Browse Surnames

Aarden Dutch
From Dutch aarden meaning "earthen, clay". It denoted a person who worked with clay.

Aiza Spanish, Basque
From Basque aitz meaning "rock, stone".

Aoki Japanese
From Japanese 青 (ao) meaning "green, blue" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".

Arena Italian
Italian cognate of Arenas.

Arenas Spanish
From various Spanish place names, which are derived from Spanish arena meaning "sand".

Argyris m Greek
Means "silver" in Greek.

Attwood English
Variant of Atwood.

Atwood English
From Middle English meaning "dweller at the wood".

Bandoni Italian
From Italian bandone meaning "sheet of iron".

Barros Portuguese, Spanish
From the Portuguese and Spanish word barro meaning "clay, mud". This could either be an occupational name for a person who worked with clay or mud such as a builder or artisan, or a topographic name for someone living near clay or mud.

Blackwood English, Scottish
From an English place name meaning "black wood".

Blecher German
Occupational name for someone who worked with tin or sheet metal, from German blech "tin".

Blumstein Jewish
Ornamental name meaning "flower stone" in German.

Borde French
From Old French bord meaning "board, plank", derived from Frankish *bord. This name belonged to a person who lived in a house made of planks.

Bosch 1 Dutch, Low German
Derived from Middle Dutch bosch meaning "wood, forest".

Bourdillon French
Diminutive form of Borde.

Bourreau 1 French
Variant of Bureau.

Boyce English
From Old French bois meaning "wood", originally given to someone who lived by or in a wood.

Brasher English
Means "brass worker", derived from Old English bræs "brass".

Buchholz German
From Middle High German buoche "beech" and holz "wood".

Bureau French
From Old French burel, a diminutive of bure, a type of woollen cloth. It may have originated as a nickname for a person who dressed in the material or as an occupational name for someone who worked with it.

Burrell English
English form of Bureau.

Carbone Italian
From a nickname for a person with dark features, from Italian carbone meaning "coal".

Carboni Italian
Variant of Carbone.

Çelik Turkish
Occupational name for a metalworker, meaning "steel" in Turkish.

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

Chilikov m Bulgarian
Derived from Bulgarian челик (chelik) meaning "steel" (of Turkish origin).

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.

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).

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

Demir Turkish
Means "iron" in Turkish, originally referring to an ironworker.

Demirci Turkish
Means "blacksmith" in Turkish.

Desroches French
Means "from the rocks", from French roche "rock".

Draper English
Occupational name for a maker or seller of woollen cloth, from Anglo-Norman French draper (Old French drapier, an agent derivative of drap "cloth").

Dyer English
Occupational name meaning "cloth dyer", from Old English deah "dye".

Eckstein German
From Old High German ekka meaning "edge, corner" and stein meaning "stone".

Einstein Jewish
Ornamental name derived from German ein "one" and stein "stone". A famous bearer was the German physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Emerson English
Means "son of Emery". The surname was borne by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American writer and philosopher who wrote about transcendentalism.

Farran English
Derived from Old French ferrant meaning "iron grey".

Ferrara Italian
Italian form of Ferreira.

Ferreira Portuguese, Galician
Denoted a person from a town named because it was near an iron mine, from Latin ferrum meaning "iron".

Ferreyra Portuguese, Galician
Variant of Ferreira.

Ferri Italian
Variant of Ferro.

Ferro Italian, Spanish
Means "iron", ultimately from Latin ferrum. This was an occupational name for one who worked with iron.

Fierro Spanish, Italian
Variant of Ferro.

Flintstone Popular Culture
From the English words flint and stone, created by Hanna-Barbera Productions for the caveman family (Fred, Wilma and Pebbles) in their animated television show The Flintstones, which ran from 1960 to 1966.

Frankenstein German, Literature
From any of the various minor places by this name in Germany, meaning "stone of the Franks" in German. It was used by the author Mary Shelley in her novel Frankenstein (1818) for the character of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a monster and brings it to life. The monster, nameless in the novel, is sometimes informally or erroneously called Frankenstein in modern speech.

Glas German, Dutch
German and Dutch cognate of Glass.

Glass English, German
From Old English glæs or Old High German glas meaning "glass". This was an occupational name for a glass blower or glazier.

Glazier English
Means "glass worker, glazier", from Old English glæs meaning "glass".

Gold English, German, Jewish
From Old English and Old High German gold meaning "gold", an occupational name for someone who worked with gold or a nickname for someone with yellow hair. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.

Goldhirsch Jewish
Means "golden stag" in Yiddish.

Goldschmidt German
Occupational name meaning "goldsmith" in German.

Greenwood English
Topographic name for someone who lived in or near a lush forest, from Old English grene "green" and wudu "wood".

Hallman Swedish
From Swedish hall (Old Norse hallr) meaning "rock, boulder, slab" and man (Old Norse maðr) meaning "person, man".

Harlow English
Habitational name derived from a number of locations named Harlow, from Old English hær "rock, heap of stones" or here "army", combined with hlaw "hill".

Haywood English
From various place names meaning "fenced wood" in Old English.

