All Surnames

Cassidy Irish
From Irish Ó Caiside meaning "descendant of Caiside". Caiside is a given name meaning "curly haired".

Castell Catalan
Catalan cognate of Castle.

Castellano Spanish
Variant of Castilla.

Castelo Portuguese
Portuguese cognate of Castle.

Castilla Spanish
Originally indicated a person from Castile, a region (and medieval kingdom) in Spain. The name of the region is derived from Late Latin castellum meaning "castle".

Castillo Spanish
Spanish cognate of Castle.

Castle English
From Middle English castel meaning "castle", from Late Latin castellum, originally indicating a person who lived near a castle.

Castro Spanish, Portuguese
Means "castle" in Spanish and Portuguese, referring to one who lived near a castle.

Catalán Spanish
Originally indicated a person who came from Catalonia, a region of eastern Spain.

Catalano Italian
Italian form of Catalán.

Cattaneo Italian
Variant of Capitani used in Lombardy.

Caulfield English
From a place name meaning "cold field", from Old English ceald "cold" and feld "pasture, field".

Causer English
Occupational name for one who made leggings, derived from Old French chausse "leggings".

Causey English
Indicated a person who lived near a causeway, from Old French caucie.

Cavalcante Italian
Derived from Italian cavalcare "to ride".

Cavallo Italian
Means "horse" in Italian, an occupational name for a horseman.

Cavan Irish
Anglicized form of the Irish Ó Caoimháin meaning "descendant of Caomhán".

Cavanagh Irish
Variant of Kavanagh.

Cavanah Irish
Variant of Kavanagh.

Cavanaugh Irish
Variant of Kavanagh.

Cavey Irish
Possibly an Anglicized form of Mac Daibhéid.

Čech Czech
Means "Czech". The name was used to differentiate a native of Bohemia from the natives of Silesia, Moravia and other regions that are now part of the Czech Republic.

Cecil Welsh
From the Welsh given name Seisyll, which was derived from the Roman name Sextilius, a derivative of Sextus.

Ceelen Dutch
Derived from the given name Ceel.

Čermák Czech
Means "redstart (bird)" in Czech.

Cermak Czech
Anglicized form of Čermák.

Černík Czech
Variant of Černý.

Černý Czech
Means "black" in Czech.

Cervantes Spanish
Possibly from Old Spanish servanto meaning "servant" or ciervo meaning "stag". A famous bearer was the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616).

Červenka Czech
Variant of Červeny.

Červeny Czech
Means "red" in Czech.

Chadwick English
From the name of English towns meaning "settlement belonging to Chad" in Old English.

Chai Chinese
From Chinese 柴 (chái) meaning "firewood".

Chaikin Yiddish
From a diminutive of the given name Chaya.

Chalupa Czech
Means "cottage" in Czech.

Chalupník Czech
Derived from Czech chalupa meaning "cottage". The name referred to a peasant farmer who owned a very small piece of land.

Chamberlain English
Occupational name for one who looked after the inner rooms of a mansion, from Norman French chambrelain.

Chambers English
From Old French chambre meaning "chamber, room", an occupational name for a person who worked in the inner rooms of a mansion.

Chan Chinese (Cantonese)
Cantonese romanization of Chen.

Chance English
From a nickname for a lucky person or a gambler.

Chancellor English
Occupational name for an administrator, a chancellor, from Norman French chancelier.

Chandler English
Occupational name meaning "candle seller" or "candle maker" in Middle English, ultimately derived from Old French.

Chang Chinese
Alternate transcription of Chinese 张 (see Zhang).

Chaplin English, French
Occupational name for a chaplin, or perhaps for the servant of one, from Middle English, Old French chapelain. A famous bearer was the British comic actor Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977).

Chapman English
Occupational name derived from Old English ceapmann meaning "merchant, trader".

Chaput French
From a diminutive of the Old French word chape meaning "cloak, hood". The name referred to a person who made, sold or often wore cloaks.

Charbonneau French
Derived from a diminutive form of French charbon "charcoal", a nickname for a person with black hair or a dark complexion.

Charles French
From the given name Charles.

