Browse Surnames

Göbel German
Derived from the given name Göbel, a diminutive of the Old German name Godabert.

Goffe English
Derived from Breton or Cornish goff meaning "smith", referring to a metalworker.

Goldhirsch Jewish
Means "golden stag" in Yiddish.

Golob Slovene
Means "pigeon" in Slovene.

Golub Croatian
Means "pigeon" in Croatian.

Gomes Portuguese
From the medieval given name Gomes.

Gómez Spanish
Spanish form of Gomes.

Gomez Spanish
Unaccented variant of Gómez.

Goode English
Variant of Good.

Górka Polish
Variant of Gorecki.

Görög Hungarian
Means "Greek" in Hungarian.

Gosse French
Derived from the Norman given name Gosse.

Gotti German
Variant of Gott.

Gottschalk German
Derived from the given name Gottschalk.

Gough 1 Welsh
Nickname for a red-haired person, from Welsh coch "red".

Gough 2 Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Mag Eochadha meaning "son of Eochaidh".

Grady Irish
From Irish Ó Gráda or Ó Grádaigh meaning "descendant of Gráda". The byname Gráda means "noble, illustrious".

Grahn Swedish
From Swedish gran meaning "spruce".

Grant English, Scottish
Derived from Norman French meaning "grand, tall, large, great". A famous bearer was the American general and president Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885).

Grbić Serbian, Croatian, Slovene
Means "hunchback", derived from Serbian, Croatian and Slovene grba "hump".

Greco Italian
Means "from Greece" in Italian.

Green English
Descriptive name for someone who often wore the colour green or someone who lived near the village green.

Greer Scottish
Derived from the given name Gregor.

Grgić Croatian
Means "son of Grgur".

Grier Scottish
Derived from the given name Gregor.

Grigorescu Romanian
Means "son of Grigore" in Romanian.

Grimm German
From a nickname for a stern person, derived from Old High German grim "stern, severe, angry". Famous bearers include Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), known for compiling German folktales.

Groen Dutch
Dutch cognate of Green.

Groos German
Variant of Groß.

Groot Dutch
Variant of De Groot.

Gross German
Variant of Groß.

Groß German
From Old High German groz meaning "tall, big".

Grósz Hungarian
Hungarian form of Groß.

Guadarrama Spanish
Derived from the name of the town of Guadarrama near Madrid.

Guidi Italian
From the given name Guido.

Gujić Bosnian
Means "son of a snake" from the Bosnian word guja meaning "snake".

Gully English
Nickname for a big person, from Middle English golias meaning "giant" (ultimately from Goliath, the Philistine warrior who was slain by David in the Old Testament).

Gunnarsson Swedish, Icelandic
Means "son of Gunnar".

Gunvaldsen Norwegian
Means "son of Gunvald".

Gupta Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu
Means "protected" in Sanskrit.

Gustafsson Swedish
Means "son of Gustaf". The actress Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was originally named Greta Gustafsson.

Gustavsson Swedish
Means "son of Gustav".

Guttenberg German, Jewish
From the name of various places, derived from Middle High German guot meaning "good" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.

Haakonsson Norwegian
Means "son of Håkon".

Haanraadts Dutch
Variant of Haanraads.

Haase German
Variant of Hase.

Haber German, Jewish
Occupational name for one who grew or sold oats, derived from Old High German habaro "oat". As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.

Haden English
From a place name derived from Old English hæþ "heath" and dun "hill".

Hagen Norwegian, Dutch
From Old Norse hagi or Old Dutch hago meaning "enclosure, pasture".

Hájek m Czech
Means "thicket" in Czech, a diminutive of háj "woods".

Hajós Hungarian
Means "boatman, sailor" in Hungarian.

Hakim Arabic
Derived from the given name Hakim.

Haley English
From the name of an English town meaning "hay clearing", from Old English heg "hay" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Halle German
German variant of Hall.

Halmi Hungarian
Derived from Hungarian halom meaning "mound, small hill". Originally the name was given to someone who lived near or on a hill.

Hämäläinen Finnish
Derived from the region in southern Finland known as Häme, also called Tavastia.

Haraldsson Swedish
Means "son of Harald".

Hardy English, French
From Old French and Middle English hardi meaning "bold, daring, hardy", from the Germanic root *harduz.

Harel Jewish
Ornamental name adopted from a biblical place name meaning "altar, mountain of God" in Hebrew.

Harrington English
From the name of towns in England, meaning either "Hæfer's town" or "stony town" in Old English.

Hašek m Czech
From a diminutive of the given name Havel.

