English Submitted Surnames

English names are used in English-speaking countries. See also about English names.
usage
Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
Bassford English
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".
Bassy English
Variant of Basey.
Batchelor English, 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.
Bateman English, Scottish
Occupational name meaning ‘servant of Bartholomew.’
Batey English (?)
Originates from mostly northern England. Is the presumed given name to fishers. (With it meaning "Small fishing boat" in old English.)
Bathgate Scottish, 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).
Batt English
This is patronymic form of the medieval personal name "Batte", meaning "son of Batte", ... [more]
Battersby English
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]
Battye English (British)
A surname common in parts of Yorkshire. Meaning unknown.
Baucom English
Variant spelling of BALCOMBE, a habitational name from West Sussex derived from Old English bealu "evil" and cumb "valley".
Bax English
Possibly a short form of Baxter, or maybe from the Anglo-Saxon word box, referring to the box tree.
Baxendale English
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]
Baxley English
Variant of Bexley.
Bay English
From the Middle English given name Baye.
Bay English, 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.
Bayerstowe English
From a locational name from Bairstow in West Yorkshire, probably so-called from the Old English elements beger "berry" and stow place.
Bayles English
Variant of Bales.
Bayley English
Variant of Bailey.
Baylis English
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.
Beaber English (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.
Beach English
Name for someone living near a beach, stream, or beech tree.
Beachem English, African American
Variant of Beauchamp, reflecting its traditional English pronunciation.
Beacher English
Means "near the beech trees".
Beachum English (American)
Variant of Beauchamp, reflecting the traditional English pronunciation.
Beakley English
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.
Beals English
English: patronymic from Beal.
Beam English
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]
Beaman English
A beekeeper.
Beamish English
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]
Bear English
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]
Bearcub English (American, Rare)
Surname meaning a bear cub.
Beard English (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]
Bearden English
English habitational name, a variant of Barden, or from places in Devon and Cornwall called Beardon.
Beardmore English
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).
Bearn English
An old English name meaning "Son"
Beas English
Variant of Bees.
Beaton English
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]
Beats English
Variant of Beets.
Beauchamp English, 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".
Beauford English
Variation of Buford. It is derived from the French word "beau", meaning "beautiful", and "ford", an Old English word meaning "river crossing".
Beaufoy French (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]
Beauvoir English
From the surname of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), a French feminist and philosopher.
Bechet English
A famous bearer of this surname was Sidney Bechet (1897–1959), an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
Becker English
Occupational name for a maker or user of mattocks or pickaxes, from an agent derivative of Old English becca "mattock".
Beckett English
An Old English name simply meaning "beehive". Famous Irish playwrite Samuel Beckett bears this name.
Beckingham English
From the name of two villages in England, one in Lincolnshire and one in Nottinghamshire.
Beckley English
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]
Beckson English (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."
Beckwith English (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).
Becraft English (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’.
Beddall English (British, ?)
According to the Forebears website: ... [more]
Bedell English
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.
Bedford English
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.
Bedwell English
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.
Bedworth English
An English habitational surname from a place so named near Nuneaton, in Warwickshire, derived most likely from the Old English personal name Baeda (see Bede), suffixed with worþ, 'enclosure', denoting an enclosed area of land belonging to Baeda.
Bee English
From Middle English be meaning "bee", Old English beo, hence a nickname for an energetic or active person or a metonymic occupational name for a beekeeper.
Beech English
Dweller at the beech tree.
Beeden English (British)
Probably means "from Beeden", a village near Newbury in Berkshire. Ultimately coming from either Old English byden, meaning "shallow valley", or from the pre 7th century personal name Bucge with the suffix dun, meaning "hill of Bucge".
Beeler English
Anglicized spelling of German BIEHLER.
Beer English, 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]
Beerbrewer English
Means Brewer of Beer.
Beers English
Name for someone who lives in a grove of woods.
Beery English (American)
Americanized form of Swiss German Bieri.
Beever English
Yorkshire variant of Beaver.