Charmchi Persian
Means "leather worker" in Persian, from چرم (charm) meaning "leather" combined with چی (chi), denoting an occupation.

Charpentier French
French cognate of Carpenter, derived from Old French charpentier.

Charron French
Meant "cart" in Old French, used to denote a carter or a cartwright.

Chase English
Occupational name for a hunter, from Middle English chase "hunt".

Chastain French
From Old French castan "chestnut tree" (Latin castanea), a name for someone who lived near a particular chestnut tree, or possibly a nickname for someone with chestnut-coloured hair.

Chaudhari Indian, Marathi, Gujarati
Alternate transcription of Marathi चौधरी or Gujarati ચૌધરી (see Chaudhary).

Chaudhary Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Nepali
From a title meaning "holder of four", from Sanskrit चतुर् (chatur) meaning "four" and धुरीय (dhuriya) meaning "bearing a burden".

Chaudhri Indian, Hindi
Alternate transcription of Hindi चौधरी (see Chaudhary).

Chaudhuri Bengali
Alternate transcription of Bengali চৌধুরী (see Chowdhury).

Chauvin French
From a diminutive of French chauve "bald".

Chavarría Spanish
Variant of Echeverría.

Chavdarov Bulgarian
Means "son of Chavdar".

Chaves Portuguese, Spanish
From the name of a Portuguese city, derived from the Roman name Flavius (being named for the emperor Vespasian, whose family name was Flavius).

Chávez Spanish
Variant of Chaves. A famous bearer was the labour leader César Chávez (1927-1993).

Chayka Ukrainian
Means "seagull" in Ukrainian.

Chaykovsky Russian
Russian form of Chayka. A famous bearer was the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Chaykovsky (1840-1893), with the surname commonly Romanized as Tchaikovsky.

Chen Chinese
From Chinese 陈 (chén) meaning "exhibit, display, old, ancient" and also referring to the former state of Chen, which existed in what is now Henan province from the 11th to 5th centuries BC.

Cheshire English
Originally indicated a person from the county of Cheshire in England. Cheshire is named for its city Chester.

Chester English
From the name of a city in England, derived from Latin castrum "camp, fortress".

Cheung Chinese (Cantonese)
Cantonese romanization of Zhang.

Chevalier French
From a nickname derived from French chevalier meaning "knight", from Late Latin caballarius "horseman", Latin caballus "horse".

Chevrolet French
From a diminutive of chèvre meaning "goat", indicating a person who cultivated goats.

Chey Khmer
Means "victory" in Khmer, from Sanskrit जय (jaya).

Chia Chinese (Hokkien)
Hokkien romanization of Xie.

Chiba Japanese
From Japanese 千 (chi) meaning "thousand" and 葉 (ha) meaning "leaf".

Chilikov Bulgarian
Patronymic derived from Bulgarian челик (chelik) meaning "steel" (of Turkish origin).

Chlebek Polish
From Polish chleb "bread", used to denote a baker.

Chmela Czech
Derived from Czech chmel "hops", referring to a person who grew hops, a plant used in brewing beer.

Chmiel Polish
Polish cognate of Chmela, from Polish chmiel.

Cho Korean
Korean form of Zhao, from Sino-Korean 趙 (jo).

Choe Korean
Variant romanization of Choi.

Choi Korean
From Sino-Korean 崔 (choe) meaning "high, lofty, towering".

Chong Chinese (Cantonese)
Cantonese romanization of Zhang.

Chou Chinese
Alternate transcription of Chinese 周 (see Zhou).

Choudhary Indian, Hindi, Marathi
Alternate transcription of Hindi/Marathi चौधरी (see Chaudhary).

Choudhury Bengali
Alternate transcription of Bengali চৌধুরী (see Chowdhury).

Chow Chinese
Alternate transcription of Chinese 周 (see Zhou).

Chowdhury Bengali
Bengali form of Chaudhary.

Christensen Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of Christen 1".

Christian English, French, German
Derived from the given name Christian.

Christians English
Derived from the given name Christian.

Christiansen Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of Christian".

Christianson English
Means "son of Christian".

Christinsen English
Means "son of Christian".

