with brown hair or brown clothes. A famous bearer was the cosmologist Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).
Busto Spanish, ItalianFrom the name of towns in Spain and Italy, derived from Late Latin
bustum meaning "ox pasture".
Cabello SpanishMeans
"hair" in Spanish, used as a nickname for a person with a large amount of hair.
Caiazzo ItalianFrom the name of a city near Naples, originally
Caiatia in Latin, a derivative of the given name
Caius.
Caito ItalianOccupational name from Sicilian
càjitu meaning
"official, leader", ultimately from Arabic
قاضي (qāḍī) meaning "judge".
Caivano ItalianFrom the name of the town of Caivano near Naples, derived from Latin
Calvianum, derived from the Roman cognomen
Calvus.
Cano SpanishMeans
"white-haired, old" in Spanish, from Latin
canus.
Cao ChineseFrom Chinese
曹 (cáo) referring to the ancient state of Cao, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
Capello 1 ItalianFrom Late Latin
cappa meaning
"cloak, cape, hood". This was a name for one who made or wore cloaks.
Capello 2 ItalianNickname for a thin person, from Italian
capello meaning
"a hair", ultimately derived from Latin
capillus.
Carideo ItalianOriginally denoted someone from San Pietro di Caridà, a town in Calabria. The town's name may be derived from Greek
χάρις (charis) meaning "grace, kindness".
Carrasco SpanishTopographic name derived from Spanish
carrasca meaning
"holm oak" (species Quercus ilex).
Carrillo SpanishMeans
"cheek, jaw" in Spanish, originally a nickname for a person with a distinctive cheek or jaw.
Caruso ItalianMeans
"close-cropped hair" in Italian, also having the secondary sense "boy, young man".
Carvalho PortugueseMeans
"oak" in Portuguese, perhaps originally referring to a person who lived near such a tree.
Cassano ItalianIndicated a person from any of the various towns named Cassano in Italy.
Castro Spanish, PortugueseMeans
"castle" in Spanish and Portuguese, referring to one who lived near a castle. A famous bearer was Fidel Castro (1926-2016), revolutionary and president of Cuba.
Cavallo ItalianMeans
"horse" in Italian, an occupational name for a horseman.
Cino ItalianFrom the given name
Cino, a short form of names ending in
cino.
Cisternino ItalianFrom the name of the town of Cisternino, near the city of Bari in southern Italy.
Coelho PortugueseFrom the Portuguese word for
"rabbit", either a nickname or an occupational name referring to a hunter or seller of rabbits.
Coiro ItalianFrom Italian
cuoio meaning
"leather", ultimately from Latin
corium. This was an occupational surname for a leather worker or tanner.
Colombo ItalianEither from Italian
colomba "dove" indicating a dove keeper, or from the given name
Colombo, which is derived from the same word. This was the Italian surname of the 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus.
Como 2 ItalianFrom the name of the city of Como in Lombardy, the rival city of Milan during the Middle Ages. Its name may come from a Celtic root meaning "valley".
Cracchiolo ItalianDerived from Italian
cracchiola, referring to a chicory-like vegetable.
De Campo ItalianLocative surname derived from place names called Campo (meaning "field").
Delgado Spanish, PortugueseMeans
"thin" in Spanish and Portuguese, ultimately from Latin
delicatus meaning "delicate, tender, charming".
Di Caprio ItalianFrom the name of the island of Capri near Naples, itself possibly derived from Latin
capra meaning "goat" or Greek
κάπρος (kapros) meaning "wild boar".
Elizondo SpanishOriginally referred to a person who lived close to a church, from Basque
eleiza "church" and
ondo "near".
Esposito ItalianMeans
"exposed" in Italian and denoted a child who was rescued after being abandoned by its parents.
Falco ItalianDerived from Italian
falco "falcon". The name was used to denote a falconer or a person who resembled a falcon in some way.
Faragó HungarianAn occupational name meaning
"woodcutter", from Hungarian
farag meaning "carve, cut".
Farro ItalianDerived from the name of a place on Sicily, Italy, derived from Latin
far meaning "wheat, spelt".
Ferro Italian, SpanishMeans
"iron", ultimately from Latin
ferrum. This was an occupational name for one who worked with iron.
Fusco ItalianFrom Italian
fosco meaning
"dark", from Latin
fuscus. This was a nickname for a person with dark features.
Gallego SpanishOriginally indicated a person from Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain.
Gallo Italian, SpanishMeans
"rooster", ultimately from Latin
gallus. This was a nickname for a proud person.
Garbo ItalianFrom a nickname meaning
"politeness" in Italian. A famous bearer of this name was the Swedish actress Greta Garbo (1905-1990), born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson.
Garofalo ItalianFrom a nickname, from a southern variant of the Italian word
garofano meaning
"carnation".
