PrideauxCornish Means "person from Prideaux, earlier Pridias", Cornwall (perhaps based on Cornish prȳ "clay"). The modern Frenchified spelling is based on the idea that the name comes from French près d'eaux "near waters" or pré d'eaux "meadow of waters".
PridmoreEnglish unexplained; perhaps a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place. Pridmore has long been a Leicestershire name.
PrimroseScottish From the name of Primrose in Fife, Scotland, a place originally named Prenrhos, literally "tree-moor" in Welsh. This is the family name of the Earls of Rosebery.
PríncipeItalian, Spanish From principe "prince, heir" (Latin princeps, genitive principis, from primus "first" and capere "to take"), applied probably as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces or for someone in the service of a prince.
PrinslooAfrikaans Prinsloo is an Afrikaans surname. The name is derived from the dutch word Prins (meaning prince), and a loo suffix meaning clearing in the forest. Variant spellings include Prinzloo and Prinslo.
ProcopioItalian Italian (Calabria) and Greek (Prokopios): from the personal name Procopio, Greek Prokopios, from pro ‘before’, ‘in front’ + kopē ‘cut’, actually an omen name meaning ‘success’, ‘prosperity’ but as a Church name taken to mean ‘pioneer’ as it was the name of the first victim of Diocletian's persecutions in Palestine in AD 303... [more]
ProiettiItalian From Latin proiecto "abandoned, thrown away", given to foundlings and children abandoned at orphanages. The name may have been taken from la ruota dei proietti, or "foundling wheel", that some orphanages and religious institutes in Italy installed for infants to be anonymously abandoned in.
ProkuskiPolish Polish in origin with history in America since at least the early 1900s
PudiwitrCzech Originally Pudivitr, or Pudivitrova(female only). V was switched to W when the family came to the U.S., though there are both names in the U.S.
PugachevRussian From the nickname Pugach which is probably derived from Ukrainian пугач (pugach) meaning "owl". Following this etymology, the nickname was most likely given to someone who was wise or sensible (attributing to the owl as a symbol of wisdom).
PuławskiPolish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous Lesser Polish city.
PulitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Variant form of Politzer. A famous bearer was the Hungarian-American businessman, newspaper publisher and politician Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911). His family came from Hungary, but they were of Czech origin.
PunzalanFilipino, Tagalog, Pampangan Possibly an occupational name for a maker of fences or a nickname derived from Spanish punzar meaning "to punch, to sting".
QuennellEnglish From the medieval female personal name Quenilla, from Old English Cwēnhild, literally "woman-battle". This was borne by Peter Quennell (1905-1993), a British poet, critic and historian.
QuiambaoFilipino Possibly from Hokkien 欠賺 (khiàm-báu) meaning "owed money, lacking money" or 鹹賺 (kiâm-báu) meaning "stingy with money".
QuintelaPortuguese Has its roots in Latin, deriving from "quintus," meaning "fifth." It likely originated from describing a person as the fifth child in a family or from the division of land among heirs, where a fifth part was given to one heir.
QuinteroSpanish Habitational name from a location in Galicia named Quintero, from Galician quinteiro meaning "farmstead, square, plaza". Alternately, it may be derived from Spanish quinto meaning "fifth", possibly used as a name for a renter of quintas (a type of wine-growing estate).
QuislingNorwegian A treacherous person who sides with opposing forces, this meaning comes from Vidkun Quisling of Norway. He helped the Germans during the German rule of Norway in the 1940's. Original meaning "One from" (-ling) "Quislemark", (quis) A romanization of the place name of Kvislemark.
RacioppiItalian, Sicilian Derived from Sicilian racioppu meaning "cluster of grapes", hence presumably a metonymic occupational name for someone who sold or produced grapes.
RägapartEstonian Rägapart is an Estonian surname meaning "garganey" ("Spatula querquedula": a species of dabbling duck).
RagettliRomansh Derived from a truncated form of Anrig in combination with the diminutive suffix -ett and the diminutive suffix -li.
RaghavanIndian (Kerala, Tamil Nadu): Hindu name from Sanskrit raghava ‘derived from Raghu’, ‘descendant of Raghu’ (an epithet of the god Rama, incarnation of Vishnu) + the Tamil-Malayalam third-person masculine singular suffix -n... [more]
RagsdaleEnglish Apparently an English habitational name from Ragdale in Leicestershire, which is probably named from Old English hraca "gully", "narrow pass" + dæl "valley", "dale".
RahamägiEstonian Rahamägi is an Estonian surname meaning "money mountain".
RahumägiEstonian Rahumägi is an Estonian surname meaning "peace(ful) mountain".
RahumeelEstonian Rahumeel is an Estonian surname meaning "peaceful minded".
RahusaarEstonian Rahusaar is an Estonian surname meaning "reef island".
RaidväliEstonian Raidväli is an Estonian surname meaning "hewed/sculpted field".
RainbirdEnglish From the Old French male personal name Rainbert, of Germanic origin and meaning literally "counsel-bright" (cf. Raginbert). The modern form of the name has been influenced by English rainbird "plover".
RäisänenFinnish From an unexplained personal name (possibly of Russian Orthodox origin) + the common surname suffix -nen. It occurs chiefly in central and eastern Finland.