Christison English
Means "son of Christian".

Christoffersen Danish
Means "son of Christoffer".

Christopher English
Derived from the given name Christopher.

Christophers English
Derived from the given name Christopher.

Christopherson English
Means "son of Christopher".

Chu Chinese
Alternate transcription of Chinese 朱 (see Zhu).

Chung Korean
Alternate transcription of Korean Hangul 정 (see Jeong).

Church English
From the English word, derived from Old English cirice, ultimately from Greek κυριακόν (kyriakon) meaning "(house) of the lord". It probably referred to a person who lived close to a church.

Chvátal Czech
Derived from chvátat meaning "to hurry".

Čiernik Slovak
Slovak cognate of Černý.

Cinege Hungarian
Means "titmouse bird" in Hungarian.

Cingolani Italian
From Cingoli, a town in the Marche region of Italy. It is derived from Latin cingo "surround, ring".

Cino Italian
From the given name Cino, a short form of names ending in cino.

Ciobanu Romanian
From Romanian cioban meaning "shepherd".

Cipriani Italian
From the given name Cipriano.

Cisternino Italian
From the name of the town of Cisternino, near the city of Bari in southern Italy.

Čížek Czech
Means "siskin" in Czech, referring to a type of bird in the finch family.

Čížik Slovak
Slovak cognate of Čížek.

Claasen Dutch
Means "son of Klaas".

Clacher Scottish
From Scottish Gaelic clachair meaning "stonemason".

Claes Flemish
From the given name Klaus.

Claesson Swedish
Means "son of Claes".

Clark English
Means "cleric" or "scribe", from Old English clerec meaning "priest", ultimately from Latin clericus. A famous bearer was William Clark (1770-1838), an explorer of the west of North America.

Clarke English
Variant of Clark.

Clarkson English
Patronymic form of Clark.

Clausen Danish
Means "son of Claus".

Clay English
Means simply "clay", originally referring to a person who lived near or worked with of clay.

Clayton English
From the name of various places meaning "clay settlement" in Old English.

Cleary Irish
From Irish cléireach meaning "clerk" (see Clark).

Clemens English
Derived from the given name Clement. This was the surname of the author Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), also known as Mark Twain.

Clemensen Danish
Means "son of Clemens".

Clément French
Derived from the given name Clément.

Clement English
Derived from the given name Clement.

Clery Irish
Variant of Cleary.

Clifford English
Derived from various place names that meant "ford by a cliff" in Old English.

Clifton English
Derived from various place names meaning "settlement by a cliff" in Old English.

Cline German, Jewish
Anglicized spelling of Klein.

Clinton English
Derived from the place name Glympton meaning "settlement on the River Glyme" in Old English. This surname is borne by former American president Bill Clinton (1946-).

Cloet Dutch
Variant of Kloet.

Close English
From Middle English clos meaning "enclosure", a topographic name for someone who lived near a courtyard or farmyard.

Cloutier French
Derived from French clou meaning "nail", referring to someone who made or sold nails.

Cobb English
From a medieval English byname meaning "lump".

Coburn Scottish, English
Variant of Cockburn.

Cock English
Derived from the medieval nickname cok meaning "rooster, cock". The nickname was commonly added to given names to create diminutives such as Hancock or Alcock.

Cockburn Scottish, English
Originally indicated someone who came from Cockburn, a place in Berwickshire. The place name is derived from Old English cocc "rooster" and burna "stream".

Cocks English
Patronymic form of Cock.

Cody Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cuidighthigh meaning "descendant of Cuidightheach". A famous bearer was the American frontiersman and showman Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917).

Coelho Portuguese
From the Portuguese word for "rabbit", either a nickname or an occupational name referring to a hunter or seller of rabbits.

Coello Galician
Galician cognate of Coelho.

Coeman Dutch
Variant of Koopman.

Coemans Dutch
Variant of Koopman.

Coenen Dutch
Derived from the given name Coenraad.

Coghlan Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Cochláin.

Cohen Jewish
Means "priest" from Hebrew כֹּהֵן (kohen). It originally denoted one of the priestly tribe of Levi.

