Tanaka JapaneseMeans
"dweller in the rice fields", from Japanese
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy" and
中 (naka) meaning "middle".
Shaw 2 ScottishFrom a given name or byname that was derived from Gaelic
sitheach meaning
"wolf" (Old Irish
sídach).
Ricci ItalianFrom Italian
riccio meaning
"curly", a nickname for someone with curly hair. It is ultimately from Latin
ericius meaning "hedgehog".
Struna SloveneFrom Slovene
struna meaning
"string, cord", possibly denoting a maker of rope.
Sessions EnglishFrom the name of the city of Soissons in northern France, itself derived from the name of the Celtic tribe of the Suessiones.
Holguín SpanishPossibly from Spanish
holgar "to rest, to enjoy oneself".
Grover EnglishFrom Old English
graf meaning
"grove of trees". A famous bearer was the American president Grover Cleveland (1837-1908).
Van der Stoep DutchMeans
"from the paved entrance", from Dutch
stoep meaning "paved porch at the entrance to a house".
Swanson EnglishPatronymic form of Middle English
swein meaning
"servant" (of Old Norse origin). This word was also used as a byname, and this surname could be a patronymic form of that.
Doran IrishFrom Irish
Ó Deoradháin meaning
"descendant of Deoradhán", where
Deoradhán is a given name meaning "exile, wanderer".
Siena ItalianIndicated a person from Siena in Italy, which was named after the Gaulish tribe of the Senones.
Schuhmacher GermanFrom the Middle High German occupational name
schuochmacher meaning
"shoemaker".
Boivin FrenchNickname for a wine drinker, from Old French
boi "to drink" and
vin "wine".
Mann German, EnglishFrom a nickname meaning
"man". This may have originally been given in order to distinguish the bearer from a younger person with the same name.
Sulzbach GermanToponymic name from German places named Sulzbach meaning "salty stream", derived from Old High German
sulza "salty water" and
bah "stream".
Duke EnglishFrom the noble title, which was originally from Latin
dux "leader". It was a nickname for a person who behaved like a duke, or who worked in a duke's household.
Huxley EnglishFrom the name of a town in Cheshire. The final element is Old English
leah "woodland, clearing", while the first element might be
hux "insult, scorn". A famous bearer was the British author Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).
Shepherd EnglishOccupational name meaning
"shepherd, sheep herder", from Old English
sceaphyrde.
Muggia ItalianFrom the town of Muggia in northeastern Italy near the Slovenian border. It was called
Muglae in Latin.
Braxton EnglishFrom an English place name place name meaning "Bracca's town" in Old English.
Morales SpanishDerived from Spanish
moral meaning
"mulberry tree", of Latin origin.
Pantoja SpanishOriginally indicated a person from the town of Pantoja, in Toledo, Spain.
Darwin EnglishFrom the given name
Deorwine. A famous bearer was the British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882).
Sousa PortugueseOriginally indicated someone who lived near the River Sousa in Portugal, possibly derived from Latin
salsus "salty" or
saxa "rocks".
Milne ScottishFrom Scots and Middle English
milne (a variant of
mille) meaning
"mill".
Schreier German, JewishOccupational name for a town crier, from Old High German
scrian meaning "to shout, to yell".
Butts EnglishFrom a nickname meaning
"thick, stumpy", from Middle English
butt.
Ellington EnglishFrom the name of multiple towns in England. 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
tun meaning "enclosure, town".
Kearney IrishFrom the Irish name
Ó Ceithearnaigh meaning
"descendant of Ceithearnach", a given name meaning "warrior".
Dufour FrenchOccupational name for a baker, from French
four "oven".
Keighley EnglishDerived from an English place name meaning "clearing belonging to Cyhha". The Old English given name
Cyhha is of unknown meaning.
Sepúlveda SpanishDerived from the name of the Sepúlveda Valley in the mountains of Segovia, and was originally used to denote people from that region. It is possibly derived from Spanish
sepultar "to bury".
Chen ChineseFrom Chinese
陈 (chén) meaning
"exhibit, display, old, ancient" and also referring to the former state of Chen, which existed in what is now Henan province from the 11th to 5th centuries BC.
Nagarkar MarathiDerived from the name of the town of Nagar in Maharashtra, India.
Böttcher GermanOccupational name meaning
"cooper, barrel maker" in German.
Cock EnglishDerived from the medieval nickname
cok meaning
"rooster, cock". The nickname was commonly added to given names to create diminutives such as
Hancock or
Alcock.
Boyko UkrainianOriginally indicated a member of the Boykos, an ethnic group of western Ukraine.