Hashiguchi Japanese
From Japanese 橋 (hashi) meaning "bridge" and 口 (kuchi) meaning "mouth, entrance".

Hauer German
Derived from Middle High German houwen "to chop", referring to a butcher or woodchopper.

Haupt German
German cognate of Head.

Havel m Czech
Derived from the given name Havel.

Havlíčková f Czech
Feminine form of Havlíček.

Hayes 1 English
From various English place names that were derived from Old English hæg meaning "enclosure, fence". A famous bearer was American President Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893).

Hayes 2 Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó hAodha meaning "descendant of Aodh".

Hayes 3 Jewish
Matronymic name derived from the given name Chaya.

Hearn Irish
Anglicized form of Ó hEachthighearna.

Heath English
Originally belonged to a person who was a dweller on the heath or open land.

Heinz German
Derived from a diminutive of Heinrich.

Henningsen Danish
Means "son of Henning".

Henriksson Swedish
Means "son of Henrik".

Henry English
Derived from the given name Henry.

Herbertson English
Means "son of Herbert".

Hermansson Swedish
Means "son of Herman".

Hertz German
Derived from Middle High German herze meaning "heart", a nickname for a big-hearted person.

Hicks English
Derived from the medieval given name Hicke, a diminutive of Richard.

Hildebrand German
From the given name Hildebrand.

Hilmarsson Icelandic
Means "son of Hilmar".

Hines Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó hEidhin meaning "descendant of Eidhin", a given name or byname of unknown origin.

Hjort Danish, Swedish
Danish and Swedish cognate of Hart.

Hlaváčková f Czech
Feminine form of Hlaváček.

Hoàng Vietnamese
Vietnamese form of Huang, from Sino-Vietnamese 黃 (hoàng).

Hobbs English
Derived from the medieval given name Hob.

Hodge English
From a medieval diminutive of Roger.

Hoedemaker Dutch
Occupational name for a hat maker, from Dutch hoed "hat" and maker "maker".

Hofer German
Occupational name for a farmer, from German Hof "farm", from Old High German hof "yard, court".

Hofmeister German
Means "master of the household", from Old High German hof "yard, court, house" and meistar "master" (from Latin magister).

Hogan Irish
From Irish Ó hÓgáin meaning "descendant of Ógán". The given name Ógán is a diminutive of óg meaning "young".

Holgersson Swedish
Means "son of Holger".

Holme English, Scottish
Referred either to someone living by a small island (northern Middle English holm, from Old Norse holmr) or near a holly tree (Middle English holm, from Old English holegn).

Holst Danish, Low German, Dutch
Originally referred to a person from the region of Holstein between Germany and Denmark. A famous bearer of this name was the English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

Holtz German
German cognate of Holt.

Holub mu Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian
Means "dove, pigeon" in Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian.

Holzknecht German
Occupational name for a forester's helper, from Old High German holz "wood" and kneht "servant, apprentice".

Honda Japanese
From Japanese 本 (hon) meaning "root, origin, source" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Horák m Czech
Derived from Czech hora "mountain".

Horne English
Variant of Horn.

Horváthová f Slovak
Slovak feminine form of Horváth.

House English
Referred to a person who lived or worked in a house, as opposed to a smaller hut.

Houtkooper Dutch
Means "buyer of wood" in Dutch.

Hovanesian Armenian
Alternate transcription of Armenian Հովհաննիսյան (see Hovhannisyan).

Howse English
Variant of Howe.

Hoxha Albanian
From the Persian title خواجه (khājeh) meaning "lord".

Hrabě m Czech
Means "count" in Czech, perhaps used to denote someone who worked for a count or acted like a count.

Hrubá f Czech
Feminine form of Hrubý.

Hrubý m Czech
Means "crude, coarse" in Czech.

Hsieh Chinese
Alternate transcription of Chinese 谢 (see Xie).

Huang Chinese
From Chinese 黄 (huáng) meaning "yellow".

Hüber German
Variant of Huber.

Huber German
Occupational name for a farmer, derived from Old High German huoba "plot of land, farm".

Hudák m Slovak
From Slovak chudák meaning "pauper, poor person".

Huddleston English
From the name of a town in the Yorkshire region of England, which means "Hudel's town" in Old English.

Hurst English
Originally a name for a person who lived near a thicket of trees, from Old English hyrst "thicket".

Hutchinson English
Means "son of Huchin", a medieval diminutive of Hugh.

Huỳnh Vietnamese
Variant of Hoàng used more often in southern Vietnam.

Hynes Irish
Variant of Hines.

Iancu Romanian
From the given name Iancu.