Coiro Italian
From Italian cuoio meaning "leather", ultimately from Latin corium. This was an occupational surname for a leather worker or tanner.

Cojocaru Romanian
From Romanian cojoc meaning "sheepskin coat". This was an occupational name for a maker of these coats.

Coke English
Variant of Cook.

Cokes English
Variant of Cook.

Cola Italian
From the given name Nicola 1.

Colbert English, French
Derived from the given name Colobert.

Cole English
From the Old English byname Cola.

Coleman Irish, English
From the given name Colmán.

Colijn Dutch
From a diminutive of the given name Nicolaas.

Colin French
From a diminutive of given name Nicolas.

Collingwood English
From a place name, itself derived from Old French chalenge meaning "disputed" and Middle English wode meaning "woods".

Collins 1 Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Coileáin. A famous bearer was Michael Collins, an Irish nationalist leader who was assassinated in 1922.

Collins 2 English
Means "son of Colin 2".

Colombera Italian
From a derivative of Italian colomba "dove" indicating a house where doves were held.

Colombo Italian
Either 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.

Colón Spanish
Spanish form of Colombo.

Colquhoun Scottish
From a place name meaning "narrow corner" or "narrow wood" in Gaelic.

Colt English
Occupational name for a keeper of horses, derived from Middle English colt.

Colton English
From a place name meaning "Cola's town".

Columbo Italian
Variant of Colombo.

Combs English
Variant of Coombs.

Como 1 Italian
From the given name Giacomo.

Como 2 Italian
From 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".

Comstock English
Possibly from the name of the River Culm in Devon, England. This name is seen in the Domesday book as Culmstoke or Colmstoke.

Comtois French
Indicated a person from Franche-Comté, a province in eastern France, which translates to "free county".

Confortola Italian
From the old Italian given name Conforto meaning "comfort".

Connell Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Conaill meaning "descendant of Conall".

Connelly Irish
Variant of Connolly.

Conner English
From Middle English connere meaning "inspector", an occupational name for an inspector of weights and measures.

Connery Irish
Variant of Conroy.

Connolly Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Conghalaigh, which means "descendant of Conghalach". Conghalach is a nickname meaning "valiant".

Connor Irish
Variant of O'Connor.

Conroy Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Conaire, which means "descendant of Conaire". Conaire is a nickname meaning "hound keeper".

Constable English
From Old French conestable, ultimately from Latin comes stabuli meaning "officer of the stable".

Constantin Romanian
From the given name Constantin.

Constantinescu Romanian
Means "son of Constantin".

Constantino Portuguese
From the given name Constantino.

Conti Italian
From the Italian noble title conte meaning "count", derived from Latin comes. It denoted a person who worked for a count or, in rare cases, was a count.

Contreras Spanish
From the name of a town in Burgos, Spain, derived from Late Latin contraria meaning "area opposite".

Cook English
Derived from Old English coc meaning "cook", ultimately from Latin coquus. It was an occupational name for a cook, a man who sold cooked meats, or a keeper of an eating house.

Cooke English
Variant of Cook.

Cookson English
Patronymic form of Cook.

Coolen Dutch
From the given name Nicolaas.

Coombs English
From Old English cumb meaning "valley", the name of several places in England.

Cooney Irish
From Irish Ó Cuana meaning "descendant of Cuana". Cuana probably means "handsome, elegant". The Cooney sept originated in County Tyrone.

Cooper English
Means "barrel maker", from Middle English couper.

Copperfield Literature
Created from the English words copper and field by the author Charles Dickens, who used it for the title character in his novel David Copperfield (1850).

Coppola Italian
From the name of a type of hat characteristic of Sicily and southern Italy. This surname indicated a person who wore or made these hats.

Corcoran Irish
From Irish Ó Corcráin meaning "descendant of Corcrán", a given name derived from the Gaelic word corcair "purple".

Corey English
Derived from the Old Norse given name Kóri, of unknown meaning.

Corleone Sicilian, Literature
From the name of the town of Corleone in Sicily, which is of uncertain meaning. This surname is well known from the novel The Godfather (1969) by Mario Puzo, as well as the films based on his characters. The story tells how Vito Andolini comes to America from Sicily, receiving the new surname Corleone at Ellis Island, and starts a criminal empire based in New York.

