CHESHIRE EnglishOriginally indicated a person from the county of Cheshire in England. Cheshire is named for its city
CHESTER.
CHESTER EnglishFrom the name of a city in England, derived from Latin
castrum "camp, fortress".
CHEVALIER FrenchFrom a nickname derived from French
chevalier meaning "knight", itself from
cheval meaning "horse", ultimately from Latin
caballus.
CHEVROLET FrenchFrom a diminutive of
chèvre meaning "goat", indicating a person who cultivated goats.
CHEY KhmerMeans "victory" in Khmer, from Sanskrit
जय (jaya).
CHMELA CzechDerived from Czech
chmel "hops", referring to a person who grew hops, a plant used in brewing beer.
CHURCH EnglishFrom the English word, derived from Old English
cirice, ultimately from Greek
κυριακον (kyriakon) meaning "(house) of the lord". It probably referred to a person who lived close to a church.
CINGOLANI ItalianFrom Cingoli, a town in the Marche region of Italy. It is derived from Latin
cingo "surround, ring".
CINO ItalianFrom the given name
Cino, a short form of names ending in
cino.
CISTERNINO ItalianFrom the name of the town of Cisternino, near the city of Bari in southern Italy.
ČÍŽEK CzechMeans "siskin" in Czech, referring to a type of bird in the finch family.
CLARK EnglishMeans "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.
CLAY EnglishMeans simply "clay", originally referring to a person who lived near or worked with of clay.
CLAYTON EnglishFrom the name of various places meaning "clay settlement" in Old English.
CLEMENS EnglishDerived from the given name
CLEMENT. This was the surname of the author Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), also known as Mark Twain.
CLIFFORD EnglishDerived from various place names that meant "ford by a cliff" in Old English.
CLIFTON EnglishDerived from various place names meaning "settlement by a cliff" in Old English.
CLINTON EnglishDerived from the place name
Glympton meaning "settlement on the River Glyme" in Old English.
CLOSE EnglishFrom Middle English
clos meaning "enclosure", a topographic name for someone who lived near a courtyard or farmyard.
CLOUTIER FrenchDerived from French
clou meaning "nail", referring to someone who made or sold nails.
COBB EnglishFrom a medieval English byname meaning "lump".
COCK EnglishDerived 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, EnglishOriginally indicated someone who came from Cockburn, a place in Berwickshire. The place name is derived from Old English
cocc "rooster" and
burna "stream".
CODY IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Cuidighthigh meaning "descendant of
CUIDIGHTHEACH". A famous bearer was the American frontiersman and showman Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917).
COELHO PortugueseFrom the Portuguese word for "rabbit", either a nickname or an occupational name referring to a hunter or seller of rabbits.
COHEN JewishMeans "priest" from Hebrew
כֹּהֵן (kohen). It originally denoted one of the priestly tribe of Levi.
COIRO ItalianFrom Italian
cuoio meaning "leather", ultimately from Latin
corium. This was an occupational surname for a leather worker or tanner.
COJOCARU RomanianFrom Romanian
cojoc meaning "sheepskin coat". This was an occupational name for a maker of these coats.
COLLINGWOOD EnglishFrom a place name, itself derived from Old French
chalenge meaning "disputed" and Middle English
wode meaning "woods".
COLLINS (1) IrishAnglicized form of
Ó COILEÁIN. A famous bearer was Michael Collins, an Irish nationalist leader who was assassinated in 1922.
COLOMBERA ItalianFrom a derivative of Italian
colomba "dove" indicating a house where doves were held.
COLOMBO ItalianEither 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.
COLQUHOUN ScottishFrom a place name meaning "narrow corner" or "narrow wood" in Gaelic.
COLT EnglishOccupational name for a keeper of horses, derived from Middle English
colt.
COMO (2) ItalianFrom 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 EnglishPossibly from the name of the River Culm in Devon, England. This name is seen in the Domesday book as Culmstoke or Colmstoke.
COMTOIS FrenchIndicated a person from Franche-Comté, a province in eastern France, which translates to "free county".
CONNER EnglishFrom Middle English
connere meaning "inspector", an occupational name for an inspector of weights and measures.
CONNOLLY IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Conghalaigh, which means "descendant of Conghalach".
Conghalach is a nickname meaning "valiant".
CONSTABLE EnglishFrom Old French
conestable, ultimately from Latin
comes stabuli meaning "officer of the stable".
CONTI ItalianFrom 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.
COOK EnglishDerived 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.
COOMBS EnglishFrom Old English
cumb meaning "valley", the name of several places in England.
COONEY IrishFrom Irish
Ó Cuana meaning "descendant of Cuana".
Cuana probably means "handsome, elegant". The Cooney sept originated in County Tyrone.
CORCORAN IrishFrom Irish
Ó Corcráin meaning "descendant of Corcrán", a given name derived from the Gaelic word
corcair "purple".
COREY EnglishDerived from the Old Norse given name
Kóri, of unknown meaning.
CORNA ItalianDerived from the names of places in northern Italy, especially Lombardy, from a word that means "crag, cliff" in the Lombard dialect.
