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).
Couch CornishFrom Cornish
cough "red", indicating the original bearer had red hair.
Strange EnglishDerived from Middle English
strange meaning
"foreign", ultimately from Latin
extraneus.
Årud NorwegianFrom Norwegian
å meaning "river, stream" and the archaic word
rud meaning "cleared land".
Arendonk DutchDenoted a person from Arendonk, a town between in northern Belgium. It is derived from
arend "eagle" and
donk "hill".
Grady IrishFrom Irish
Ó Gráda or
Ó Grádaigh meaning
"descendant of Gráda". The byname
Gráda means "noble, illustrious".
Ingham EnglishFrom the name of an English town, of Old English origin meaning "
Inga's homestead".
Sommer 2 GermanFrom Middle High German
sumber or
sommer meaning
"basket, wickerwork, drum".
Hackett EnglishFrom a diminutive of the medieval byname
Hake, which was of Old Norse origin and meant "hook".
Szilágyi HungarianDenoted one from the region of Szilágy in Hungary, derived from Hungarian
szil meaning "elm" and
ágy meaning "bed".
Burnett EnglishMeans
"brown" in Middle English, from Old French
brunet, a diminutive of
brun.
Kaczmarek PolishOccupational name for a person who worked as an innkeeper, derived from Polish
karczma meaning "inn".
Valenti ItalianPatronymic from the given name
Valente, an Italian form of
Valens. A famous bearer of the surname was Jack Valenti (1921-2007), advisor to American president Lyndon Johnson.
Carvalho PortugueseMeans
"oak" in Portuguese, perhaps originally referring to a person who lived near such a tree.
Ramos Spanish, PortugueseOriginally indicated a person who lived in a thickly wooded area, from Latin
ramus meaning
"branch".
Figueroa SpanishFrom places named for Galician
figueira meaning
"fig tree".
Oleastro SpanishMeans
"wild olive" in Spanish, originally indicating one who lived near such a tree.
Kunkel GermanOccupational name for a maker of distaffs, from Middle High German
kunkel "distaff, spindle", of Latin origin.
Fabbri ItalianFrom Italian
fabbro meaning
"blacksmith", ultimately from Latin
faber.
Archer EnglishOccupational name for one who practiced archery, from Latin
arcus "bow" (via Old French).
Addario ItalianDerived from the given name
Addarius, of unknown meaning.
Stein German, JewishFrom 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.
Love EnglishFrom the Old English given name
Lufu meaning "love".
Lennox ScottishFrom the name of a district in Scotland, called
Leamhnachd in Gaelic, possibly meaning "place of elms".
Langdon EnglishDerived from the name of various places, of Old English origin meaning
"long hill" (effectively
"ridge").
Fuller EnglishOccupational name for a fuller, a person who thickened and cleaned coarse cloth by pounding it. It is derived via Middle English from Latin
fullo.
Freeman EnglishReferred to a person who was born free, or in other words was not a serf.
Baars DutchIndicated a person coming from the town of Beers in the Netherlands.
Brady IrishAnglicized form of the Irish name
Ó Brádaigh meaning
"descendant of Brádach". A famous bearer is the American football quarterback Tom Brady (1977-).
Abe 2 JapaneseFrom Japanese
安 (a) meaning "peace" and
部 (be) meaning "part, section".
Bachmeier GermanOriginally referred to a farmer whose farm was beside a stream, from Middle High German
bach "stream" and
meier "steward, tenant farmer".
Heath EnglishOriginally belonged to a person who was a dweller on the heath or open land.
Gagneux FrenchDerived from Old French
gagnier meaning
"to farm, to cultivate".
Fuhrmann GermanDerived from Middle High German
vuorman meaning
"cartwright".
Odell EnglishOriginally denoted a person who was from Odell in Bedfordshire, derived from Old English
wad "woad" (a plant that produces a blue dye) and
hyll "hill".
Şahin TurkishMeans
"hawk" in Turkish (of Persian origin), probably used to refer to someone who was a hawk tamer.
Ljungman SwedishFrom Swedish
ljung (Old Norse
lyng) meaning "heather" and
man (Old Norse
maðr) meaning "person, man".
Statham EnglishFrom the name of a village in the English county of Cheshire, derived from Old English
stæð meaning "wharf, landing place" and
ham "home, settlement".
Stroud EnglishFrom Old English
strod meaning
"marshy ground overgrown with brushwood".
Abbadelli ItalianMeans
"little abbot" from Italian
abate and the diminutive suffix
-elli.
Karjalainen FinnishDerived from Finnish
Karjala meaning
"Karelia". Karelia is an area on the border between Finland and Russia.
Negri ItalianNickname derived from Italian
negro "black", used to refer to someone with dark hair or dark skin.
Büki HungarianDerived from the name of the Bükk Mountains, which means "beech tree" in Hungarian (probably of Slavic origin).
Oelberg GermanMeans
"oil hill" from Middle High German
öl "oil" and
berg "mountain, hill".
Costa Portuguese, Italian, CatalanMeans
"riverbank, slope, coast" in Portuguese, Italian and Catalan, ultimately from Latin meaning "side, edge".
Von Essen GermanMeans
"from Essen", a city in Germany, possibly a derivative of Old High German
asc meaning "ash tree".
Narang HindiFrom the name of a Pakistani town that was in undivided India.
Bähr GermanFrom Middle High German
bër "bear" or
ber "boar". This was originally a nickname for a strong or brave person.
Armistead EnglishMeans
"hermitage", indicating a person who lived near one, from Middle English
ermite "hermit" and
stede "place".
