BaskinJewish Means "son of Baske", a Yiddish female personal name (a pet-form of the Biblical name Bath Seba). Baskin-Robbins is a US chain of ice-cream parlours founded in Glendale, California in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913-1969) and Irv Robbins (1917-2008).
BassettEnglish From Old French bas meaning "short", low". It was either used as a nickname for a short person or someone of humble origins.
BassfordEnglish Habitational name from any of several places called Basford, especially the one in Nottinghamshire. There are others in Staffordshire and Cheshire. Either that or it's from Old English berc "birch tree" + Old English ford "ford".
BastiatFrench Meaning of this name is unknown. Possibly derived from Sebastian The surname Bastiat was first found in Poitou, where this family held a family seat since ancient times.
BasumataryIndian, Bodo From Sanskrit वसुमती (Vasumati), another name for the Hindu goddess Bhumi. She is believed to be the mythical mother of the Bodo people.
BatailleFrench nickname for a bellicose man from bataille "battle" (from Latin battualia) or a habitational name from (La) Bataille the name of several places in France all named as the site of a battle in former times.
BatawiIndonesian, Arabic Means "Betawi" in Arabic, referring to an ethnic group native to the city of Jakarta in Indonesia. The name itself is from Batavia, the capital city of the Dutch East Indies (located in present-day Jakarta)... [more]
BatchelorEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for an unmarried man, a young knight or a novice, derived from Middle English and Old French bacheler literally meaning "bachelor", ultimately from medieval Latin baccalarius.
BateyEnglish (?) Originates from mostly northern England. Is the presumed given name to fishers. (With it meaning "Small fishing boat" in old English.)
BathgateScottish, English From the town of Bathgate, west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The town's name derives from Cumbric *beith, meaning 'boar' (Welsh baedd) and *gaith. meaning 'wood' (Welsh coed).
BatistutaItalian Possibly from a diminutive of the given name Battista. A famous bearer is the former Argentinian soccer player Gabriel Batistuta (1969-).
BatlokwaTswana, Southern African a branch of the Bakgatla section of the Bantu speaking communities which originated from the Great Lakes and Northern Central Africa. Batlokwa are said to have been a breakaway branch of the Bakgatla which is another Bahurutse section of the Tswana people.
BattersbyEnglish Derives from the place of Battersby in North Yorkshire, which is composed of Old Norse personal name Bǫðvarr and the Old Norse suffix býr "farm, settlement"... [more]
BattiloroItalian Means "goldworker", specifically an artisan who applied gold foil to other material, from Italian batti "to beat, to strike" and 'loro "the gold".
BattistellaItalian From St. John the Baptist, the first bearers of this name were devoted to this saint. Another etymology would be a patronymic from the given name Battista, anyway linked to the aforementioned saint.
BatzUpper German Derived from Alemannic Swabian Batz "pile; large quantity", possibly applied as a nickname either for a man of large physical proportions or for a man of wealth. The term also denoted a coin and may have been used metonymically for a coiner... [more]
BaudryFrench Derived from the medieval French given name Baudry, which was a variant form of Baudric, a given name that itself was a variant form of Baldéric (see Baldric)... [more]
BauerdickGerman A surname originating from the Rhineland region of Germany. It is derived from German Bauer (Bur in the locals dialects) "farmer" and Deich (Diek and Dick in the local dialects) "levee" or Teich "pond"... [more]
BauersackGerman Semi-Germanized form of the Polish surname Burczak, originally derived from Polish burczec "growl; shout".... [more]
BauknechtGerman, Upper German occupational name for a farm worker from Middle High German buknecht "plowboy, farmhand" derived from the elements bu "farm" and kneht "servant, apprentice".
BaumeisterGerman Occupational name for a "builder" in German; from Middle High German 'buwen' 'to build' + meister 'master'.... [more]
BaumfreeDutch, American, African American This name is clearly derived from Sojourner Truth, a former African-American slave who was born as Isabella Bomefree (but at some point the surname was changed to the more German-looking Baumfree). Although Sojourner's original owners - James and Elizabeth Bomefree/Baumfree - were apparently of Dutch descent, it is questionable whether the surname is really of Dutch origin... [more]
BaumkötterGerman (Modern) From the German words 'Baum' meaning 'tree' and 'Kötter' a type of villager who dwelt in a cottage, similar to the Scottish Cotter. "Presumably a 'Baumkötter' earned money from a small orchard on their property."
BavieraSpanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan Means "Bavaria" in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Catalan. Indicating for someone from Bavaria a state in Germany.
