Endicott EnglishTopographic name derived from Old English meaning
"from the end cottage".
Dufort FrenchMeans
"from the fort", from French
fort "stronghold".
Kellogg EnglishOccupational name for a pig butcher, from Middle English
killen "to kill" and
hog "pig, swine, hog".
Voltolini ItalianFrom the name of the alpine valley of Valtellina in Lombardy, northern Italy.
Simpson EnglishMeans
"son of Sim",
Sim being a medieval short form of
Simon 1. This is the name of a fictional American family on the animated television series
The Simpsons, starting 1989.
Corey EnglishDerived from the Old Norse given name
Kóri, of unknown meaning.
Ebner 2 GermanMeans
"judge, arbiter" from Middle High German
ebenære.
Blake EnglishVariant of
Black. A famous bearer was the poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827).
Noble English, ScottishFrom a nickname meaning
"noble, high-born, illustrious", derived via Middle English and Old French from Latin
nobilis. In some cases the nickname may have been given ironically to people of the opposite character.
Peltola FinnishFrom Finnish
pelto meaning
"field" with the suffix
-la indicating a place.
Webb EnglishOccupational name meaning
"weaver", from Old English
webba, a derivative of
wefan "to weave".
Cunha PortugueseFrom any of the numerous places in Portugal called Cunha, possibly from Portuguese
cunha meaning "wedge".
Headley EnglishFrom place names meaning "heather clearing" in Old English.
Stilo ItalianDerived from the name of the town of Stilo in southern Italy. It is possibly derived from Greek
στῦλος (stylos) meaning "column, pillar".
Labriola ItalianOriginally indicated a person from the town of Abriola in southern Italy.
Devin 2 French, EnglishNickname for a person who acted divinely or prophetically, from Old French
devin meaning
"divine" or
"seer, fortune teller", ultimately from Latin
divinus.
Hamilton English, ScottishFrom an English place name, derived from Old English
hamel "crooked, mutilated" and
dun "hill". This was the name of a town in Leicestershire, England (which no longer exists).
Attaway EnglishMeans
"at the way", originally denoting someone who lived close to a road.
Slater EnglishOccupational name indicating that an early member worked covering roofs with slate, from Old French
esclat "shard", of Germanic origin.
Carrara ItalianFrom the name of a city in Tuscany famous for its marble quarries. It is probably derived from Late Latin
quadreria meaning "quarry".
Sousa PortugueseOriginally indicated someone who lived near the River Sousa in Portugal, possibly derived from Latin
salsus "salty" or
saxa "rocks".
Gerber GermanMeans
"tanner, leather dresser" in German, derived from Old High German
garawen meaning "to prepare".
Luo ChineseFrom Chinese
罗 (luó) referring to the minor state of Luo, which existed from the 11th to 7th centuries BC in what is now Hubei province.
De Witte DutchMeans
"the white" in Dutch, a nickname for a person with white or fair hair.
Muñoz SpanishPatronymic derived from the medieval Spanish given name
Muño, from Latin
Munnius, possibly of Germanic origin.
Darcy EnglishFrom Norman French
d'Arcy, originally denoting someone who came from the town of Arcy in La Manche, France. A notable fictional bearer is Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen's novel
Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Wells EnglishDerived from Middle English
wille meaning
"well, spring, water hole".
Appelhof DutchIndicated a person who lived by or at an apple garden, from Dutch
appel "apple" and
hof "yard, court".
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.
Vann EnglishFrom Old English
fenn meaning
"fen, swamp", indicating a person who lived near such a place.
Quixote LiteratureCreated by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes for the main character in his novel
Don Quixote (1605), about a nobleman who goes mad after reading too many heroic romances and decides to become a wandering knight under the name Don Quixote. His real name in part one of the book is conjectured to be
Quixada or
Quesada, though in part two (published 10 years after part one) it is revealed as Alonso
Quixano. The Spanish suffix
-ote means "large".
Eaton EnglishFrom any of the various English towns with this name, derived from Old English
ea "river" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Ahlgren SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
al (Old Norse
ǫlr) meaning "alder" and
gren (Old Norse
grein) meaning "branch".