Ibbot English
Variant of Ibbott.

Ibragimova f Chechen, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani (Russified), Uzbek (Russified)
Feminine form of Ibragimov.

İbrahimova f Azerbaijani
Feminine form of İbrahimov.

Ibrohimova f Uzbek, Tajik
Feminine form of Ibrohimov.

Ibsen Danish
Means "son of Ib". A famous bearer was the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906).

Idowu Yoruba
From the given name Idowu.

Ikeda Japanese
From Japanese 池 (ike) meaning "pool, pond" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Iliev m Bulgarian, Macedonian
Means "son of Iliya".

Illés Hungarian
Derived from the given name Illés.

Ilves Estonian
Means "lynx" in Estonian.

Inaba Japanese
From Japanese 稲 (ina) meaning "rice plant" and 葉 (ha) meaning "leaf".

Inada Japanese
From Japanese 稲 (ina) meaning "rice plant" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Ingólfsson Icelandic
Means "son of Ingólfr".

Innes 1 Scottish
From a place name derived from Gaelic inis meaning "island".

Innes 2 Scottish
From the given name Aonghus.

Inoue Japanese
Means "above the well", from Japanese 井 (i) meaning "well, mine shaft, pit", an unwritten possessive marker の (no), and 上 (ue) meaning "above, top, upper".

Irvin Scottish, English
Variant of Irvine 1 or Irwin.

Irwin English
Derived from the Old English given name Eoforwine.

Isaev m Russian
Alternate transcription of Russian Исаев (see Isayev).

İsmayılova f Azerbaijani
Feminine form of İsmayılov.

Ivers English, Irish
Patronymic derived from the given name Ivor.

Ivova f Bulgarian
Feminine form of Ivov.

Iwata Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Izumi Japanese
From Japanese 泉 (izumi) meaning "spring, fountain".

Jaffe Hebrew
Alternate transcription of Hebrew יָפֶה (see Yaffe).

Jäger German
Means "hunter" in German, from Old High German jagon meaning "to hunt".

Jager German
Variant of Jäger.

Jakab Hungarian
Derived from the given name Jakab.

James English
Derived from the given name James.

Janda mu Czech, Polish
Derived from the given name Jan 1.

Jankauskas m Lithuanian
Lithuanian form of Janowski.

Järvi Finnish
Means "lake" in Finnish.

Jasso Basque
Variant of Jaso.

Jedličková f Czech
Feminine form of Jedlička.

Jehličková f Czech
Feminine form of Jehlička.

Jelen mu Czech, Slovene
From a nickname meaning "stag" in Czech and Slovene.

Jeleń Polish
Polish form of Jelen.

Jeong Korean
Korean form of Zheng, from Sino-Korean 鄭 (jeong).

Jesus Portuguese
Derived from the given name Jesus.

Jewel English
Variant of Jewell.

Ježek m Czech
Diminutive form of Jež.

Jiang 1 Chinese
From Chinese 江 (jiāng) meaning "river, Yangtze".

Jiang 2 Chinese
From Chinese 姜 (jiāng) meaning "ginger".

Jinks English
Means "son of Jenk", a short form of Jenkin, a diminutive of Jen, itself a Middle English form of John.

Jóhannsson Icelandic
Means "son of Jóhann".

Johns English
Derived from the given name John.

Jöllenbeck German
From the name of a village in western Germany, itself derived from the name of the Jölle, a small river, combined with Low German beck "stream".

Jonaitienė f Lithuanian
Feminine form of Jonaitis. This form is used by married women.

Jónás Hungarian
Derived from the given name Jónás.

Jones English, Welsh
Derived from the given name Jon, a medieval variant of John. This is the most common surname in Wales.

Jordà Catalan
Derived from the given name Jordà.

Jorge Spanish, Portuguese
From the given name Jorge.

Joshi Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Nepali
From Sanskrit ज्योतिश (jyotiśa) meaning "astronomer".

Jovanovska f Macedonian
Feminine form of Jovanovski.

Jovanovski m Macedonian
Means "son of Jovan".

Joyce English, Irish
From the given name Joyce.

Jukić Croatian
Derived from a diminutive of the given name Juraj.

Jundt German
Derived from a diminutive of the feminine given name Judith.

Junge German
Variant of Jung 1.

Jurić Croatian
Means "son of Jure".

Jusić Bosnian
Perhaps means "son of Josip".

Kádár Hungarian
Means "cooper, barrel maker" in Hungarian.

Kader Arabic
Alternate transcription of Arabic قادر (see Qadir).