Pavia ItalianFrom the name of the city of Pavia in Lombardy, Italy. It is of unknown meaning.
Dalgaard DanishFrom Old Norse
dalr meaning "valley" and
garðr meaning "yard, farmstead".
Graham Scottish, EnglishDerived from the English place name
Grantham, which probably meant "gravelly homestead" in Old English. The surname was first taken to Scotland in the 12th century by William de Graham.
Tveit NorwegianHabitational name derived from Old Norse
þveit meaning
"clearing".
Chase EnglishOccupational name for a hunter, from Middle English
chase "hunt".
Locatelli ItalianFrom Locatello, a town in Lombardy, northern Italy, near the city of Bergamo.
Quiroga GalicianOriginally denoted a person from the town of Quiroga in Galicia, Spain.
Dreher GermanMeans
"turner" from Middle High German
drehen "to turn". A turner was a person who used a lathe to create small objects from wood or bone.
Pugliese ItalianFrom an adjectival derivative of Puglia, from Latin
Apulia, a region of southeast Italy containing the boot heel and some of the coastline of the Adriatic Sea. It is a regional name for someone from that region.
Jain Hindi, Marathi, GujaratiReferred to a person who followed the principles of Jainism, a religion practiced in India. Jains are the followers of Lord Mahavira (599-527 BC).
Jennings EnglishFrom the given name
Jenyn, a diminutive of
Jen, itself a Middle English form of
John.
Lyle EnglishDerived from Norman French
l'isle meaning
"island".
Araya SpanishDenoted a person from Araia in the Basque Country, Spain. It is of uncertain meaning.
Poppins LiteratureUsed by P. L. Travers for the magical nanny in her
Mary Poppins series of books, first published in 1934. It is not known how Travers devised the name. She may have had the English words
pop or
poppet (meaning "young woman") in mind.
García SpanishFrom a medieval given name of unknown meaning, possibly related to the Basque word
hartz meaning "bear". This is the most common surname in Spain.
Caiazzo ItalianFrom the name of a city near Naples, originally
Caiatia in Latin, a derivative of the given name
Caius.
Emmet EnglishVariant of
Emmett. This name was borne by the Irish nationalist Robert Emmet (1778-1803).
MacBeth ScottishDerived from the Gaelic given name
Mac Beatha meaning "son of life", which denoted a man of religious devotion. This was the name of an 11th-century Scottish king, and the name of a play based on his life by William Shakespeare.
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.
Pottinger EnglishOccupational name, either for an apothecary, from Old French
potecaire, or a seller of stew, from Old French
potagier.
Bove ItalianDerived from an Italian nickname meaning
"bull, ox".
Gatsby English (Rare), LiteratureRare variant of
Gadsby. This name was used by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald for the central character in his novel
The Great Gatsby (1925). In the book, James Gatz renames himself as Jay Gatsby at age 17 because he believes it sounds more sophisticated.
Barrett EnglishProbably derived from the Middle English word
barat meaning
"trouble, deception", originally given to a quarrelsome person.
Gass GermanName for someone who lived on a street in a city, from German
gasse.
Liu ChineseFrom Chinese
刘 (liú) meaning
"kill, destroy". This was the surname of Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty.
Nakai JapaneseFrom Japanese
中 (naka) meaning "middle" and
井 (i) meaning "well, mine shaft, pit".
Kinnunen FinnishPossibly derived from the Finnish dialectal word
kinni meaning
"animal skin, fur", borrowed from Swedish
skinn.
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.
O'Hara IrishFrom the Irish
Ó hEaghra, which means
"descendant of Eaghra",
Eaghra being a given name of uncertain origin. Supposedly, the founder of the clan was Eaghra, a 10th-century lord of Luighne. A famous fictional bearer of this surname is Scarlett O'Hara, a character in Margaret Mitchell's
Gone With The Wind (1936).
Brambilla ItalianDerived from the Italian town of Brembilla in Lombardy, itself named after the Brembo river.
Twist English, LiteratureProbably from the name of towns in England and Wales called
Twist or
Twiss. This surname was used by Charles Dickens for the hero of his novel
Oliver Twist (1838), about an orphan surviving the streets of London. Dickens probably had the vocabulary word
twist in mind when naming the character.
Oberst GermanFrom Old High German
obar meaning
"above, upper", indicating a person from the uppermost end of a village or the top of a house.
Harden EnglishFrom a place name meaning "hare valley" in Old English.
Drake EnglishDerived from the Old Norse byname
Draki or the Old English byname
Draca both meaning
"dragon", both via Latin from Greek
δράκων (drakon) meaning "dragon, serpent".