Ellison EnglishPatronymic form of the English name
Ellis, from the medieval given name
Elis, a vernacular form of
Elijah.
Dahlman SwedishFrom Swedish
dal (Old Norse
dalr) meaning "dale, valley" and
man (Old Norse
maðr) meaning "person, man".
MacDonald ScottishAnglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
MacDhòmhnaill meaning
"son of Donald". It originates from the Highland clan Donald.
Chevrolet FrenchFrom a diminutive of
chèvre meaning
"goat", indicating a person who cultivated goats.
Solís SpanishFrom the name of a village in Asturias, Spain, derived from Spanish
sol "sun".
Northrop EnglishOriginally denoted one who came from a town of this name England, meaning "north farm".
Abbiati ItalianOriginally a name for a person from the city of Abbiategrasso, near Milan in Italy, called
Abiatum in Latin.
Mlakar Slovene, CroatianReferred to someone who lived near a pool, derived from South Slavic
mlaka meaning
"pool, puddle".
Tracey 1 EnglishFrom the village of Tracy-sur-mer on the Normandy coast in France. It was brought to England with William the Conqueror.
Sarno ItalianOriginally denoted a person from Sarno in Italy, named for the Sarno River (called
Sarnus in Latin).
Piccoli ItalianNickname for a short person, from Italian
piccolo "small".
Sheridan IrishFrom the Irish name
Ó Sirideáin meaning
"descendant of Sirideán". The given name
Sirideán possibly means "searcher".
Layton EnglishDerived from the name of English towns, meaning "town with a leek garden" in Old English.
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".
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.
Sacco ItalianOccupational name for a maker of sacks, from Italian
sacco, Latin
saccus.
Spada ItalianOccupational name for an armourer or swordsman, from Italian
spada "sword", Latin
spatha.
Krüger 1 GermanIn northern Germany an occupational name for a tavern keeper, derived from Middle Low German
kroch meaning
"tavern".
Stabile ItalianFrom the medieval Italian given name
Stabile meaning
"stable, firm".
Cameron ScottishMeans
"crooked nose" from Gaelic
cam "crooked" and
sròn "nose".
Jefferson EnglishMeans
"son of Jeffrey". A famous bearer was American president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Since his surname was sometimes adopted by freed slaves, it is now more common among the African-American population.
Trevor WelshOriginally from the name of various Welsh towns meaning
"big village", derived from Middle Welsh
tref "village" and
maur "large".
Chaves Portuguese, SpanishFrom the name of a Portuguese city, derived from the Roman name
Flavius (being named for the emperor Vespasian, whose family name was Flavius).
Rey 2 EnglishMeans
"female roe deer" from Old English
ræge, probably denoting someone of a nervous temperament.
Tanaka JapaneseMeans
"dweller in the rice fields", from Japanese
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy" and
中 (naka) meaning "middle".
Protz GermanFrom a nickname meaning
"showy, pompous", derived from an old southern German word meaning "toad".
Guzmán SpanishFrom the name of the town of Guzmán in Burgos, Spain. The town's name itself may be derived from an old Visigothic given name, from the Germanic elements *
gautaz "a Geat" and *
mannô "person, man".
Lee 2 Korean, ChineseKorean form of
Li 1, from Sino-Korean
李 (i). This is the second most common surname in South Korea. It is also a variant Chinese romanization of
Li 1.
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).
West English, GermanDenoted a person who lived to the west of something, or who came from the west.
Smolak PolishOccupational name for a distiller of pitch, derived from the Old Slavic word
smola meaning
"pitch, resin".
Lie NorwegianFrom Norwegian
li, Old Norse
hlíð meaning
"hillside, slope".
Matsumoto JapaneseFrom one of the many places with this name in Japan, derived from Japanese
松 (matsu) meaning "pine tree, fir tree" and
本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".
Becskei HungarianIndicated a person from Becske, a town in Hungary, which might be derived from the given name
Benedek.
Plaskett EnglishOriginally denoted a dweller by a swampy meadow, from Old French
plascq meaning
"wet meadow".