RaisbeckEnglish Raisbeck is a hamlet in the civil parish of Orton, in the Eden district, in the county of Cumbria, England. The surname Raisbeck originates from the hamlet. The name of the hamlet derives from Hrridarr, a personal name and beck, a stream or river.
RajabianIndian, Hindi Derived from Hindi राजबियन (raajabiyan), possibly from Arabic رجب (rajab) meaning "respect".
RajaguruSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit राज (raja) meaning "king" and गुरु (guru) meaning "teacher, sage".
RajasaarEstonian Rajasaar is an Estonian surname meaning "border island" or "storm island".
RajasaluEstonian Rajasalu is an Estonian surname meaning "border grove".
RamasamyTamil From the name of the Hindu god Rama 1 combined with Tamil சாமி (sami) meaning "chief, master, lord" (ultimately from Sanskrit स्वामिन् (svamin)).
RamplingEnglish Originally indicated a person who lived in a thickly wooded area, derived from Latin ramus meaning "branch" (see Ramos). Famous bearers include English actress Charlotte Rampling (1946-) and her father, athlete and British Army officer Godfrey Rampling (1909-2009).
RandmetsEstonian Randmets is an Estonian surname meaning "beach/seashore forest".
RandolphEnglish, German Classicized spelling of Randolf, a Germanic personal name composed of the elements rand "rim (of a shield), shield" and wolf "wolf". This was introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers in the Old Norse form Rannúlfr, and was reinforced after the Norman Conquest by the Norman form Randolf.
RandpaluEstonian Randpalu is an Estonian surname meaning "beach/seashore sandy heath".
RandpereEstonian Randpere is an Estonian surname meaning "beach/seashore folk".
RandpõldEstonian Randpõld is an Estonian surname meaning "beach/shore field".
RandsaluEstonian Randsalu is an Estonian surname meaning "beach grove".
RandviirEstonian Randviir is an Estonian surname meaning "beach line/bar".
RatcliffEnglish Habitational name from any of the places, in various parts of England, called Ratcliff(e), Radcliffe, Redcliff, or Radclive, all of which derive their names from Old English rēad meaning "red" + clif meaning "cliff", "slope", "riverbank".
RathboneEnglish Of unknown origin, but might denote a person with short legs. From Olde English rhath, meaning "short, and bon, "legs".
RavelingGerman nickname or patronymic from Middle Low German rave(n) ‘raven’
RavelinoOld Celtic (Latinized, Archaic) It means manufacturing of fine and expensive fabrics. Also means the tailor or weaver. It comes from Asti and Piedmont (noth of Italy).
RedgraveEnglish From the name of a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, derived from Old English hrēod meaning "reed" or rēad "red", and græf meaning "pit, ditch" or grāf "grove"... [more]
RedmayneEnglish, Irish Derived from Redmain, a small hamlet in Cumbria, England. It is named with Old English rēad meaning "red" and Welsh main meaning "rock, stone". The name could also be derived from the given name Réamonn, which is an Irish form of Raymond... [more]
RegueiroGalician, Portuguese The name originated in Ourense (Galicia) in the 14th Century. It´s literal meaning in Portuguese is river. It is a surname referring to a person who lived near a river or water source.
ReidheadEnglish The origins of the Reidhead surname are uncertain. In some instances, it was no doubt derived from the Old English word "read," meaning "red," and was a nickname that came to be a surname. Either way, we may conclude that it meant "red-haired" or "ruddy complexioned."
RennisonEnglish Patronymic surname meaning "son of Renard". Derived as a shortened form of Reynoldson from the Old French personal name Renart with the -son suffix... [more]
RenteríaSpanish Spanish Castilianized variant of Basque Errenteria, habitational name from either of the two Basque towns called Errenteria in Gipuzkoa and Biscay provinces, Basque Country.
RichlingJewish (Rare) Russian Jewish surname from the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire.
RichmondEnglish Habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, in northern France as well as in England. These are named with the Old French elements riche "rich, splendid" and mont "hill"... [more]
RidgewayEnglish Comes from Middle English 'riggewey', hence a topographic name for someone who lived by such a route or a habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, and Staffordshire.
RidingerGerman A habitational name for someone from a place named Riding or Rieding. It is also possibly an altered spelling of Reitinger, a topographic name from Reit(e), which means ‘clearing’ (Old High German riuti).
RikimaruJapanese This surname is used as 力丸 with 力 (rii, riki, ryoku, chikara) meaning "bear up, exert, power, strain, strength, strong" and 丸 (gan, maru, maru.i, maru.meru) meaning "curl up, explain away, full, make round, month, perfection, pills, roll up, round, seduce."... [more]
RiquelmeSpanish Spanish: from a personal name composed of the ancient Germanic elements rīc 'power(ful)' + helm 'helmet protection'.
RirorokoRapa Nui Riroroko is a surname that comes from the Miru Rapa Nui clan. This was concerning the Riro portion the name of a ariki "king" on Easter Island who succeeded Atamu Tekena. Riro was part of the Miru clan... [more]
RitschelGerman, History Derived from Old High German hruod "fame". This was the maiden name of Magda Goebbels who was the wife of Paul Joseph Goebbels. Her husband was Nazi Germany's propaganda minister between the years 1933 and 1945... [more]
RivareuaLigurian It indicates familial origin within the eponymous frazione of the commune of Carasco.