Palladino ItalianFrom Italian
paladino meaning
"knight, defender", from Late Latin
palatinus meaning "palace officer".
Spannagel GermanOccupational name for a nailsmith, from Middle High German
span nagel "connecting bolt".
Sparks EnglishFrom an Old Norse nickname or byname derived from
sparkr meaning
"sprightly".
Hasenkamp GermanFrom a northern German place name meaning
"rabbit field", from Old Saxon
haso "hare" and
kamp "field" (from Latin
campus).
Pleško SloveneNickname for a bald person, from Slovene
pleša meaning
"bald patch".
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".
Tremblay FrenchFrom French
tremble meaning
"aspen". It is especially widespread in Quebec, being the most common surname there.
Fowler EnglishOccupational name for a fowler or bird catcher, ultimately derived from Old English
fugol meaning "bird".
Agani ItalianMeans
"son of Agano", a given name of unknown meaning.
Tangeman GermanOriginally indicated a person from a place named Tange in northern Germany.
Thrussell EnglishFrom Old English
þrostle meaning
"song thrush", referring to a cheerful person.
Orellana SpanishOriginally indicated a person from one of the two towns named
Orellana in Badajoz, Spain. Their names are probably derived from Latin
Aureliana meaning "of
Aurelius".
Mallory EnglishFrom Old French
maleüré meaning
"unfortunate", a term introduced to England by the Normans.
Kalbfleisch GermanOccupational name for a butcher who dealt in veal, from German
kalb meaning "calf" and
fleisch meaning "meat".
Causer EnglishOccupational name for one who made leggings, derived from Old French
chausse "leggings".
Somma ItalianFrom the names of Italian places like Somma Lombardo or Somma Vesuviana, derived from Latin
summa meaning "summit".
Power 1 English, IrishFrom Old French
Poier, indicating a person who came from the town of Poix in Picardy, France.
Takeda JapaneseFrom Japanese
武 (take) meaning "military, martial" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
Lebrun FrenchFrom a nickname meaning
"the brown" in French, from
brun "brown".
Scherer GermanOccupational name for a cutter of cloth or a sheep-shearer, from Old High German
skeran "to cut".
Asano JapaneseFrom Japanese
浅 (asa) meaning "shallow" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Schuster GermanMeans
"shoemaker, cobbler", from Middle High German
schuoch "shoe" and
suter, from Latin
sutor "sewer, cobbler".
Fonseca Spanish, PortugueseOriginally belonged to a person who lived near a dry spring, from Latin
fons "well, spring" and
siccus "dry".
Madison EnglishMeans
"son of Matthew" or
"son of Maud". A famous bearer of this surname was the fourth American president James Madison (1751-1836).
Ola BasqueFrom Basque
ola meaning
"hut, small house, forge".
Vonnegut GermanPossibly from the German words
von meaning "from, of, by" and
gut meaning "good". A famous bearer was the American author Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007).
Solís SpanishFrom the name of a village in Asturias, Spain, derived from Spanish
sol "sun".
Kästner GermanMeans
"cabinet maker", derived from Middle High German
kaste "box".
Thatcher EnglishReferred to a person who thatched roofs by attaching straw to them, derived from Old English
þæc meaning "thatch, roof". A famous bearer was the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).
Burke English, IrishDerived from Middle English
burgh meaning
"fortress, fortification, castle". It was brought to Ireland in the 12th century by the Norman invader William de Burgh.
Scarlett EnglishDenoted a person who sold or made clothes made of scarlet, a kind of cloth, possibly derived from Persian
سقرلاط (saqrelāṭ).
Zentai HungarianOriginally indicated a person from the city of Senta in Serbia (formerly a part of Hungary and called
Zenta).
Nyman SwedishFrom Swedish
ny (Old Norse
nýr) meaning "new" and
man (Old Norse
maðr) meaning "person, man".
Giese German, DanishDerived from a short form of the given name
Giselbert or other Old German names beginning with the element
gisal meaning "pledge, hostage".
Fejes HungarianDerived from Hungarian
fej meaning
"head", originally a nickname applied to a stubborn person.
Laurito ItalianFrom the name of the town of Laurito, near Salerno in the area of Naples.
Durnin IrishFrom Irish
Ó Doirnáin meaning
"descendant of Doirnín", a given name meaning "little fist".
Langdon EnglishDerived from the name of various places, of Old English origin meaning
"long hill" (effectively
"ridge").
Redondo SpanishMeans
"round" in Spanish, originally a nickname for a plump person, ultimately from Latin
rotundus.