Sexton EnglishOccupational name for a sexton (Middle English
sexteyn), a caretaker for a church or graveyard.
Zuñiga BasqueFrom the name of a Spanish town, formerly named Estuniga in Basque, possibly derived from Basque
istuin "channel, strait".
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").
Slater EnglishOccupational name indicating that an early member worked covering roofs with slate, from Old French
esclat "shard", of Germanic origin.
Wild English, GermanMeans
"wild, untamed, uncontrolled", derived from Old English
wilde. This was either a nickname for a person who behaved in a wild manner or a topographic name for someone who lived on overgrown land.
Carlisle EnglishFrom the name of a city in northern England. The city was originally called by the Romans
Luguvalium meaning "stronghold of
Lugus". Later the Brythonic element
ker "fort" was appended to the name of the city.
Lenin HistorySurname adopted by the Russian revolutionary and founder of the former Soviet state Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), whose birth surname was
Ulyanov. He probably adapted it from the name of the River Lena in Siberia.
Corna ItalianDerived from the names of places in northern Italy, especially Lombardy, from a word that means
"crag, cliff" in the Lombard dialect.
Trump GermanDerived from Middle High German
trumbe meaning
"drum". This surname is borne by the American president Donald Trump (1946-).
Panza Italian, LiteratureFrom a variant of the Italian word
pancia meaning
"stomach, paunch", originally a nickname for a chubby person. The Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes used it in his novel
Don Quixote (1605), where it is the surname of Don Quixote's squire Sancho Panza. Not a common Spanish surname, Cervantes may have based it directly on the Spanish word
panza (a cognate of the Italian word).
Caden IrishFrom Irish
Mac Cadáin meaning
"descendant of Cadán", a given name of unknown meaning.
Žagar SloveneOccupational name for a woodcutter, from Slovene
žaga meaning
"saw".
Ellsworth EnglishHabitational name for a person from the town of Elsworth in Cambridgeshire. The town's name is derived from the masculine given name
Ella (a short form of Old English names beginning with the elements
ælf meaning "elf" or
eald meaning "old") combined with
worþ meaning "enclosure".
Deering EnglishFrom the Old English given name
Deora meaning "dear, beloved".
Shen ChineseFrom Chinese
申 (shēn) referring to the ancient state of Shen, which existed during the Zhou dynasty.
Collingwood EnglishFrom a place name, itself derived from Old French
chalenge meaning "disputed" and Middle English
wode meaning "woods".
Stern 1 EnglishFrom Old English
styrne meaning
"stern, severe". This was used as a nickname for someone who was stern, harsh, or severe in manner or character.
Bradshaw EnglishFrom any of the places by this name in England, derived from Old English
brad "broad" and
sceaga "thicket".
MacKenzie ScottishAnglicized form of Gaelic
MacCoinnich meaning
"son of Coinneach". It originates from the Kintail area of Scotland on the northwest coast.
Hallman SwedishFrom Swedish
hall (Old Norse
hallr) meaning "rock, boulder, slab" and
man (Old Norse
maðr) meaning "person, man".
Wakefield EnglishOriginally indicated a person who came from the English city of Wakefield, derived from Old English
wacu "wake, vigil" and
feld "field".
Gerber GermanMeans
"tanner, leather dresser" in German, derived from Old High German
garawen meaning "to prepare".
Luzzatto ItalianFrom an Italian form of
Lusatia, a region of eastern Germany.
Shaw 2 ScottishFrom a given name or byname that was derived from Gaelic
sitheach meaning
"wolf" (Old Irish
sídach).
Savona ItalianFrom the name of the city of Savona in northern Italy, called
Savo by the Romans, of uncertain meaning.
Lavoie FrenchMeans
"the road, the lane" in French, a name for someone who lived close to a road.
Zanetti ItalianDerived from a diminutive of the given name
Giovanni. A famous bearer is Argentinian soccer player Javier Zanetti (1973-).
Van Heel DutchMeans
"from Heel", a small town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands.
Strange EnglishDerived from Middle English
strange meaning
"foreign", ultimately from Latin
extraneus.
Parodi ItalianFrom the name of a village near Genoa in northern Italy.
Mittelman JewishNickname for a man of moderate means, from Yiddish, ultimately from Old High German
mittil "means, resources".