Beihl English, German
Variant of Biehl, a short form of BIEHLER.
Belew English, Irish
variant spelling of Bellew.
Belgrave English
Aristocratic surname from French, meaning "beautiful grove"; comes from a place name in Leicestershire. A famous namesake is British polar explorer Belgrave Ninnis, who perished in Antarctica on a 1912 expedition.
Belladonna English (Rare), Popular Culture
Named after an extremely poisonous plant (Atropa belladonna; also known as the deadly nightshade). One fictional bearer of this surname is Blake Belladonna, a main character from the popular web series RWBY.
Belle English
Possibly a variant of Bell 1 or Bell 2.
Bellers English
Name came from the son of a French Noble born in Leicestershire, England. Hamon Bellers took his last name after the Kirby Bellers (Bellars) which was the name of the land given to him by his father.
Bellew English, Irish
Of Norman origin: habitational name from any of the various places in northern France, such as Belleu (Aisne), named in Old French with bel ‘beautiful’ + l(i)eu ‘place’, or from Belleau (Meurthe-et-Moselle), which is named with Old French bel ‘lovely’ + ewe ‘water’ (Latin aqua), or from Bellou (Calvados), which is probably named with a Gaulish word meaning ‘watercress’... [more]
Bellingham English
Habitational name from places called Bellingham.
Bellman Swedish, English
Swedish and English form of Bellmann. A notable bearer was Swedish composer, poet and entertainer Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795).
Bellman English
Occupational name for someone who worked as a bell-ringer.
Bellock English, Irish
Meaning "young bull". It was a nickname for energetic people, or those who owned bulls.
Bellringer English (British, Rare)
Occupational name for a person who rung bells (usually a church bell).
Belmont English
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").
Bendul English
Of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the parish of Benthall in Shropshire.
Benedict English
Of Latin origin. Due to an early association as a saint's name and a papal name, often said to mean "blessed." Originally the Latin elements are 'bene-' meaning "good" or as an adverb "well" plus '-dict,' meaning "spoken." Thus, the literal meaning is "well spoken." ... [more]
Benedictson English
English surname meaning "Son of Benedict"
Benfield English
habitational name from one or more of the numerous places in England called Benfield or Binfield which are named from Middle English bent "bent-grass" and feld "open country" or "land converted to arable use" (Old English beonet and feld).
Bengtson English, Swedish
Variant of the Swedish surname Bengtsson.
Benjamin English
From the given name Benjamin
Bennettson English
Means 'Son of Bennett'.
Benningfield English, Anglo-Saxon
Benningfield is believed to be either ... [more]
Bensen English
Related to Benson, meaning "Son of Ben"
Bentham English
Habitational name from any of various places named Bentham, from Old English beonet "bent grass" + ham "homestead" or hamm "enclosure hemmed in by water".
Beollan English, Irish, Scottish Gaelic
English: variant of Boland.... [more]
Beresford English
English: habitational name from a place in the parish of Alstonfield, Staffordshire named Beresford, from Old English beofor ‘beaver’ (or possibly from a byname from this word) + Old English ford ‘ford’... [more]
Berkeley English
From any of the locations called Berkeley derived the elements beorc "birch" and leah "clearing, wood" meaning "birch clearing"... [more]
Berlin German, English
Habitational name from the city in Germany, the name of which is of uncertain meaning. It is possibly derived from an Old Slavic stem berl- meaning swamp or from a West Slavic word meaning "river lake".
Bermingham English (Modern, Rare)
Bermingham is the Gaelicised version of 'De Birmingham' and is descended from the family of Warwickshire, England. The Irish version of the name MacFeorais/MacPheorais is derived from Pierce de Bermingham.
Bernal French, English, Dutch, Czech
Possibly a French, English, Dutch, and Czech version of Bernal or a variant of Bernard.
Bernath German, English
Derived from the name Bernhard.
Berner English, Norman
From the Norman personal name Bernier from Old English beornan ‘to burn’, hence an occupational name for a burner of lime (compare German Kalkbrenner) or charcoal... [more]
Bernett Scottish, English
Altered spelling of Scottish and English Burnett or French Bernet.
