Asturias SpanishFrom the name of a region in Spain, formerly a medieval kingdom. It is possibly derived from Basque
asta "rock" and
ur "water".
Ateljević SerbianProbably from
Hatelji, the name of a town in Serbia, which is of unknown meaning.
Attar PersianFrom Persian
عطر (ʿaṭr) meaning
"fragrance, perfume", ultimately from Arabic. It probably denoted a seller of perfume.
Avellino ItalianFrom the name of a town in Campania, Italy, called
Abellinum in Latin, of unknown meaning.
Averesch DutchFrom a place name, possibly from a dialectal variation of Dutch
over meaning "over" combined with
esch meaning "ash tree".
Ávila SpanishFrom the name of the city of Ávila in Spain. It is of uncertain meaning, possibly of Punic or Celtic origin.
Ayala SpanishFrom the name of the town of Ayala (called
Aiara in Basque) in Álava, Spain. It might be derived from Basque
aiher "slope" or
alha "pasture".
Ayers 3 EnglishIndicated a person from the town of Ayr in Scotland. The town was named for the river that flows through it, itself derived from an Indo-European root meaning "water".
Ayton EnglishFrom the name of towns in Berwickshire and North Yorkshire. They are derived from Old English
ea "river" or
ieg "island" combined with
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Azzarà ItalianSicilian name, derived from Greek dialects of southern Italy. It is from Greek
ψαράς (psaras) meaning
"fisherman".
Baak DutchFrom a Frisian given name, a short form of Germanic names starting with the element
batu "fight, struggle".
Baarda FrisianFrom the name of the town of
Baard in the Netherlands, possibly derived from a given name that was a variant of
Bert.
Baardwijk DutchFrom the name of a town in the Netherlands, possibly from
Baard, a variant of
Bert, and
wijk meaning "neighbourhood, district".
Baars DutchIndicated a person coming from the town of Beers in the Netherlands.
Baarsma FrisianIndicated a person coming from the small town of Beers in Frisia.
Bach 1 GermanTopographic name for someone who lived by a stream, from Middle High German
bach meaning
"stream". This name was borne by members of the Bach musical family, notably the composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Bachchan HindiFrom Hindi
बच्चा (bachchā) meaning
"child", a word of Persian origin. This surname was adopted by the Indian poet Harivansh Rai Srivastava (1907-2003).
Baggins LiteratureCreated by J. R. R. Tolkien for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the hero of
The Hobbit (1937), and also for his cousin Frodo Baggins, the hero of
The Lord of the Rings (1954). He probably derived it from the English word
bag. The Baggins family home was called Bag End, and Tolkien himself had an aunt who owned a farm by this name, so that may have been his inspiration. Tolkien used English-like translations of many hobbit names; according to his notes the real hobbit-language form of the surname was
Labingi.
Baggio ItalianOriginally denoted a person from the Italian town of Baggio (now part of Milan). It is probably derived from Latin
Badalocum meaning "watch place".
Bakema FrisianMeans
"son of Bake", a short form of names starting with the Old German element
batu "fight, struggle".
Baldinotti ItalianDerived from the given name
Baldinotto, from the Latin name
Baldinoctus, a diminutive of
Baldo.
Bancroft EnglishFrom any of the various places of this name, derived from Old English
bean meaning "bean" and
croft meaning "small enclosed field".
Bandini ItalianFrom the Latin name
Bandinus, a derivative of
Bandus, which is of unknown meaning.
Bandyopadhyay BengaliFrom the name of the village of
Bandoghat combined with
upadhaya "instructor, priest".
Banks EnglishOriginally indicated someone who lived near a hillside or a bank of land.
Banner EnglishOccupational name for a flag carrier, derived from Old French
baniere meaning
"banner", ultimately of Germanic origin.
Bannister EnglishFrom Norman French
banastre meaning
"basket". This was originally a name for a maker of baskets.
Bardolph LiteratureThe name of a drunken thief and frequent companion of John
Falstaff in four of William Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare probably adapted it from the aristocratic English surname
Bardolf, now rare, which was itself derived from the Germanic given name
Bardulf.