Easton EnglishFrom the name of various places meaning "east town" in Old English.
Prinsen DutchMeans
"son of the prince", the term prince would have denoted someone who acted in a regal manner.
Blue EnglishFrom a nickname for a person with blue eyes or blue clothing.
Xu 1 ChineseFrom Chinese
徐 (xú) referring to the ancient state of Xu, which existed to the 6th century BC in what is now Jiangsu and Anhui. The character
徐 means "slowly, calmly".
Raines EnglishOriginally denoted a person from Rayne, Essex, England (possibly from an Old English word meaning "shelter") or from Rennes, Brittany, France (from the name of the Gaulish tribe of the Redones).
Caito ItalianOccupational name from Sicilian
càjitu meaning
"official, leader", ultimately from Arabic
قاضي (qāḍī) meaning "judge".
Rattray ScottishFrom a Scottish place name meaning "fortress town", from Gaelic
ráth meaning "fortress" and a Pictish word meaning "town".
Quinlan IrishFrom Irish
Ó Caoindealbháin, which means
"descendant of Caoindealbhán", a given name meaning "handsome form" (using a diminutive suffix).
Schenk German, DutchFrom Middle High German, Middle Dutch
schenke meaning
"wine server" (from Old High German
scenken "to pour out").
Mortimer EnglishFrom the name of a town in Normandy meaning
"dead water, still water" in Old French.
Pickering EnglishFrom the name of a town in Yorkshire, derived from Old English
Piceringas, the name of a tribe.
Cason EnglishFrom the English place name
Cawston, derived from the Old Norse given name
Kálfr combined with Old English
tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".
Brown EnglishOriginally a nickname for a person who had brown hair or skin. A notable bearer is Charlie Brown from the
Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz.
Allsopp EnglishFrom the name of the village of Alsop en la Dale in Derbyshire, England. It means "Ælli's valley" in Old English.
Bailey EnglishFrom Middle English
baili meaning
"bailiff", which comes via Old French from Latin
baiulus "porter".
Zentai HungarianOriginally indicated a person from the city of Senta in Serbia (formerly a part of Hungary and called
Zenta).
Smedley EnglishFrom an unidentified place name probably meaning "smooth clearing" in Old English.
Van Alst DutchMeans
"from Aalst", the name of towns in Belgium and the Netherlands, which is possibly from Germanic *
alhs meaning "temple, shelter".
Caruso ItalianMeans
"close-cropped hair" in Italian, also having the secondary sense "boy, young man".
Sienkiewicz PolishPatronymic from the given name
Sienko, an old diminutive of
Szymon. This was the surname of the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916).
Siegel 2 GermanDerived from the diminutive of Old German given names beginning with the element
sigu meaning "victory".
Ververs DutchOccupational name derived from Dutch
verver meaning
"dyer, painter".
Santana Spanish, PortugueseFrom any of the numerous places named after Saint
Anna. A famous bearer is the Mexican-American musician Carlos Santana (1947-).
Read 1 EnglishMeans
"red" from Middle English
read, probably denoting a person with red hair or complexion.
Cobb EnglishFrom a medieval English byname meaning
"lump".
Remington EnglishFrom the name of the town of Rimington in Lancashire, derived from the name of the stream
Riming combined with Old English
tun meaning "enclosure, town".
Wayne EnglishOccupational name meaning
"wagon maker, cartwright", derived from Old English
wægn "wagon". A famous bearer was the American actor John Wayne (1907-1979).
Budai HungarianOriginally indicated a person from the Hungarian city of
Buda (one of the two cities that were joined to make Budapest in 1873).
Harden EnglishFrom a place name meaning "hare valley" in Old English.
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".
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.
Krüger 2 GermanIn southern Germany an occupational name for a potter, derived from Middle High German
kruoc meaning
"jug, pot".
Graner GermanOriginally denoted a person from Gran, the German name for Esztergom, a city in northern Hungary.
Puerta SpanishMeans
"door, gate", a topographic name for a person who lived near the gates of the town.
Breen IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Braoin meaning
"descendant of Braon", a byname meaning "rain, moisture, drop".
Vance EnglishIndicated a dweller by a fen, from Old English
fenn meaning
"fen, marsh".
Garofalo ItalianFrom a nickname, from a southern variant of the Italian word
garofano meaning
"carnation".
Dorsey EnglishMeans
"from Orsay", referring to the town of Orsay near Paris, its name deriving from the Latin personal name
Orcius.
Aalto FinnishFrom Finnish
aalto meaning
"wave". A famous bearer was Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).
Falstaff LiteratureThe name of a buffoonish character, John Falstaff, appearing in four of William Shakespeare's plays. He is the central character in
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602). Shakespeare probably adapted it from the surname of John Fastolf, a 15th-century knight. The medieval surname Fastolf, no longer in use, was derived from the Norse given name
Fastúlfr.
Morra ItalianLocative name derived from Italian places such as Morra De Sanctis, Campania, or Morra del Villar, Piedmont.
Middleton EnglishOriginally denoted a person who lived in one of the numerous English towns by this name, derived from Old English
middel "middle" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Bagni ItalianFrom Italian
bagno "bath", derived from Latin
balneum, referring to a person who worked as a bath house attendant.
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.
Fonseca Spanish, PortugueseOriginally belonged to a person who lived near a dry spring, from Latin
fons "well, spring" and
siccus "dry".
Egger GermanSouth German occupational name meaning
"plowman" or
"farmer", derived from German
eggen "to harrow, to plow".
Löfgren SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
löv (Old Norse
lauf) meaning "leaf" and
gren (Old Norse
grein) meaning "branch".