This is a list of surnames in which the length is 3.
Abe 1 JapaneseFrom Japanese
安 (a) meaning "peace" and
倍 (be) meaning "multiple times".
Abe 2 JapaneseFrom Japanese
安 (a) meaning "peace" and
部 (be) meaning "part, section".
Ash EnglishFrom Old English
æsc meaning
"ash tree", indicating a person who lived near ash trees.
Aue GermanFrom German meaning
"meadow by a river, wetland". There are many places with this name in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Bak DanishMeans
"slope, hillside" in Danish, from Old Norse
bakki "bank".
Cai ChineseFrom Chinese
蔡 (cài) referring to the ancient state of Cai that existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Henan province.
Cao ChineseFrom Chinese
曹 (cáo) referring to the ancient state of Cao, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
Coy EnglishMeans
"quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English
coi.
Dam Dutch, DanishMeans
"dike, dam" in Dutch and Danish. In modern Danish it also means "pond".
Eld SwedishFrom Old Norse
eldr, modern Swedish
eld, meaning
"fire".
Ely EnglishFrom the name of a town in eastern England meaning "eel district".
Fay 1 French, EnglishReferred to a person who came from various places named Fay or Faye in northern France, derived from Old French
fau "beech tree", from Latin
fagus.
Fay 2 EnglishFrom a nickname for a person who was thought to have magical qualities, from Middle English
faie meaning "magical, enchanted".
Fox EnglishFrom the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.
Fry EnglishFrom Old English
frig (a variant of
freo) meaning
"free".
Gim KoreanAlternate transcription of Korean Hangul
김 (see
Kim).
Han Chinese, KoreanFrom Chinese
韩 (hán) referring to the ancient state of Han, which existed from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC in what is now Shanxi and Henan provinces.
Itō JapaneseFrom Japanese
伊 (i) meaning "this" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The final character may indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Jeż PolishMeans
"hedgehog" in Polish. It may have originally been given to a person who resembled a hedgehog in some way.
Kay 2 EnglishDerived from Old French
kay meaning
"wharf, quay", indicating one who lived near or worked on a wharf.
Kim KoreanKorean form of
Jin, from Sino-Korean
金 (gim) meaning
"gold". This is the most common surname in South Korea.
Lee 1 EnglishOriginally given to a person who lived on or near a
leah, Old English meaning
"woodland, clearing".
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.
Lie NorwegianFrom Norwegian
li, Old Norse
hlíð meaning
"hillside, slope".
Lis PolishMeans
"fox" in Polish, a nickname for a sly person.
Liu ChineseFrom Chinese
刘 (liú) meaning
"kill, destroy". This was the surname of Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty.
Lum EnglishFrom the name of towns in England called
Lumb, probably from Old English
lum "pool".
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.
Nye EnglishOriginally indicated a person who lived near a river, from Middle English
atten eye meaning
"at the river".
Ola BasqueFrom Basque
ola meaning
"hut, small house, forge".
Ono JapaneseFrom Japanese
小 (o) meaning "small" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Orr ScottishFrom a nickname derived from Gaelic
odhar meaning
"dun-coloured, greyish brown, tan".
Pan 2 ChineseFrom Chinese
潘 (pān) meaning
"water in which rice has been rinsed", and also referring to a river that flows into the Han River.
Paz SpanishMeans
"peace" in Spanish, originally a nickname for a calm person.
Pei ChineseFrom Chinese
裴 (péi), possibly referring to an ancient city.
Rey 1 English, Spanish, French, CatalanMeans
"king" in Old French, Spanish and Catalan, ultimately from Latin
rex (genitive
regis), perhaps originally denoting someone who acted like a king.
Rey 2 EnglishMeans
"female roe deer" from Old English
ræge, probably denoting someone of a nervous temperament.
Rye EnglishTopographic name. It could be a misdivision of the Middle English phrases
atter ye meaning
"at the island" or
atter eye meaning
"at the river". In some cases it merely indicated a person who lived where rye was grown or worked with rye (from Old English
ryge).
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.
Way EnglishFrom Old English
weg meaning
"way, road, path".
Wei ChineseFrom Chinese
魏 (wèi) referring to the ancient state of Wei, which existed from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC in what is now Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong provinces.
Wen ChineseFrom Chinese
文 (wén) meaning
"literature, culture, writing".
Xie ChineseFrom Chinese
谢 (xiè) referring to the minor state of Xie, which existed in what is now Hubei province.
Yap EnglishFrom a nickname for a clever or cunning person, from Middle English
yap meaning
"devious, deceitful, shrewd".
Yun KoreanFrom Sino-Korean
尹 (yun) meaning
"govern, oversee".
Zhu ChineseFrom Chinese
朱 (zhū) meaning
"vermilion red, cinnabar" and also referring to the ancient state of Zhu, which existed in what is now Shandong province. This was the surname of the emperors of the Ming dynasty.