Corna Italian
Derived from the names of places in northern Italy, especially Lombardy, from a word that means "crag, cliff" in the Lombard dialect.

Cornell English
Derived from the given name Cornelius.

Cornett English
Derived from Old French cornet meaning "horn", referring to one who worked as a horn blower.

Corrà Italian
From a short form of the given name Corrado.

Cortés Spanish
Means "polite, courteous" in Spanish.

Cortez Spanish
Variant of Cortés.

Corti Italian
From Italian corte meaning "court, yard".

Corvi Italian
Nickname derived from Italian corvo meaning "crow".

Corwin English
Derived from Old French cordoan "leather", ultimately from the name of the Spanish city of Cordova.

Cory English
Variant of Corey.

Ćosić Croatian, Serbian
From Croatian and Serbian ćosav "beardless", ultimately from Persian کوسه (koseh) meaning "shark".

Costa Portuguese, Italian, Catalan
Means "riverbank, slope, coast" in Portuguese, Italian and Catalan, ultimately from Latin meaning "side, edge".

Costantini Italian
From the given name Costantino.

Costanzo Italian
From the given name Costanzo.

Coste French
French form of Costa.

Côté French
French form of Costa.

Cotterill English
Derived from Middle English cotter meaning "cottager", referring to a small tenant farmer.

Couch Cornish
From Cornish cough "red", indicating the original bearer had red hair.

Coughlan Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Cochláin.

Coughlin Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Cochláin.

Coumans Dutch
Variant of Koopman.

Coupe English
From Middle English coupe meaning "barrel", a name for a barrel maker or cooper.

Courtemanche French
Means "short sleeve" in French.

Courtenay 1 English
From the name of towns in France that were originally derivatives of the Gallo-Roman personal name Curtenus, itself derived from Latin curtus "short".

Courtenay 2 English
From the Old French nickname court nes meaning "short nose".

Courtney English
Variant of Courtenay 1 or Courtenay 2.

Courtois French
French form of Curtis.

Cousineau French
Derived from Old French cosin meaning "cousin".

Coutts Scottish
From the name of the town of Cults in Aberdeenshire, derived from a Gaelic word meaning "woods".

Couture French
Means "tailor" in Old French.

Cowden English
From various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.

Cox English
Patronymic form of Cock.

Coy English
Means "quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English coi.

Cracchiolo Italian
Derived from Italian cracchiola, referring to a chicory-like vegetable.

Craig Scottish
Derived from Gaelic creag meaning "crag, rocks", originally belonging to a person who lived near a crag.

Crawford English
From a place name derived from Old English crawa "crow" and ford "river crossing".

Cremaschi Italian
From the name of the city of Crema in Lombardy, northern Italy.

Cremona Italian
From the Italian city of Cremona, south of Milan, in Lombardy.

Cremonesi Italian
From the name of the Italian city of Cremona in Lombardy.

Crespi Italian
Variant of Crespo.

Crespo Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
Referred to a person with curly hair, from Latin crispus meaning "curly".

Crewe English
Originally denoted someone from Crewe in Cheshire, which is from Welsh criu "weir, dam, fish trap".

Crisp English
English cognate of Crespo.

Crnčević Serbian, Croatian
Derived from Serbian and Croatian црн (crn) meaning "black".

Croce Italian
Italian form of Cross.

Crocetti Italian
Italian diminutive form of Croce.

Croft English
From Old English croft meaning "enclosed field".

Cropper English
Occupational name derived from Middle English croppe "crop", referring to a fruit picker or a crop reaper.

Cross English
Locative name meaning "cross", ultimately from Latin crux. It denoted one who lived near a cross symbol or near a crossroads.

Crouch English
Variant of Cross.

Cruickshank Scottish
From a nickname meaning "bent leg" in Scots.

Crusan Dutch
Anglicized form of Cruyssen.

Cruyssen Dutch
From the name of a place in the Netherlands, derived from kruis "cross".

Cruz Spanish, Portuguese
Spanish and Portuguese cognate of Cross.