Grasso ItalianMeans
"fat" in Italian, originally a nickname for a stout person. It is derived from Latin
crassus.
Grillo ItalianFrom an Italian nickname meaning
"cricket", perhaps given originally to a cheerful person (the cricket is associated with cheerfulness).
Guerrero SpanishMeans
"warrior" in Spanish, an occupational name for a soldier. It is derived from Late Latin
werra "war", of Germanic origin.
Guttuso ItalianFrom a Sicilian nickname meaning
"sad". It was name of the famous Italian painter Renato Guttuso (born 1912).
Hidalgo SpanishMeans
"nobleman" in Spanish. The Spanish word is a contraction of the phrase
hijo de algo meaning "son of something". This surname was typically in origin a nickname or an occupational name for one who worked in a noble's household.
Hino JapaneseFrom Japanese
日 (hi) meaning "sun, day" or
火 (hi) meaning "fire" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Hirano JapaneseFrom Japanese
平 (hira) meaning "level, even, peaceful" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Ionesco RomanianVariant of
Ionescu. French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), born
Ionescu, is a famous bearer of this surname.
Itō JapaneseFrom Japanese
伊 (i) meaning "this" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The final character may indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Izquierdo SpanishMeans
"left, left-handed" in Spanish, ultimately from Basque
ezker.
Jaso BasqueDerived from Basque
jats meaning
"sorghum", a type of cereal grass.
Jo KoreanAlternate transcription of Korean Hangul
조 (see
Cho).
Jurado SpanishOccupational name for a judge or another official who had to take an oath, derived from Latin
iurare "to take an oath".
Katō JapaneseFrom Japanese
加 (ka) meaning "add, increase" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The latter character may indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Kladivo m CzechMeans
"hammer" in Czech, a nickname for a blacksmith.
Koivisto FinnishMeans
"birch forest" in Finnish, derived from
koivu "birch tree".
Kubo JapaneseFrom Japanese
久 (ku) meaning "long time ago" and
保 (ho) meaning "protect".
Lagorio ItalianFrom a nickname derived from Ligurian
lagö, referring to a type of lizard, the European green lizard. This little reptile is respected because it supposedly protects against vipers.
Laurito ItalianFrom the name of the town of Laurito, near Salerno in the area of Naples.
Liao ChineseFrom Chinese
廖 (liào) referring to the ancient state of Liao, which was located in present-day Henan province.
Lozano SpanishMeans
"healthy, exuberant, lively" in Spanish, originally used as a nickname for an elegant or haughty person.
Luo ChineseFrom Chinese
罗 (luó) referring to the minor state of Luo, which existed from the 11th to 7th centuries BC in what is now Hubei province.
Luzzatto ItalianFrom an Italian form of
Lusatia, a region of eastern Germany.
Machado Portuguese, SpanishDenoted a person who made or used hatchets, derived from Spanish and Portuguese
machado "hatchet", both from Latin
marculus "little hammer".
Maldonado SpanishFrom a nickname meaning
"badly given, ill-favoured" in Spanish.
Manco ItalianMeans
"left-handed" in Italian, derived from Latin
mancus meaning "maimed".
Marchegiano ItalianFrom the name of the Marche region in Italy, derived from Late Latin
marca meaning "borderland". It was the real surname of the American boxer Rocky Marciano (1923-1969), who was born Rocco Marchegiano.
Marmo ItalianMeans
"marble" in Italian, possibly indicating a person who lived near a quarry or one who worked with marble.
Matsumoto JapaneseFrom one of the many places with this name in Japan, derived from Japanese
松 (matsu) meaning "pine tree, fir tree" and
本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".
Mercado SpanishMeans
"market" in Spanish, originally given to a person who lived near a market or worked in one.
Merlo Italian, SpanishMeans
"blackbird", ultimately from Latin
merula. The blackbird is a symbol of a naive person.
Miyamoto JapaneseFrom Japanese
宮 (miya) meaning "temple, shrine, palace" and
本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin". A notable bearer is video game pioneer Shigeru Miyamoto (1952-).
Modugno ItalianFrom the town of Modugno, in Apulia in southern Italy. It is the surname of the Italian actor and singer Domenico Modugno (1928-1994).
Montero SpanishMeans
"hunter" in Spanish, an agent derivative of
monte meaning "mountain, wilderness".
Moto JapaneseFrom Japanese
本 (moto) meaning
"base, root, origin". More commonly it is the final character in Japanese surnames.
Munro ScottishDesignated a person who had originally lived near the mouth of the Roe River in Derry, Ireland. It is derived from Gaelic
bun meaning "root, base" combined with the river's name.
Muraro ItalianOccupational name for a wall builder, from Italian
murare meaning
"to wall up".
Mutō JapaneseFrom Japanese
武 (mu) meaning "military, martial" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The final character may indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Nasato ItalianNickname for someone with a prominent nose, from Italian
naso "nose".