Kafka m Czech
Derived from Czech kavka meaning "jackdaw". A notable bearer was the author Franz Kafka (1883-1924).

Kaloyanova f Bulgarian
Feminine form of Kaloyanov.

Kamal Arabic, Urdu, Bengali
From the given name Kamal 1.

Kamau Kikuyu
Derived from the given name Kamau.

Kanda Japanese
From Japanese 神 (kan) meaning "god" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Karagianni f Greek
Feminine form of Karagiannis.

Karga Turkish
Nickname meaning "crow" in Turkish.

Karim Arabic
Derived from the given name Karim.

Karstensen Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of Karsten".

Kasun Croatian
Possibly derived from the old Slavic word kazati meaning "to order, to command".

Katou Japanese
Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 加藤 (see Katō).

Kaube German
From the name of the town of Kaub in Germany.

Kazem Arabic, Persian
From the given name Kazim.

Kazlauskas m Lithuanian
Lithuanian form of Kozłowski. This is the most common surname in Lithuania.

Keane Irish
Anglicized form of Ó Catháin.

Kecskeméti Hungarian
Originally indicated a person who came from the Hungarian city of Kecskemét, derived from kecske meaning "goat".

Kędzierska f Polish
Feminine form of Kędzierski.

Kędzierski m Polish
From a nickname meaning "curly", describing a person with curly hair.

Keefe Irish
Anglicized form of the Irish Ó Caoimh meaning "descendant of Caomh".

Keely Irish
Variant of Keeley.

Keith Scottish
From a place name that is probably derived from the Brythonic element cet meaning "wood". This was the surname of a long line of Scottish nobles.

Kelly 1 Irish
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ceallaigh meaning "descendant of Ceallach". Famous bearers include actor and dancer Gene Kelly (1912-1996) and actress and princess Grace Kelly (1929-1982).

Kelly 2 Scottish
From a Scottish place name derived from coille meaning "grove".

Kempf German
German cognate of Kemp.

Kerry English
Variant of Kendrick 1.

Keyes 1 English
Variant of Kay 1 or Kay 2.

Keyes 2 Irish
Anglicized form of Mac Aodha.

Kijek Polish
Means "small stick", from Polish kij "stick".

Kilpatrick Irish
From the Irish Mac Giolla Phádraig meaning "son of the servant of Saint Patrick".

Kirby English
From numerous towns in northern England named Kirby or Kirkby, derived from Old Norse kirkja "church" and býr "farm, settlement".

Kirch German
German cognate of Church.

Kjær Danish
Topographic name for someone living near a wetland, from Danish kær "marsh", from Old Norse kjarr "thicket".

Kleid Jewish
Occupational name for a tailor, from Old High German kleid meaning "garment, clothing".

Klein German, Dutch, Jewish
Means "small, little" from German klein or Yiddish kleyn. A famous bearer of this name is clothes designer Calvin Klein (1942-).

Klementová f Czech
Feminine form of Klement.

Klerk Dutch
Variant of De Klerk.

Klerx Dutch
Variant of De Klerk.

Klíma m Czech
Derived from a diminutive of Klement.

Kloet Dutch
Possibly from Middle Dutch cloet meaning "lump, ball". In some cases this was a nickname for an oafish person. In other cases it may have been a name for someone who lived near a sign that had a globe on it.

Kneib German
Variant of Knef.

Knepp German
Variant of Knopf.

Knochenmus German
From German Knochen "bone" and Mus "sauce". It probably referred to someone who worked in the butcher trade.

Knopf German
Means "button" in German, originally belonging to a button maker or button seller.

Knopp German
Variant of Knopf.

Kóbor Hungarian
From Hungarian kóbor meaning "wanderer, ranger".

Kohut Ukrainian, Polish
Means "rooster" in Ukrainian and Polish, a nickname for a proud person.

Kokot Slovene, Croatian
Slovene and Croatian cognate of Kohut.

Kolář m Czech
Means "wheelwright", a derivative of Czech kolo "wheel".

Kolar Croatian, Slovene
Croatian and Slovene cognate of Kolář.

Kolbe German
From Middle High German kolbe meaning "club".

Kolen Dutch
From the given name Nicolaas.

König German
German cognate of King.

Königsmann German
Means "king's man", or someone who played a king in a play.

Koole Dutch
Derived from a short form of the given name Nicolaas.

Kools Dutch
Derived from the given name Nicolaas.

Košar Croatian
From Croatian koš meaning "basket", originally indicating a person who made or sold baskets.

Kostelecká f Czech
Feminine form of Kostelecký.