Van Andel DutchMeans
"from Andel", a town in the Netherlands, possibly meaning "upper forest" in Old Dutch.
Anjema FrisianDenoted a person from the village of Anjum in the Netherlands. It possibly means "corner" in Dutch.
Ingham EnglishFrom the name of an English town, of Old English origin meaning "
Inga's homestead".
Richelieu FrenchFrom the name of the town of Richelieu, derived from French
riche "wealthy" and
lieu "place". The historic figure Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), born Armand du Plessis, was so-called because he became the first Duke of Richelieu. He appears in Alexander Dumas' novel
The Three Musketeers (1844).
Rossi ItalianDerived from a nickname for a red-haired person, from Italian
rosso, Latin
russus meaning "red". This is the most common surname in Italy.
Unruh GermanRefers to a restless, fidgety, nervous person, from German
unruhe meaning
"unrest".
Brock EnglishDerived from Old English
brocc meaning
"badger", ultimately of Celtic origin.
Sanada JapaneseFrom Japanese
真 (sana) meaning "real, genuine" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
Solís SpanishFrom the name of a village in Asturias, Spain, derived from Spanish
sol "sun".
Burgstaller GermanFrom German
Burg "fortress, castle" and
Stelle "place, position". This was a name given to a person dwelling at or near such a site.
Wójcik PolishFrom the Polish word
wójt meaning
"chief, mayor" (related to German
Vogt).
Böttcher GermanOccupational name meaning
"cooper, barrel maker" in German.
Hoedemaker DutchOccupational name for a hat maker, from Dutch
hoed "hat" and
maker "maker".
Marmo ItalianMeans
"marble" in Italian, possibly indicating a person who lived near a quarry or one who worked with marble.
Padilla SpanishFrom various Spanish place names, derived from Spanish
padilla, Latin
patella meaning "shallow dish", used to indicate a depression in the landscape.
Klossner GermanDerived from German
Klausner, Middle High German
klosenære meaning
"hermit".
Treloar EnglishOriginally denoted a person from a place of this name in Cornwall, England.
Plank German, EnglishMeans
"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.
Weaver 2 EnglishFrom the name of the River Weaver, derived from Old English
wefer meaning "winding stream".
Liao ChineseFrom Chinese
廖 (liào) referring to the ancient state of Liao, which was located in present-day Henan province.
Finnegan IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Fionnagáin meaning
"descendant of Fionnagán". The given name
Fionnagán is a diminutive of
Fionn.
Wyndham EnglishFrom the name of the town of Wymondham, meaning "home belonging to Wigmund", from the given name
Wigmund combined with Old English
ham meaning "home, settlement".
Jackson EnglishMeans
"son of Jack". Famous bearers of this name include the American president Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) and the singer Michael Jackson (1958-2009).
Borja SpanishOriginally indicated a person from the Spanish town of Borja in Aragon, derived from Arabic
برْج (burj) meaning "tower".
Durand French, EnglishFrom Old French
durant meaning
"enduring", ultimately from Latin
durans. This was a nickname for a stubborn person.
Greenspan JewishAnglicized form of German
Grünspan meaning
"verdigris". Verdigris is the green-blue substance that forms on copper.
Thornton EnglishFrom any of the various places in England by this name, meaning "thorn town" in Old English.
Valjean LiteratureCreated by Victor Hugo for Jean Valjean, the hero of his novel
Les Misérables (1862). The novel explains that his father, also named Jean, received the nickname Valjean or Vlajean from a contraction of French
voilá Jean meaning
"here's Jean".
Kunkel GermanOccupational name for a maker of distaffs, from Middle High German
kunkel "distaff, spindle", of Latin origin.
Redondo SpanishMeans
"round" in Spanish, originally a nickname for a plump person, ultimately from Latin
rotundus.
Schröder 1 Low GermanOccupational name for a tailor, from Middle Low German
schroden meaning "to cut".
Mataracı TurkishOccupational name for a person who made water bottles or flasks, from Turkish
matara "flask".
Maxwell ScottishFrom a place name meaning "Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". A famous bearer was James Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who studied gases and electromagnetism.
Bandyopadhyay BengaliFrom the name of the village of
Bandoghat combined with
upadhaya "instructor, priest".
Sun ChineseFrom Chinese
孙 (sūn) meaning
"grandchild, descendant". A famous bearer of the surname was Sun Tzu, the 6th-century BC author of
The Art of War.
