Aaij DutchDerived from the given name
Aaij, a short form of
Adriaan and other names.
Aarle DutchDenoted a person who hailed from a place of this name in the Netherlands, or from Arlon in Belgium (which is
Aarlen in Dutch).
Abano ItalianOriginally denoted a person from the town of Abano, Latin
Aponus, which was derived from the old Celtic root
ab meaning "water".
Abarca SpanishFrom the name of a type of leather-soled shoe or sandal made on the Balearic Islands. It originally indicated a person who made or sold this item.
Abbiati ItalianOriginally a name for a person from the city of Abbiategrasso, near Milan in Italy, called
Abiatum in Latin.
Abelló CatalanFrom the Latin given name
Abellio, which may have been derived from the name of a Pyrenean god.
Abney EnglishFrom the name of a town in Derbyshire, derived from Old English meaning "Abba's island".
Abspoel DutchFrom
Abtspoel, the name of an estate near Oegstgeest in South Holland, meaning
"abbot's pool".
Acconcio ItalianFrom the medieval Italian given names
Accuntius or
Acconcius, of uncertain meaning.
Achterberg Dutch, GermanFrom the name of various places in the Netherlands and Germany, for example the village of
achterberg in Utrecht. The place names are derived from Low German
achter "behind" and
berg "mountain, hill".
Achterkamp DutchFrom the name of various places in the Netherlands, derived from Low German
achter "behind" and
kamp "field".
Acone ItalianPossibly from the name of a harbour in Bithynia (in modern Turkey).
Acquafredda ItalianDenoted a person who came from one of the various places in Italy with this name, derived from Italian meaning "cold water".
Acquati ItalianFrom the name of a village, part of the city of Lecco in Lombardy. Its name is presumably derived from Italian
acqua "water".
Addario ItalianDerived from the given name
Addarius, of unknown meaning.
Adenauer GermanDenoted a person from the town of Adenau in Germany. The name of the town is of uncertain etymology.
Adrichem DutchFrom the name of an estate and castle (demolished in 1812) that was formerly in North Holland, the Netherlands. It means "Adrik's home".
Agani ItalianMeans
"son of Agano", a given name of unknown meaning.
Agnusdei ItalianFrom Latin
Agnus Dei meaning
"lamb of God". This was a nickname for someone who was particularly religious or someone who wore this symbol.
Agramunt CatalanOriginally denoted a person from the town of Agramunt, Spain. It means "field hill" in Catalan.
Ainsworth EnglishHabitational name for a person from the village of Ainsworth near Manchester, itself from the Old English given name
Ægen and
worþ meaning "enclosure".
Akkersdijk DutchOriginally denoted a person from the town of Akkersdijk, near Delft in the Netherlands. It means "field by the dyke" in Dutch.
Alagona ItalianFrom the name of the Spanish region of Aragon, which was a medieval kingdom. The region was named for a river, which was itself derived from an Indo-European root meaning "water".
Albronda DutchFrom the name of various streets in the Netherlands.
Albuquerque PortugueseFrom the name of the Spanish town of Alburquerque, near the Portuguese border in the province of Badajoz. It is probably derived from Latin
alba quercus meaning "white oak".
Aldana BasqueFrom the name of a Basque town, derived from
aldats meaning
"slope".
Alderisi ItalianMeans
"son of Alderissius", a Latinized form of a Germanic name of unknown meaning.
Alderliesten DutchFrom Dutch
allerliefste meaning
"most dearest". This name could have referred to the nature of the person or perhaps a phrase the person commonly used.
Aleppo ItalianFrom the name of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is from Arabic
خالاب (Khālāb), of uncertain meaning.
Alfaro SpanishOriginally denoted someone who was from the city of Alfaro in La Rioja, Spain. It is possibly derived from Arabic meaning "the watchtower".
Allsopp EnglishFrom the name of the village of Alsop en la Dale in Derbyshire, England. It means "Ælli's valley" in Old English.
Alma FrisianMeans
"son of Ale 2", the suffix
-ma indicating that it is of Frisian origin.
Almeida PortugueseDesignated a person who had originally lived in the town of Almeida in Portugal. The place name is from Arabic
ال مائدة (al māʾida) meaning "the plateau, the table".
Alserda FrisianDesignated a person who was from a farm called Alserd, of uncertain meaning.
