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.
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]
BedwaniArabic (Egyptian, Rare) Possibly derived from the English word bedouin, that comes from the Arabic badawī, which means "desert dweller". ... [more]
BedwellEnglish Derived from the town of Bidwell, Hertfordshire, England, from Old English words "Byde", which meant tub, and "Well", meaning fountain or spring. The surname is classified as a habitational name. The name Bedwell is most common in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, England, and the state of Indiana in the USA.
BeerEnglish, German, Dutch, German (Swiss) Habitational name from any of the forty or so places in southwestern England called Beer(e) or Bear(e). Most of these derive their names from the West Saxon dative case, beara, of Old English bearu ‘grove’, ‘wood’ (the standard Old English dative bearwe being preserved in Barrow)... [more]
BeeryIrish Anglicized form of Ó Béara. This name was borne by brothers Noah (1882-1946) and Wallace Beery (1885-1949), and Noah's son Noah Beery Jr... [more]
BegayNavajo Derived from the Navajo word biyeʼ meaning "his son". This was frequently adopted as a surname among the Navajo when Native Americans were required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to formally adopt surnames for the purpose of official records.
BeifongPopular Culture Surname of Toph from the American TV show "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Could be derived from the Chinese word "北方 (Běifāng)" meaning "north".
BeijeringDutch The name Beijering Probably comes from the other but wider spread Dutch surname, Meijering. There is'nt much info I was able to find about both surnames except that there are many diferent forms of the surname like: Beije, Beijerink, Beijeringh, Beijer, Meijer, Meijerink, Meijeringh, etc... [more]
BelfioreItalian Means "beautiful (as a) flower", derived from Italian bel "beautiful" combined with Italian fiore "flower". Two Italian sources claim that this surname was derived from the medieval masculine given name Belfiore (which has of course the same meaning), but I can find no evidence that this was an actual given name in medieval Italy... [more]
BelmontEnglish English surname of Norman origin, a variant of the surname Beaumont, which was derived from place names meaning "lovely hill" in Old French (from beu, bel "fair, lovely" and mont "hill").
Ben NunHebrew Joshua or Yehoshua Ben Nun functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Exodus and Numbers, and later succeeded Moses as leader of the Israelite tribes in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua
BerethnetLiterature Used by Samantha Shannon in her book The Priory Of The Orange Tree as the surname of the queens of Inys, a fictional queendom in the book.... [more]
BerlinSwedish Of uncertain origin. The name could be a shortened form of Berglin. It could also be a habitational name from the city in Germany or from a place in Sweden named with ber or berg "mountain"... [more]
BetschlaRomansh (Archaic) Derived from the Germanic name element beraht "bright". The name was replaced by the Italianized form Bezzola in the 18th century.
BettanyEnglish Variant of Betteley in the West Midlands and variant of Beatley in East England with /n/ substituted for /l/.
BhardwajIndian From Sanskrit bhāradvāja ‘descendant of bharadvāja’, bharadvāja meaning ‘one who has strength or vigor’ (a compound of bharat ‘bearing’ + vāja ‘vigor’). According to legend, Bharadvaja (bharadvāja) was the name of one of the great sages.
BhargavaIndian From Sanskrit bhārgava ‘(descendant) of Bhrigu’. Bhrigu is the name of one of the great sages of Hindu legend.
BhasinIndian, Hindi, Punjabi Believed to be derived from Sanskrit भानु (bhānu) meaning "ray of light" or "sun".
BhavarajuSanskrit It is a patronymic name, meaning it is from the father’s or ancestor’s name. It is derived from the Sanskrit words “bha,” which means “knowledge,” and “raja,” which means “king.” So, it means “king of knowledge” or “one who is knowledgeable.”
BholeGerman 1 North German: nickname for a male relative, colleague in a guild or fraternity, or lover, Middle Low German bōle.... [more]
BhuiyaBengali Bangladeshi: from Bengali bhuyyan ‘landlord’, ‘chieftain’. Bearers of this surname claim descent from one of the twelve chieftains (nine Muslims and three Hindus), who ruled the Sultanate of Bengal (1336–1576)... [more]
BhuttoSindhi Meaning uncertain. This is the name of a prominent Pakistani political family of Sindhi origin. Two of its members, ZulfikarAli Bhutto (1928-1979) and Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) served as prime ministers of Pakistan.
BiChinese Probably from the name of a people living to the west of China in ancient times, who integrated with the Han Chinese during the Han dynasty (206 bc–220 ad). The character also means ‘finish’, ‘conclude’.
BiaNavajo The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA") required all Indians to choose a family name. The Navajo family name Bia is derived from BIA ("Bureau of Indian Affairs")
BianChinese Romanization of a Chinese surname, which in Pinyin may be respectively Biàn, Biān or Biǎn. The former, written with the character 卞 means "to be impatient", "to be in a hurry" or "excitable" and is by far the most common... [more]
BiarujiaTaneraic This is the only existing surname derived from Javant Biarujia’s constructed personal language, Taneraic, which he created over several decades. The meaning is unknown.