Rothbauer GermanFrom Old High German
riuten "to clear land" and
bur "peasant, farmer".
Rantala FinnishFrom Finnish
ranta meaning
"shore, beach" with the suffix
-la indicating a place.
Kästner GermanMeans
"cabinet maker", derived from Middle High German
kaste "box".
Tessaro ItalianOccupational name meaning
"weaver", ultimately from Latin
texarius.
Metz 1 GermanOccupational name for maker of knives, from Middle High German
metze "knife".
Tavares PortugueseFrom any of the numerous places in Portugal called Tavares, likely of pre-Roman origin.
Sanna ItalianFrom Italian
sanna or
zanna meaning
"tusk, fang", a nickname for a person with a protruding tooth. It is especially common on Sardinia.
Cino ItalianFrom the given name
Cino, a short form of names ending in
cino.
Graves EnglishOccupational name for a steward, derived from Middle English
greyve, related to the German title
Graf.
Best 2 GermanDerived from the name of the river Beste, meaning unknown.
Mutō JapaneseFrom Japanese
武 (mu) meaning "military, martial" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The final character may indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Lachapelle FrenchMeans
"the chapel" in French, most likely used to denote a person who lived by a church or a chapel.
Boyko UkrainianOriginally indicated a member of the Boykos, an ethnic group of western Ukraine.
Monti ItalianMeans
"mountain, hill" in Italian, from Latin
mons.
Spanò SicilianFrom Sicilian
spanu meaning
"sparse, thin hair", ultimately from Greek
σπάνιος (spanios) meaning "scarce, rare".
Kaube GermanFrom the name of the town of Kaub in Germany.
Al-Mufti ArabicRefers to a
mufti, a Muslim legal advisor consulted in applying a religious law.
Underhill EnglishMeans
"dweller at the foot of a hill", from Old English
under and
hyll.
Bullard EnglishPossibly a nickname derived from Middle English
bole "fraud, deceit".
Moore 1 EnglishOriginally indicated a person who lived on a moor, from Middle English
mor meaning
"open land, bog".
Hawking EnglishFrom a diminutive of
Hawk. A famous bearer was the British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018).
Cecil WelshFrom the Welsh given name
Seisyll, which was derived from the Roman name
Sextilius, a derivative of
Sextus.
Brook EnglishDenoted a person who lived near a brook, a word derived from Old English
broc.
Dresdner GermanOriginally indicated a person who came from the city of Dresden in German.
Liao ChineseFrom Chinese
廖 (liào) referring to the ancient state of Liao, which was located in present-day Henan province.
Gandhi Gujarati, HindiFrom Sanskrit
गान्धिक (gāndhika) meaning
"perfumier, perfume seller", derived from
गनध (gandha) meaning "scent, perfume". Notable bearers include Indian civil rights leader Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), also known as Mahatma Gandhi, and Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (1917-1984).
Harden EnglishFrom a place name meaning "hare valley" in Old English.
Klossner GermanDerived from German
Klausner, Middle High German
klosenære meaning
"hermit".
Brady IrishAnglicized form of the Irish name
Ó Brádaigh meaning
"descendant of Brádach". A famous bearer is the American football quarterback Tom Brady (1977-).
Van Ophoven DutchMeans
"from Ophoven", the name of towns in the Netherlands. Their names mean "upper gardens, upper courtyards" in Dutch.
Silva Portuguese, SpanishFrom Spanish or Portuguese
silva meaning
"forest". This is the most common surname in Portugal and Brazil.
Mason EnglishOccupational name for a stoneworker or layer of bricks, from Old French
masson, of Frankish origin (akin to Old English
macian "to make").
Palmer EnglishMeans
"pilgrim", ultimately from Latin
palma "palm tree", since pilgrims to the Holy Land often brought back palm fronds as proof of their journey.
Rios PortugueseOriginally denoted a person who lived near a river, from Portuguese
rios "river", ultimately from Latin
rivus.
Marquardt GermanFrom Old High German
marka "border, boundary" and
wart "protector". This was an occupational name for a border guard.