BawaPunjabi Sikh name based on the name of a Jat clan. It is also a title given to the male descendants of the first three Sikh gurus.
BaxEnglish Possibly a short form of Baxter, or maybe from the Anglo-Saxon word box, referring to the box tree.
BaxendaleEnglish Habitational name, probably an altered form of Baxenden, a place near Accrington, which is named with an unattested Old English word bæcstān meaning "bakestone" (a flat stone on which bread was baked) + denu meaning "valley"... [more]
BayEnglish, French, Dutch Derived from Middle English and Old French bay, bai and Middle Dutch bay, all meaning "reddish brown". It was originally a nickname for someone with a hair color similar to that.
BayerstoweEnglish From a locational name from Bairstow in West Yorkshire, probably so-called from the Old English elements beger "berry" and stow place.
BaygentsAnglo-Saxon The earliest recorded spelling of the surname was "Besant", "Bezant", or "Beasant", which comes from an old French word "besant", which, in turn, was derived from the Latin term "byzantius aureus". The "byzantius" or "bezant" was a gold coin named after the city of Byzantium (ancient name in BC, later named 'Constantinople' in 330 AD)... [more]
BayındırTurkish Means "prosperous, rich, developed" in Turkish.
BayırTurkish Means "slope, incline, hill" in Turkish.
BaykalovRussian Derived from the name of Lake Baikal, derived from Turkish baiköl meaning "rich lake".
BayleFrench Occupational name for a Bailiff from Old French Bailli "bailiff" (from Latin baiulus).
BaylisEnglish Derived from the Middle English 'bail(l)i', a development of the Old French 'baillis'. In Scotland the word survives as 'bailie', the title of a chief magistrate for a part of a county or barony. The word survives in England as 'bailiff', an officer who serves writs and summonses for the court.
Baz-oolTuvan (Rare) Means "another boy" from Tuvan база (baza) meaning "also, too, another" combined with оол (ool) "son, boy".
BazzatyOssetian Derived from Georgian ბაზი (bazi) meaning "falcon" or from a given name derived from Tatar базу (bazu) meaning "to dare" (given in hopes that a son would become a warrior).
BeaSpanish Habitational name from a place of this name in Teruel.
BeaberEnglish (American) Americanized spelling of German Bieber or Biber, from Middle High German biber ‘beaver’, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way, a topographic name for someone who lived in a place frequented by beavers or by a field named with this word, or a habitational name from any of various place names in Hesse containing this element.
BeachEnglish Name for someone living near a beach, stream, or beech tree.
BeakleyEnglish The surname Beakley is a nickname for a person with a prominent nose. Looking back further, we find the name Beakley was originally from the Old English word beke or the Old French word bec, each of which referred to the beak of a bird.
BeallScottish Derived from the Gaelic word beal, which means "mouth" or "opening." It could have been a nickname for someone with a large or prominent mouth.
BeamEnglish From Old English beam "beam" or "post". It could be a topographic name from someone living near a post or tree, or it could be a metonymic occupational name for a weaver.... [more]
BeamishEnglish Habitational name for someone from Beaumais-sur-Dire in Calvados Beaumetz in Somme or one of three places called Beaumetz in Pas-de-Calais, all in northern France. In some cases it may be derived from a place called Beamish in County Durham... [more]
BearEnglish From the Middle English nickname Bere meaning "bear" (Old English bera, which is also found as a byname), or possibly from a personal name derived from a short form of the various Germanic compound names with this first element... [more]
BeardEnglish (American) Nickname for a bearded man (Middle English, Old English beard). To be clean-shaven was the norm in non-Jewish communities in northwestern Europe from the 12th to the 16th century, the crucial period for surname formation... [more]
BeardenEnglish English habitational name, a variant of Barden, or from places in Devon and Cornwall called Beardon.
BeardmoreEnglish A habitational name from a lost place (probably in the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, where the surname is particularly common).
BeatonEnglish As an English surname, it is derived from either the French town of Béthune, or from the medieval diminutive Beaton, short for Bartholomew or Beatrice... [more]
BeauchampEnglish, French From the name of various places in France, for example in Manche and Somme, which was derived from Old French beu, bel meaning "fair, lovely" and champ, champs "field, plain".
BeaufayFrench (Rare) In most cases, this surname is a locational surname that most likely took its name from the village of Beaufay, which is nowadays located in the Sarthe department of France. The village was called Bello Faeto, Bellofaido and Belfaidus during the Early Middle Ages, ultimately deriving its name from Latin bellus fagus (or bellum fagetum) meaning "beautiful beech tree(s)" or "beautiful beech woodland"... [more]
BeaufordEnglish Variation of Buford. It is derived from the French word "beau", meaning "beautiful", and "ford", an Old English word meaning "river crossing".