Hellström Swedish
From Swedish häll (Old Norse hallr), a type of flat rock, combined with ström (Old Norse straumr) meaning "stream".

Herrera Spanish
Spanish form of Ferreira.

Hierro Spanish
Spanish form of Ferro.

Holmwood English
Variant of Homewood.

Holtz German
German cognate of Holt.

Hölzer German
German cognate of Holt.

Holzer German
German cognate of Holt.

Holzknecht German
Occupational name for a forester's helper, from Old High German holz "wood" and kneht "servant, apprentice".

Holzmann German
Derived from Old High German holz "wood" and man "man", a name for someone who lived close to a wood or worked with wood.

Homewood English
From various place names derived from Old English ham meaning "home" and wudu meaning "wood".

Horton English
From the names of various places in England, which are derived from Old English horh "dirt, mud" and tun "enclosure, yard, town".

Houtkooper Dutch
Means "buyer of wood" in Dutch.

Ishida Japanese
From Japanese 石 (ishi) meaning "stone" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Ishikawa Japanese
From Japanese 石 (ishi) meaning "stone" and 川 (kawa) meaning "river, stream".

Iwai Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 井 (i) meaning "well, mine shaft, pit".

Iwamoto Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".

Iwasaki Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape, peninsula".

Iwata Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Jin Chinese
From Chinese 金 (jīn) meaning "gold".

Kaluža u & m Slovene, Czech
Slovene and Czech form of Kałuża.

Kamiński m Polish
From Polish kamień meaning "stone", a name for a stonecutter or for one who lived at a place with this name.

Kaneko Japanese
From Japanese 金 (kane) meaning "gold, metal, money" and 子 (ko) meaning "child".

Kanemaru Japanese
From Japanese 金 (kane) meaning "gold, metal, money" and 丸 (maru) meaning "circle, round, whole".

Kaya Turkish
Means "rock, cliff" in Turkish.

Keith Scottish
From a place name that is probably derived from the Brythonic element cet meaning "wood". This was the surname of a long line of Scottish nobles.

Keo Khmer
Means "glass" in Khmer.

Kim Korean
Korean form of Jin, from Sino-Korean 金 (gim) meaning "gold". This is the most common surname in South Korea.

Kimura Japanese
From Japanese 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood" and 村 (mura) meaning "town, village".

Köhler German
Variant of Kohler.

Kohler German
From Middle High German koler meaning "charcoal burner" or "charcoal seller".

Kuroiwa Japanese
From Japanese 黒 (kuro) meaning "black" and 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks".

Kuroki Japanese
From Japanese 黒 (kuro) meaning "black" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".

Langston English
From any of the various locations in England with this name, derived from Old English lang "long" and stan "stone".

Lockwood English
From an English place name meaning "enclosed wood".

Losa Spanish
From Spanish losa meaning "tile, slab".

Madeira Portuguese
Occupational name for a carpenter, from Portuguese madeira "wood".

Maki 2 Japanese
From Japanese 真 (ma) meaning "real, genuine" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree".

Metaxas m Greek
Derived from Greek μέταξα (metaxa) meaning "silk", referring to a silk merchant or another occupation dealing with silk.

Moe Norwegian
Means "sandy ground" in Norwegian.

Moen Norwegian
Means "the sandy ground" in Norwegian.

Norwood English
Originally taken from a place name meaning "north wood" in Old English.

Orenstein Jewish
Means "horn stone" in German.

Oriol Catalan
From Catalan or meaning "gold", originally a nickname for a person with blond hair.

Palomer Provençal
Means "pigeon keeper" from Latin palumbes "pigeon".

Peña Spanish
Originally denoted a person who lived near a jutting rock, from Spanish peña meaning "rock, cliff".

Planche French
French form of Plank.

Planck German
German variant of Plank.

Plank German, English
Means "plank", from Old French, itself from Late Latin planca. This could have referred to a person who lived by a plank bridge over a stream, someone who was thin, or a carpenter.

Planque French
French form of Plank.

Roach English
From Middle English and Old French roche meaning "rock", from Late Latin rocca, a word that may be of Celtic origin. It indicated a person who lived near a prominent rock, or who came from a town by this name (such as Les Roches in Normandy).

Robledo Spanish
Means "oak wood" from Spanish roble "oak", ultimately from Latin robur.

Rocca Italian
Italian cognate of Roach.

Rocha Portuguese, Galician
Portuguese and Galician cognate of Roach.

Roche French
French cognate of Roach.

Sandberg Swedish, Norwegian, Jewish
From Swedish and Norwegian sand (Old Norse sandr) meaning "sand" and berg meaning "mountain" (or in the case of the Jewish surname, from the Yiddish or German cognates).

Sands English
From Old English, indicated the original nearer lived on sandy ground.

Sandström Swedish
From Swedish sand (Old Norse sandr) meaning "sand" and ström (Old Norse straumr) meaning "stream".

Sasaki Japanese
From Japanese 佐 (sa) meaning "help, aid" (repeated, indicated by the iteration mark 々) and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".