Barlow EnglishDerived from a number of English place names that variously mean "barley hill", "barn hill", "boar clearing" or "barley clearing".
Baron English, FrenchFrom the title of nobility, derived from Latin
baro (genitive
baronis) meaning "man, freeman", possibly from Frankish
barō meaning "servant, man, warrior". It was used as a nickname for someone who worked for a baron or acted like a baron.
Barsotti ItalianProbably from the medieval Latin word
baro meaning
"man, freeman" (of Frankish origin).
Barwegen FrisianDerived from the name of a village in Frisia meaning "road to the dike".
Bašić Croatian, SerbianMeans
"son of the chief", derived from Serbo-Croatian
baša meaning "chief, boss" (of Turkish origin).
Basurto SpanishFrom the Basque place name
Basurtu, a village (now part of Bilbao) in Biscay. It means "middle of the forest".
Báthory HungarianOriginally indicated a person from Bátor, a village in Hungary, which might be of Turkic origin meaning "hero". This was the surname of a Hungarian noble family who historically controlled the town. One of the family members, Stephen Báthory, became the king of Poland in the 16th century.
Battle EnglishFrom a nickname for a combative person. In some cases it may come from the name of English places called
Battle, so named because they were sites of battles.
Beasley EnglishFrom the name of a place in Lancashire, from Old English
beos "bent grass" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Beethoven Dutch (Archaic)From a place name derived from Dutch
beet "beet, beetroot" and
hoven "farms". This name was borne by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), whose family was of Flemish origin. The surname is now mostly extinct.
Begbie ScottishFrom the name of a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is derived from the Old Norse given name
Baggi and
býr "farm, settlement".
Begum Indian (Muslim), Bengali (Muslim), Urdu, PunjabiFrom a title traditionally used as an honorific for Muslim women in India and other parts of southern Asia. It is derived from a feminine form of the Turkic title
beg meaning "chieftain" (modern Turkish
bey).
Belcher EnglishFrom a Middle English version of Old French
bel chiere meaning
"beautiful face". It later came to refer to a person who had a cheerful and pleasant temperament.
Bellandi ItalianMeans
"son of Bellando", from a medieval given name derived from Latin
bellandus meaning "which is to be fought".
Bellincioni ItalianMeans
"son of Bellincione", from a medieval name (borne for example by Dante's grandfather) that was probably a derivative of Italian
bello "beautiful, fair".
Beltz GermanOccupational name for a tanner of hides, derived from Middle High German
belz meaning
"fur".
Benenati ItalianMeans
"son of Benenato", a given name derived from Latin
bene "good, well" and
natus "good".
Best 1 EnglishDerived from Middle English
beste meaning
"beast", an occupational name for a keeper of animals or a nickname for someone who acted like a beast. A famous bearer of this surname was soccer legend George Best (1946-2005).
Best 2 GermanDerived from the name of the river Beste, meaning unknown.
Bezuidenhout DutchFrom Dutch
zuid "south" and
hout "forest". It refers to the south of the forest in The Hague.
Bhattacharya BengaliFrom a Bengali title composed of the Sanskrit words
भट्ट (bhaṭṭa) meaning "scholar, lord" and
आचार्य (ācārya) meaning "teacher".
Blackburn EnglishFrom the name of a city in Lancashire, meaning "black stream" in Old English.
Blair ScottishFrom any one of several places of this name in Scotland, which derive from Gaelic
blàr meaning "plain, field, battlefield".
Blake EnglishVariant of
Black. A famous bearer was the poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827).
Blakeley EnglishFrom name of various English places, derived from Old English
blæc "black" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Blakesley EnglishFrom the name of a town in Northamptonshire, itself meaning "Blæcwulf's meadow" in Old English.
Blæcwulf is a byname meaning "black wolf".
Bleier GermanOccupational name for a worker of lead, derived from German
blei "lead".
Bloodworth EnglishOriginally indicated someone from the town of Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, which was derived from the Old English byname
Blīþa (meaning "happy, blithe") combined with
worð "enclosure".