CORNETT EnglishDerived from Old French
cornet meaning "horn", referring to one who worked as a horn blower.
CORVI ItalianNickname derived from Italian
corvo meaning "crow".
CORWIN EnglishDerived from Old French
cordoan "leather", ultimately from the name of the Spanish city of Cordova.
COSTA Portuguese, Italian, CatalanMeans "riverbank, slope, coast" in Portuguese, Italian and Catalan, ultimately from Latin meaning "side, edge".
COTTERILL EnglishDerived from Middle English
cotter meaning "cottager", referring to a small tenant farmer.
COUCH CornishFrom Cornish
cough "red", indicating the original bearer had red hair.
COUPE EnglishFrom Middle English
coupe meaning "barrel", a name for a barrel maker or cooper.
COURTENAY (1) EnglishFrom the name of towns in France that were originally derivatives of the Gallo-Roman personal name
Curtenus, itself derived from Latin
curtus "short".
COUTTS ScottishFrom the name of the town of Cults in Aberdeenshire, derived from a Gaelic word meaning "woods".
COWDEN EnglishFrom various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.
COY EnglishMeans "quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English
coi.
CRACCHIOLO ItalianDerived from Italian
cracchiola, referring to a chicory-like vegetable.
CRAIG ScottishDerived from Gaelic
creag meaning "crag, rocks", originally belonging to a person who lived near a crag.
CRAWFORD EnglishFrom a place name derived from Old English
crawa "crow" and
ford "river crossing".
CREMASCHI ItalianFrom the name of the city of Crema in Lombardy, northern Italy.
CREMONA ItalianFrom the Italian city of Cremona, south of Milan, in Lombardy.
CREWE EnglishOriginally denoted someone from Crewe in Cheshire, which is from Welsh
criu "weir, dam, fish trap".
CROFT EnglishFrom Old English
croft meaning "enclosed field".
CROPPER EnglishOccupational name derived from Middle English
croppe "crop", referring to a fruit picker or a crop reaper.
CROSS EnglishLocative name meaning "cross", ultimately from Latin
crux. It denoted one who lived near a cross symbol or near a crossroads.
CRUYSSEN DutchFrom the name of a place in the Netherlands, derived from
kruis "cross".
ČTVRTNÍK CzechDerived 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.
CUÉLLAR SpanishDerived from the name of the town of Cuéllar in the Segovia province of Spain. It may be derived from Latin
collis meaning "hill".
CULLEN (1) EnglishFrom the name of the German city of
Cologne, which was derived from Latin
colonia "colony".
CUNNINGHAM ScottishFrom the name of place in the Ayrshire district of Scotland. It possibly comes from Gaelic
cuinneag meaning "milk pail".
CURTIS EnglishNickname for a courteous person from Old French
curteis meaning "refined".
CZAJKOWSKI PolishOriginally indicated a person from any of the Polish towns named Czajków, all derived from Polish
czajka meaning "lapwing (bird)".
DAALMANS DutchOriginally indicated a person who lived in a valley, from Dutch
dal meaning "dale, valley" and
man meaning "man".
DAHL Norwegian, Swedish, DanishFrom 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 SwedishFrom Swedish
dal meaning "dale, valley" and
man meaning "man".
DALE EnglishFrom Old English
dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.
DALGAARD DanishFrom Old Norse
dalr meaning "valley" and
garðr meaning "yard, farmstead".
DALÍ SpanishFrom 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).
DALTON EnglishDerived 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 IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Dálaigh meaning "descendant of
DÁLACH".
DAM Dutch, DanishMeans "dike, dam" in Dutch and Danish. In modern Danish it also means "pond".
D'ARAMITZ FrenchOriginally denoted one who came from Aramits, the name of a town in the French Pyrenees that is possibly derived from Basque
haran meaning "valley".
DARBY EnglishFrom the name of the town
Derby meaning "deer farm" in Old Norse.
DARRELL EnglishOriginally denoted one who came from the town of Airel in Normandy, derived from Late Latin
arealis meaning "open space".
DARROW ScottishHabitational name from Darroch near Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, said to be named from Gaelic
darach meaning "oak tree".
DAUBNEY EnglishFrom any of the various towns in France called Aubigny, derived from the Gallo-Roman personal name
ALBINUS.
DAVIS English, ScottishMeans "son of
DAVID". This was the surname of the revolutionary jazz trumpet player Miles Davis (1926-1991).
DEAN (2) EnglishOccupational surname meaning "dean", referring to a person who either was a dean or worked for one. It is from Middle English
deen (ultimately from Latin
decanus meaning "chief of ten").
DEBENHAM EnglishOriginally denoted a person from the town of Debenham in Suffolk, derived from the name of the River Deben (meaning "deep" in Old English) combined with
ham meaning "home, settlement".
DE CAMPO ItalianLocative surname derived from place names called Campo (meaning "field").
DEERING EnglishFrom the Old English given name
Deora meaning "dear, beloved".
DEGARMO FrenchAmericanized form of French
de Garmeaux, which may derive from a place called Garmeaux in Normandy.
DELACROIX FrenchMeans "of the cross" in French. It denoted one who lived near a cross symbol or near a crossroads.