BeaufoyFrench (Anglicized, Rare), English (Rare) Anglicized form of Beaufay. Known bearers of this surname include the English astronomer and physicist Mark Beaufoy (1764-1827) and the British screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (b... [more]
BeauregardFrench Habitational name from any of various places in France named Beauregard for their fine view or fine aspect, for example in Ain, Dordogne, Drôme, Lot, and Puy-de-Dôme, from beau "fair, lovely" and regard "aspect, outlook".
BeauregardeFrench Variant of Beauregard used by one of the main characters in Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as well as its film and broadway adaptations.
BeauséjourFrench (Rare) Literally means "beautiful sojourn", derived from French beau "beautiful, nice, fine" and French séjour "sojourn, short stay". As such, this surname is most likely a locational surname, in that it originally referred to a scenic place to sojourn in... [more]
BecerraSpanish, Galician Nickname probably for a high-spirited person from becerra "young cow, heifer". It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a cowherd.
BecherGerman Shortened form of Becherer as well as a surname given to for someone who distilled or worked with pitch, in which case it is derived from Middle High German bech / pech "pitch".
BechmannGerman (Rare) Surname denoting someone who worked with pitch, from Middle High German bech / pech "pitch" and man, a suffix which can mean "man" or simply be used as a name suffix.
BechtleGerman The surname Bechtle was first found in Hessen, where the family contributed greatly to the development of an emerging nation. The earliest bearers of this name to be mentioned in ancient chronicles were Bechtold of Fulda in 1387, BechtoldSuleffel of Frankfurt in 1442, and TibertiusBechtolf of Frankfurt in 1568... [more]
BeckemeyerGerman Beckemeyer is a surname of German origin. The name likely traces back to a place named Beckum, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The "-eyer" suffix could potentially mean "from" or "of" in this context, so " Beckemeyer " could translate to "from Beckum".
BeckerEnglish Occupational name for a maker or user of mattocks or pickaxes, from an agent derivative of Old English becca "mattock".
BeckinghamEnglish From the name of two villages in England, one in Lincolnshire and one in Nottinghamshire.
BeckiusSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "small stream, brook" and the common surname suffix -ius.
BeckleyEnglish This surname was taken from an English habitational name from any of the various places, in Kent, Oxfordshire, and Sussex, named Beckley whose name was derived from the Old English byname Becca and the Old English lēah "woodland clearing".... [more]
BecksonEnglish (British) The name comes from having lived in an enclosed place, means dweller at the old enclosure or dwelling. The surname Aldeman was first found in Essex, Suffolk and Yorkshire at Aldham. In all cases, the place name meant "the old homestead," or "homestead of a man called Ealda," from the Old English personal name + "ham."
BeckwithEnglish (African) Habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire named Beckwith, from Old English bece "beech" + Old Norse viðr "wood" (replacing the cognate Old English wudu).
BecquerelFrench A notable bearer was French scientist Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) who discovered radioactivity. A becquerel (Bq), the SI unit for radioactivity, is named after him.
BecraftEnglish (American) English, variant of Beecroft. topographic name for someone who lived at a place where bees were kept, from Middle English bee ‘bee’ + croft ‘paddock’, ‘smallholding’.
BeddoesWelsh “This name derives from Old Welsh name and patronymic surname (~ ) “Morgetuid / Margetiud”, composed of two elements: “mere” (great, splendid) plus “iudd” (lord). As a personal name the origins are lost in the mists of time but it is certainly pre Roman, however the modern use of the name is commonly taken from Merdydd ap Bleddyn, prince of Powys who died in 1132... [more]
BeddowWelsh From the personal name Bedo, a pet form of Meredydd (see Meredith).
BedellEnglish This place name derives from the Old English words byde, meaning "tub," and "well," meaning a "spring," or "stream." As such, Bedell is classed as a habitational name.
BedfordEnglish From the English county Bedfordshire and its principal city or from a small community in Lancashire with the same name. The name comes from the Old English personal name Beda, a form of the name Bede and the location element -ford meaning "a crossing at a waterway." Therefore the name indicates a water crossing once associated with a bearer of the medieval name.
BediIndian Based on the name of a clan in the Khatri community. The name is derived from Sanskrit vedī ‘one who knows the Vedas’. Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of the Sikh religion, was from the Bedi clan... [more]