Al Su'ud ArabicFrom Arabic
آل (ʾāl) meaning "family" combined with the given name
Su'ud. Normally transcribed
Al Saud, this is the family name of the ruling dynasty of Saudia Arabia.
Altamura ItalianFrom the name of the Italian city of Altamura, which means "high walls" in Italian.
Altena DutchFrom the name of a town in the Netherlands, possibly meaning "close, near" in Dutch.
Amantea ItalianFrom the name of a town in Calabria, Italy. It is possibly derived from Arabic (dating from the Arab raids of the 9th century) meaning "the fortress".
Amundsen NorwegianMeans
"son of Amund". This name was borne by the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928).
Anaya SpanishFrom the names of a few Spanish towns, possibly of Arabic origin meaning
"stagnant water" or
"path".
Angenent DutchReferred to person who lived at the end of the road or the village, derived from Dutch
an gen ent meaning
"at the end".
Anjema FrisianDenoted a person from the village of Anjum in the Netherlands. It possibly means "corner" in Dutch.
Apeldoorn DutchFrom the name of a city in the Netherlands, meaning "apple tree" in Dutch.
Appelo DutchIndicated a person who was from a farm called Aperloo, probably a derivative of
appel meaning "apple".
Appleby EnglishFrom the name of various English towns, derived from Old English
æppel "apple" and Old Norse
býr "farm, settlement".
Appleton EnglishFrom the name of several English towns, meaning "orchard" in Old English (a compound of
æppel "apple" and
tun "enclosure, yard").
Aquino Italian, SpanishFrom the name of an Italian town near Rome, derived from Latin
aqua meaning "water", the home town of the 13th-century saint Thomas Aquinas. In Italy the surname is derived directly from the town's name. As a Spanish-language surname, it was sometimes bestowed by missionaries in honour of the saint as they evangelized in Spanish colonies.
Arany HungarianMeans
"golden" in Hungarian. A famous bearer of the name was Hungarian poet János Arany (1817-1882).
Araújo PortugueseDenoted a person hailing from one of the many areas that bear this name in Portugal, which is of unknown meaning.
Araya SpanishDenoted a person from Araia in the Basque Country, Spain. It is of uncertain meaning.
Ardelean RomanianFrom the Romanian region of Ardeal, also called Transylvania. It is possibly derived from Hungarian
erdő meaning "forest".
Arechavaleta SpanishOriginally indicated a person from the town of Aretxabaleta in Spain. It means "oak trees" in Basque.
Arias SpanishPossibly derived from a medieval given name of Germanic origin.
Aritza Spanish, BasqueFrom Basque
aritz meaning
"oak tree". This was a nickname of Iñigo, the first king of Pamplona, Spain (9th century).
Armbruster GermanMeans
"crossbow maker" from German
armbrust "crossbow". The word
armbrust was originally from Latin
arcuballista meaning "bow ballista", but was modified under the influence of German
arm "arm" and
brust "breast".
Armstrong EnglishMeans
"strong arm" from Middle English. Tradition holds that the family is descended from Siward, an 11th-century Earl of Northumbria. Famous bearers of this name include the Americans Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), a jazz musician, and Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), an astronaut who was the first person to walk on the moon.
Arnoni ItalianMeans
"son of Arnone" from the medieval name
Arnone, of uncertain origin.
Arrington EnglishFrom the name of a town in Cambridgeshire, originally meaning "Earna's settlement" in Old English (
Earna being a person's nickname meaning "eagle").
Arriola Spanish, BasqueFrom Basque place names, themselves derived from Basque
arri "stone" and
-ola "place of, house".
Ashley EnglishDenoted a person hailing from one of the many places in England that bear this name. The place name itself is derived from Old English
æsc "ash tree" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Ashton EnglishDenoted a person from one of the towns in England that bear this name, itself derived from Old English
æsc "ash tree" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Asís SpanishOriginally denoted a person from the Italian city of Assisi (called
Asís in Spanish).
Asselman DutchDenoted a person from Assel, Asselt or Hasselt, the name of communities in the Netherlands and Belgium. They derive from Old Dutch
ask "ash tree" and
loh "woods on sandy soil", or
hasal "hazel tree".
Assendorp DutchFrom the name of a place called Assendorp, composed of Dutch
essen and
dorp, meaning "ash tree village".