Berrick English
Variation of Barwick.
Berrycloth English (Rare)
This name is of English locational origin, from the place called Barrowclough near Halifax in West Yorkshire.
Berryhill English
A name for someone who worked as a servant at the manor house.
Bersford English (Canadian)
Named after the city 'Bersford'... [more]
Berson English
Means "son of Berry 1".
Berwick English, Scottish
Habitational name from Berwick-on-Tweed.
Bess English
Popularly grown surname from the diminuative form of "Elizabeth" during any time of a Queen Elizabeth
Beste French, English
Nickname from Middle English beste Old French beste "beast animal" (especially those used for food or work) applied either as a metonymic occupational name for someone who looked after beasts such as a herdsman or as a nickname for someone thought to resemble an animal... [more]
Beth English
From the given name Beth, itself a short form of Elizabeth and Bethany.
Bethany English
Possibly a topographic name derived from the Old English plant name betonice meaning "betony". The form of the name has been altered by folk association with the New Testament place name.
Bethel English, Welsh (Anglicized)
Anglicized form of Welsh ab Ithel "son of Ithel".
Bethencourt French, English, Portuguese (Rare)
Bettencourt and Bethencourt are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]
Beton English
Variant of Beeton.
Bettany English
Variant of Betteley in the West Midlands and variant of Beatley in East England with /n/ substituted for /l/.
Bettencourt French, English, Portuguese (Rare)
Bettencourt and Bethencourt are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]
Beveridge English
Derived from the town of Beverege or from the Old French beivre "drink", a nickname for a person who sealed contracts with a drink
Bexley English
Habitational name from Bexley (now Bexleyheath in Greater London), which was named from Old English byxe ‘box tree’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
Bible English
From the given name BIBEL or an altered spelling of German BIEBL.
Bickerman English
The toponym Bickerton is derived from the Old English beocere, which means bee-keeper, and tun, which originally denoted a fence or enclosure.
Bickham English
Habitational name from places so named in Devon and Somerset, most of which are most probably named with an Old English personal name Bicca and Old English cumb "valley". The first element could alternatively be from bica "pointed ridge".
Bicknell English (British)
Contracted form of the placename Bickenhill in Somerset, England.
Biddle English, Irish
Variant of English BEADLE or German BITTEL. The name is now popular in the north east region of America, where it was brought by English and Irish immigrants.
Biddulph English
From the name of a town in Staffordshire, England, derived from Old English meaning "beside" and dylf meaning "digging" (a derivative of delfan "to dig").
Bierce English, Welsh
English variant and Welsh form of Pierce. A famous bearer was the American author, journalist and poet Ambrose Bierce (1842-c. 1914), who wrote The Devil's Dictionary and other works... [more]
Bigelow English
Habitational name from a place in England called Big Low meaning "big mound".
Biggers Scottish, English
Possibly related to the Scottish place name Biggar in South Lanarkshire or the English place name Biggar in Cumbria
Biggins English
Habitational name from any of the various places in England named with northern Middle English bigging "building" (from Old Norse). This word came to denote especially an outbuilding, and is still used in and around Northumberland and Cumbria.
Biggs English
Derived from the ancient word, "bigga", meaning large.
Biglin English (British)
German origin, settled by a single farmer in East Yorkshire in 1750. The name comes from the phrase "big land" meaning someone who owns alot of land.
Billard English, German, French
From a short form of the personal name Robillard, a derivative of Robert.... [more]
Billingham English
A surname of English origin.
Billinghurst English
It indicates familial origin within the eponymous village in West Sussex.
Billings English
It comes from the old English bil, meaning "sword or halberd", though the word later came to refer to a pruning hook used to harvest fruit. It's also possible that the name comes from a location in ancient England called Billing, which would've gotten its name from the same source.
Billingsly English
Habitational name from a place in Shropshire named Billingsley, from Old English Billingesleah, probably 'clearing (Old English leah) near a sword-shaped hill'
Billson English
Means "Son of Bill."