Vaughan WelshFrom Welsh
bychan (mutated to
fychan) meaning
"little". It was a descriptive name to distinguish father from son.
Gárdonyi HungarianOriginally denoted a person from Gárdony, a town near Budapest in Hungary.
Sauter GermanOccupational name for a cobbler, from Latin
sutor "sewer, cobbler".
Faucher FrenchOccupational name meaning
"mower" in French, ultimately from Latin
falx meaning "sickle, scythe".
Townsend EnglishIndicated a person who lived at the town's edge, from Old English
tun "enclosure, yard, town" and
ende "end, limit".
Flintstone Popular CultureFrom 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.
Abney EnglishFrom the name of a town in Derbyshire, derived from Old English meaning "Abba's island".
Lacey EnglishDerived from
Lassy, the name of a town in Normandy. The name of the town was Gaulish in origin, perhaps deriving from a personal name that was Latinized as
Lascius.
Fusco ItalianFrom Italian
fosco meaning
"dark", from Latin
fuscus. This was a nickname for a person with dark features.
Marston EnglishFrom a place name derived from Old English
mersc "marsh" and
tun "enclosure".
Rake EnglishOriginally a name for a dweller on a narrow pass or hillside, from Old English
hrace meaning
"throat, gorge".
Velázquez SpanishDerived from the given name
Velasco. A famous bearer was the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez (1599-1660).
Kalmár HungarianOccupational name meaning
"merchant, shopkeeper" in Hungarian, of German origin.
Ćosić Croatian, SerbianFrom Croatian and Serbian
ćosav "beardless", ultimately from Persian
کوسه (kūseh) meaning "shark".
Perry 1 EnglishFrom Old English
pirige meaning
"pear tree", a derivative of
peru meaning "pear", itself from Latin
pirum. A famous bearer was Matthew Perry (1794-1858), the American naval officer who opened Japan to the West.
Monti ItalianMeans
"mountain, hill" in Italian, from Latin
mons.
Giffard French, EnglishPossibly from Old French
gifart meaning
"chubby" or possibly from the Germanic name
Gebhard. Walter Giffard was one of the Norman companions of William the Conqueror.
McLeod ScottishFrom Gaelic
MacLeòid meaning
"son of Leod", a given name derived from Old Norse
ljótr "ugly".
Gordon ScottishFrom the name of a place in Berwickshire, Scotland, derived from Brythonic words meaning
"spacious fort".
Poirot French, LiteratureFrom a diminutive of French
poire "pear", originally referring to a pear merchant or someone who lived near a pear tree. Starting in 1920 this name was used by the mystery writer Agatha Christie for her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Christie based the name on that of Jules Poiret, a contemporary fictional detective.
Tamboia ItalianPossibly means
"drummer", from Italian
tamburo meaning "drum".
Obama LuoFrom a rare Luo given name meaning
"crooked, bent". It was possibly originally given to a baby who had an arm or leg that looked slightly bent immediately after birth or who was born in the breech position.
Sultan ArabicFrom a nickname meaning
"sultan, ruler" in Arabic.
Reiher GermanMeans
"heron" in German, a nickname for a person with long legs.
Modugno ItalianFrom the town of Modugno, in Apulia in southern Italy. It is the surname of the Italian actor and singer Domenico Modugno (1928-1994).
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.
Oomen DutchPatronymic derived from Middle Dutch
oom meaning
"(maternal) uncle".
Blecher GermanOccupational name for someone who worked with tin or sheet metal, from German
blech "tin".
Urano JapaneseFrom Japanese
浦 (ura) meaning "bay, inlet" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Esser GermanMeans
"cartwright", related to Old High German
ahsa "axle".
Higgins IrishFrom Irish
Ó hUiginn meaning
"descendant of Uiginn".
Uiginn is a byname meaning "Viking".
Shirley EnglishFrom an English place name, derived from Old English
scir "bright" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Schenk German, DutchFrom Middle High German, Middle Dutch
schenke meaning
"wine server" (from Old High German
scenken "to pour out").
Kundakçı TurkishFrom Turkish
kundak meaning
"stock, wooden part of a rifle".
Van Tonder DutchMeans
"from Tønder", a town in Denmark near the German border.