Bloxham EnglishFrom a place name meaning "Blocca's homestead". The Old English byname
Blocca is of uncertain origin.
Bodrogi HungarianOriginally denoted someone living near the Bodrog, a river in northeastern of Hungary.
Boerefijn DutchPossibly an adaptation of French
beurre fin meaning
"good butter".
Böhler GermanDerived from the name of several German towns called
Boll or
Böhl, meaning "hill".
Böhm GermanOriginally indicated a person from the region of
Bohemia (
Böhmen in German).
Bokor HungarianTopographic name derived from Hungarian
bokor "bush". This is also the name of a village in Hungary.
Bolívar SpanishFrom
Bolibar, the name of a small Basque village, derived from Basque
bolu "mill" and
ibar "meadow". This name was borne by the revolutionary Simón Bolívar (1783-1830).
Bologna ItalianFrom the name of the city of Bologna in northern Italy. It may derive from a Celtic word meaning "settlement".
Bolton EnglishFrom any of the many places in England called Bolton, derived from Old English
bold "house" and
tun "enclosure".
Bondesan ItalianVenetian name derived from the name of the town of Bondeno in northern Italy.
Boon 2 EnglishOriginally indicated a person from the town of Bohon, in Manche in France. The town's name is of unknown origin.
Borde FrenchFrom Old French
bord meaning
"board, plank", derived from Frankish *
bord. This name belonged to a person who lived in a house made of planks.
Borgia ItalianItalian form of
Borja. This was the name of an Italian noble family who were influential during the Renaissance period.
Borgnino ItalianFrom a nickname derived from the Piedmontese dialect word
borgno meaning
"one-eyed". This was the real surname of American actor Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012).
Borgogni ItalianFrom the name of the French region of Burgundy (called Bourgogne in French), which is named after the Germanic tribe the Burgundians, meaning "people from the high land".
Borja SpanishOriginally indicated a person from the Spanish town of Borja in Aragon, derived from Arabic
برْج (burj) meaning "tower".
Botello GalicianOccupational name for a maker of bottles, from Galician
bottela meaning
"bottle".
Botterill EnglishProbably indicated someone from the town of Les Bottereaux in Normandy, itself derived from Old French
bot "toad".
Bouvier FrenchMeans
"cowherd" in French, from Latin
boviarus, a derivative of
bos "cow".
Bowie ScottishAnglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
Buidheach, derived from
buidhe meaning
"yellow". A famous bearer was the American pioneer James Bowie (1796-1836), for whom the bowie knife is named. The British musician David Bowie (1947-2016), born David Robert Jones, took his stage name from the American pioneer (and the knife).
Boyd ScottishFrom the name of the Scottish island of Bute (
Bód in Gaelic), which is of unknown meaning.
Boyko UkrainianOriginally indicated a member of the Boykos, an ethnic group of western Ukraine.
Boyle IrishFrom Irish
Ó Baoighill meaning
"descendant of Baoigheall". The meaning of the given name
Baoigheall is uncertain, but it is thought to be connected to Irish
geall meaning "pledge".
Božić CroatianMeans
"Christmas" in Croatian, a diminutive of
bog meaning "god".
Braband GermanDerived from the name of the region of Brabant in the Netherlands and Belgium. It possibly means "ploughed region" or "marshy region" in Old High German.
Bradford EnglishDerived from the name of the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, which meant "broad ford" in Old English. This is also the name of other smaller towns in England.
Bradshaw EnglishFrom any of the places by this name in England, derived from Old English
brad "broad" and
sceaga "thicket".
Brady IrishAnglicized form of the Irish name
Ó Brádaigh meaning
"descendant of Brádach". A famous bearer is the American football quarterback Tom Brady (1977-).
Brahms GermanDerived from the given name
Abraham. A famous bearer of this surname was the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).
Brambilla ItalianDerived from the Italian town of Brembilla in Lombardy, itself named after the Brembo river.
Branco PortugueseMeans
"white" in Portuguese, referring to someone with light skin or hair.
Brandon EnglishFrom the name of various places in England meaning
"hill covered with broom" in Old English.