Billy English
Derived from the given name Bill.
Bilson English
Patronymic surname of the given name Bill.
Binger English
Derived from the Old English name Binningas, which was a name for someone who lived near stables.
Bingham English
Ultimately deriving from the toponym of Melcombe Bingham in Dorset. The name was taken to Ireland in the 16th century, by Richard Bingham, a native of Dorset who was appointed governor of Connaught in 1584... [more]
Bingley English
Habitational surname for someone originally from the town of Bingley in West Yorkshire, England. The name is either derived from the given name Bynna combined with the suffix -inga meaning "the people of" or from the Old English elements bing meaning "hollow" and leah meaning "woodland, clearing".
Bink English
Topographic name for someone living by a bink, a northern dialect term for a flat raised bank of earth or a shelf of flat stone suitable for sitting on. The word is a northern form of modern English bench.
Binks English
Variant of Bink.
Birch English, German, Danish, Swedish (Rare)
From Middle High German birche, Old English birce, Old Danish birk, all meaning "birch". This was likely a topographic name for someone living by a birch tree or a birch forest... [more]
Birchall English
Probably a habitational name from Birchill in Derbyshire or Birchills in Staffordshire, both named in Old English with birce "birch" + hyll "hill".
Birchard English
From the Old English personal name, Burgheard. See also Burkett.
Birchfield English
Variant of English BURCHFIELD or an anglicized form of German BIRKENFELD.
Birdee English
Probably a variant spelling of English Burden .
Birdsong English
From the English words bird and song. Possibly an English translation of the German surname Vogelsang.
Birdwhistle English (Rare)
derived from whistling like a bird or the sound of the birds were sold.
Birket English
It's a locational surname taken from the village of Birket Houses in Lancashire.
Birkin English
The surname "Birkin" comes from a village in Yorkshire of the same name, first recorded as "Byrcene" in the Yorkshire charters of 1030, and as "Berchine" and "Berchinge" in the Domesday Book. The first known person with the surname "Birkin" was Jon de Birkin, a baron who lived in the late-11th century.
Birks English
Northern English variant of Birch.
Birmingham English
Indicates familial origin from Birmingham, England
Birne English, German, Jewish
Means "pear" in German, making it the German equivalent of Perry 1, perhaps originally referring to a person who harvested or sold pears... [more]
Birney English
Scottish: habitational name from a place in Morayshire, recorded in the 13th century as Brennach, probably from Gaelic braonach 'damp place'.
Bisbee English
Named after the city of Bisbee which is in Arizona.... [more]
Bisby Medieval Scottish, Medieval English, English (British), Scottish, English (Australian), Anglo-Norman
Either originating from the village Busby in historic county East Renfrewshire in Scotland, or Great Busby in Yorkshire. The place name is likely derived from the Norman buki, "shrub". See also Busby.
Bish English
Comes from the old English word bis meaning "dingy" or "murky". Was given to someone who dressed in drab or murky colors.
Bisley English (British)
Bisley is a locational surname from the village of Bisley in Surrey. It comes from the words biss meaning “water” and leah meaning “farm”.
Bitencourt Brazilian, Portuguese (Brazilian), French (Rare), English
BITENCOURT, derives from Bittencourt, Bettencourt and Bethencourt; They are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]
Bittaker English
Possibly an altered spelling of Whitaker. A infamous bearer was the American serial killer and rapist Lawrence Bittaker (1940-2019).
Bitterman English, German
Name given to a person who was bitter.
Bizley English (British)
A spelling variation of the surname Bisley.
Bizzell English
a corn merchant; one who made vessels designed to hold or measure out a bushel.
Bjorklund English (American)
Anglicized form of Swedish Björklund or Norwegian Bjørklund.
Blackberry English
English surname of unexplained origin, probably from the name of a lost or unidentified place.
Blacke English
Variant of Black.
Blackerby English, Irish, Scottish
English surname of unexplained origin, probably from the name of a lost or unidentified place.