Császár Hungarian
Hungarian form of Kaiser.

Cseh Hungarian
Means "Czech" in Hungarian.

Csintalan Hungarian
Means "mischievous, naughty" in Hungarian.

Csizmadia Hungarian
Means "bootmaker" in Hungarian.

Csonka Hungarian
Means "maimed, mutilated" in Hungarian.

Csorba Hungarian
From a nickname meaning "chipped, jagged" in Hungarian.

Čtvrtník Czech
Derived from Czech čtvrtlán meaning "one quarter of a lán", where a lán is a medieval Czech measure of land (approximately 18 hectares). The name denoted someone who owned this much land.

Cucinotta Italian
Derived from a diminutive of Italian cucina meaning "kitchen".

Cuéllar Spanish
Derived from the name of the town of Cuéllar in the Segovia province of Spain. It may be derived from Latin collis meaning "hill".

Cuesta Spanish
Spanish form of Costa.

Cuevas Spanish
Derived from Spanish cueva meaning "cave".

Cuijper Dutch
Variant of Kuiper.

Cuijpers Dutch
Variant of Kuiper.

Cullen 1 English
From the name of the German city of Cologne, which was derived from Latin colonia "colony".

Cullen 2 Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Coileáin or Ó Cuilinn.

Cummings English
Variant of Cummins.

Cummins English, Scottish, Irish
From the Old Breton given name Cunmin, a cognate of Cuimín, introduced to Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest.

Cunningham 1 Scottish
From the name of place in the Ayrshire district of Scotland. It possibly comes from Gaelic cuinneag meaning "milk pail".

Cunningham 2 Irish
From Irish Ó Cuinneagáin meaning "descendant of Cuinneagán", a diminutive of Conn.

Cuocco Italian
Italian cognate of Cook.

Cuoco Italian
Italian cognate of Cook.

Curran Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Corraidhín meaning "descendant of Corraidhín".

Curry Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Comhraidhe or Ó Corra.

Curtis English
Nickname for a courteous person, derived from Old French curteis meaning "refined, courtly".

Cuyper Dutch
Variant of Kuiper.

Cuypers Dutch
Variant of Kuiper.

Cvetkov Bulgarian
Alternate transcription of Bulgarian Цветков (see Tsvetkov).

Czajka Polish
Means "lapwing (bird)" in Polish.

Czajkowski Polish
Originally indicated a person from any of the Polish towns named Czajków, all derived from Polish czajka meaning "lapwing (bird)".

Czinege Hungarian
Variant of Cinege.

Daalman Dutch
Variant of Daalmans.

Daalmans Dutch
Originally indicated a person who lived in a valley, from Dutch dal meaning "dale, valley" and man meaning "man".

Dabney English
Variant of Daubney.

Da Costa Portuguese
Variant of Costa.

Daelman Dutch
Variant of Daalmans.

Daelmans Dutch
Variant of Daalmans.

D'Agostino Italian
From the given name Agostino.

Dahl Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
From Old Norse dalr meaning "valley". A famous of this surname was author Roald Dahl (1916-1990) who is mostly remembered for children's stories such as Matilda and Henry Sugar.

Dahlman Swedish
From Swedish dal (Old Norse dalr) meaning "dale, valley" and man (Old Norse maðr) meaning "man".

Dahlmans Dutch
Variant of Daalmans.

Dalca Romanian
Meaning uncertain.

Dale English
From Old English dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.

Daley Irish
Variant of Daly.

Dalgaard Danish
From Old Norse dalr meaning "valley" and garðr meaning "yard, farmstead".

Dalí Spanish
From a given name, itself a diminutive of names beginning with the Germanic element adal meaning "noble". This was the surname of the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (1904-1989).

Dallas 1 English
From Old English dæl meaning "valley" and hus meaning "house".

Dallas 2 Scottish
From the name of a place in Moray, Scotland possibly meaning "meadow dwelling" in Gaelic.

Dalton English
Derived from a place name meaning "valley town" in Old English. A notable bearer of the surname was the English chemist and physicist John Dalton (1766-1844).

Daly Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dálaigh meaning "descendant of Dálach".