Sawyer English
Occupational name meaning "sawer of wood, woodcutter" in Middle English, ultimately from Old English sagu meaning "saw". Mark Twain used it for the main character in his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Shiraishi Japanese
From Japanese 白 (shira) meaning "white" and 石 (ishi) meaning "stone".

Silver English
From a nickname for a person with grey hair, from Old English seolfor "silver".

Silverstein Jewish
Variant of Zilberstein.

Skála m Czech
Means "rock" in Czech, indicating that the original bearer lived near a prominent rock.

Skała Polish
Polish cognate of Skála.

Skalický m Czech, Slovak
Indicated the original bearer came from a place named Skalice, Skalica or Skalička in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, derived from the Slavic root skala meaning "rock".

Skov Danish
Topographic name meaning "forest, wood" in Danish, from Old Norse skógr.

Skovgaard Danish
From a place name, derived from Danish skov "forest, wood" and gård "farm, yard".

Smola m Czech
Czech form of Smolak.

Smolak Polish
Occupational name for a distiller of pitch, derived from the Old Slavic word smola meaning "pitch, resin".

Smolarek Polish
Variant of Smolak.

Soler Occitan, Catalan
Denoted a person from any of the numerous places in the area whose names derive from Occitan or Catalan soler meaning "ground, floor".

Stalin History
Surname adopted by the Russian leader Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) during his revolutionary years. He was an ethnic Georgian, born as Ioseb Jughashvili. He derived it from Russian сталь (stal) meaning "steel".

Stanciu Romanian
Derived from Romanian stânci meaning "rocks".

Stanford English
Derived from various English place names meaning "stone ford" in Old English.

Stanley English
From various place names meaning "stone clearing" in Old English. A notable bearer was the British-American explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904).

Stanton English
From one of the many places named Stanton or Staunton in England, derived from Old English stan meaning "stone" and tun meaning "enclosure, town".

Steele English
Occupational name for a steelworker, from Old English stele meaning "steel".

Steen Low German
Low German variant of Stein. A famous bearer was the 17th-century Dutch painter Jan Steen.

Stein German, Jewish
From Old High German stein meaning "stone". It might indicate the original bearer lived near a prominent stone or worked as a stonecutter. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.

Steiner German
Variant of Stein.

Steinmann German
Means "stone man" in German, used as a habitational name for a person who lived near a prominent stone or an occupational name for a stone worker.

Stenberg Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Derived from Scandinavian sten (Old Norse steinn) meaning "stone" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Swedish name it is ornamental.

Stendahl Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish sten (Old Norse steinn) meaning "stone" and dal (Old Norse dalr) meaning "valley".

Stone English
Name for a person who lived near a prominent stone or worked with stone, derived from Old English stan.

Stroud English
From Old English strod meaning "marshy ground overgrown with brushwood".

Strudwick English
From an English place name derived from Old English strod meaning "marshy ground overgrown with brushwood" and wic meaning "village, town".

Suzuki Japanese
From Japanese 鈴 (suzu) meaning "bell" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood". This is the second most common surname in Japan. A notable bearer was the artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770).

Tapia Spanish
Means "mud wall" in Spanish.

Tjäder Swedish
Means "wood grouse" in Swedish.

Underwood English
Means "dweller at the edge of the woods", from Old English under and wudu.

Van der Aart Dutch
Means "from the earth", derived from Dutch aarde "earth". It perhaps referred to either an earth bank or to a farmer.

Vass Hungarian
Derived from Hungarian vas meaning "iron", referring to a worker in iron, a miner of iron ore or a vendor of iron goods. Alternatively, from the same root word, it may have been a nickname referring to one with a distinctively strong constitution.

Walkenhorst German
Possibly derived from a German place name Falkenhorst, from Falken meaning "falcons" and Horst meaning "thicket".

Winterbottom English
From Old English winter meaning "winter" and botm meaning "ground, soil, bottom". This name probably referred to a winter pasture at the bottom of a lowland valley.

Wood English, Scottish
Originally denoted one who lived in or worked in a forest, derived from Old English wudu "wood".

Woodcock English
Nickname referring to the woodcock bird.

Woodham English
Indicated a person who had a home near a wood, derived from Old English wudu "wood" and ham "home, settlement".

Woodhams English
Variant of Woodham.

Woodrow English
From a place name meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English.

Woods English, Scottish
Variant of Wood.

Woodward English
Occupational name for a forester, meaning "ward of the wood" in Old English.

Wootton English
Derived from Old English wudu "wood" and tun "enclosure, town".

Xylander German
From Greek ξύλον (xylon) meaning "wood, timber" and ἀνδρός (andros) meaning "man". This surname was a Greek translation of German surnames of the same meaning.

Zhu Chinese
From Chinese 朱 (zhū) meaning "vermilion red, cinnabar" and also referring to the ancient state of Zhu, which existed in what is now Shandong province. This was the surname of the emperors of the Ming dynasty.

Zilberschlag Jewish
Occupational name for a silversmith from Yiddish zilber "silver" and schlag "strike".

Zilberstein Jewish
Ornamental name meaning "silver stone", from Yiddish זילבער (zilber) and שטיין (shtein), both of Old High German origin.