Kostelecký m Czech
Originally denoted a person from a village named Kostelec, derived from Czech kostel meaning "church".

Kováč m Slovak, Czech
Slovak and Czech cognate of Kovač.

Kovac Slovak (Anglicized), Croatian (Anglicized), Serbian (Anglicized), Czech (Anglicized)
Simplified spelling of Kováč or Kovač.

Kovač Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Slovene
Means "blacksmith", a derivative of Slavic kovati meaning "to forge".

Koval Ukrainian
Means "blacksmith" in Ukrainian.

Kovář m Czech
Czech cognate of Kovač.

Kövér Hungarian
Means "fat" in Hungarian.

Kozel um Belarusian, Czech
Belarusian and Czech cognate of Kozioł.

Kralj Slovene, Croatian, Serbian
Slovene, Croatian and Serbian form of Król.

Krall Czech (Anglicized), Slovak (Anglicized)
Americanized form of Král or Kráľ.

Kranz German, Jewish
Derived from Old High German kranz meaning "wreath", an occupational name for a maker of wreaths or an ornamental Jewish name.

Kratochvil m Czech
Derived from Czech kratochvíle meaning "pastime".

Kraus German
From Middle High German krus meaning "curly", originally a nickname for a person with curly hair.

Kravchenko Ukrainian
Derived from Ukrainian кравець (kravets) meaning "tailor".

Krebs German
Means "crab" in German, perhaps a nickname for a person with a crab-like walk.

Kristensen Danish
Means "son of Kristen 1".

Kroon Dutch, Estonian
Means "crown" in Dutch and Estonian (from Latin corona).

Krupa Polish
Means "groats, grain" in Polish.

Kruse German
Variant of Kraus.

Kuang Chinese
From Chinese 邝 (kuàng), which refers to the clan of the same name.

Küçük Turkish
Means "small" in Turkish.

Kumar Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Odia, Malayalam, Tamil
Means "boy, prince" in Sanskrit.

Kuntz German
Derived from a diminutive of the given name Konrad.

Kunze German
Derived from a diminutive of the given name Konrad.

Kuznetsova f Russian
Feminine form of Kuznetsov.

Kyler Dutch (Anglicized)
Anglicized form of Cuyler.

Kyles Scottish
Variant of Kyle.

Lacey English
Derived 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.

Lachapelle French
Means "the chapel" in French, most likely used to denote a person who lived by a church or a chapel.

Lager Swedish
Means "laurel" in Swedish.

Lahti Finnish
Means "bay, cove" in Finnish.

Laine Finnish, Estonian
Means "wave" in Finnish and Estonian.

Laird Scottish
Means "landowner" in Scots, derived from northern Middle English laverd "lord", from Old English hlafweard.

Lamar French, English
Originally from a place name in Normandy, derived from Old French la mare meaning "the pool".

Lamon Italian
From the name of the village of Lamon near the city of Belluno in Veneto, Italy.

Landi Italian
Derived from the given name Lando.

Lando Italian
Derived from the given name Lando.

Lange German, Danish, Norwegian
German, Danish and Norwegian cognate of Long.

Langenberg German, Dutch
From various place names meaning "long mountain" in German and Dutch.

Láník m Czech
Derived from Czech lán, a measure of land equal to approximately 18 hectares. The name loosely translates as "farmer" and is considered a Moravian equivalent of Sedlák.

Larue French
Means "the street" in French.

Łaska Polish
Means "grace, mercy" in Polish.

Láska m Czech, Slovak
Means "love" in Czech and Slovak.

Lázár Hungarian
From the given name Lázár.

Lazăr Romanian
From the given name Lazăr.

Lazić Serbian
Means "son of Lazar".

Leach English
Originally indicated a person who was a physician, from the medieval practice of using leeches to bleed people of ills.

Leary Irish
Variant of O'Leary.

Lecce Italian
Originally indicated a person from Lecce, southern Italy. The town was known as Licea or Litium in Latin, earlier Lupiae.

Leigh English
Variant of Lee 1.

Leitz German
Derived from the archaic given name Leutz, a variant of Lutz.

Lemmi Italian
From a short form of the given name Guglielmo. It is typical of Tuscany.

Lenin History
Surname 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.

Lenox Scottish
Variant of Lennox.

Leonardsen Norwegian
Means "son of Lennart".

Leonardson English
Means "son of Leonard".

Leone Italian
Derived from the given name Leone 1.

Leong Chinese (Cantonese)
Cantonese romanization of Liang.

Leoni Italian
Derived from the given name Leone 1.

Lepik Estonian
Means "alder forest" in Estonian, from lepp "alder tree".