This is a list of surnames in which the order is random.
Blanc FrenchMeans
"white" in French. The name referred to a person who was pale, or whose hair was blond.
Glöckner GermanDerived from Middle High German
glocke "bell". It may have referred to a person who worked at or lived close to a bell tower.
Paquet 1 FrenchOccupational name for a firewood gatherer, from Old French
pacquet "bundle".
Beiler GermanDerived from Middle High German
beile meaning
"measuring stick".
Giffard French, EnglishPossibly from Old French
gifart meaning
"chubby" or possibly from the Germanic name
Gebhard. Walter Giffard was one of the Norman companions of William the Conqueror.
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).
Caulfield EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"cold field", from Old English
ceald "cold" and
feld "pasture, field".
Berlusconi ItalianProbably from the Milanese word
berlusch meaning
"cross-eyed, crooked".
Armistead EnglishMeans
"hermitage", indicating a person who lived near one, from Middle English
ermite "hermit" and
stede "place".
Dorsey EnglishMeans
"from Orsay", referring to the town of Orsay near Paris, its name deriving from the Latin personal name
Orcius.
Lewis 1 EnglishDerived from the given name
Lewis. The author C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) was a bearer of this surname.
Gomółka PolishDerived from Polish
gomółka, a type of round cheese, ultimately from an old Polish word meaning "round".
Caivano ItalianFrom the name of the town of Caivano near Naples, derived from Latin
Calvianum, derived from the Roman cognomen
Calvus.
Hitler GermanVariant of
Hiedler. This was spelling used by Alois Hitler, the father of German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), when he adopted his stepfather Johann Georg Hiedler's surname.
Linton EnglishOriginally from place names meaning either "flax town" or "linden tree town" in Old English.
Bowie ScottishAnglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
Buidheach, derived from
buidhe meaning
"yellow". A famous bearer was the American pioneer James Bowie (1796-1836), for whom the bowie knife is named. The British musician David Bowie (1947-2016), born David Robert Jones, took his stage name from the American pioneer (and the knife).
Van Laar DutchDerived from Dutch
laar (plural
laren), which means
"open spot in the forest". These areas were used to graze cattle for example.
Kelly 1 IrishAnglicized 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).
Horsfall EnglishFrom a minor place in Yorkshire derived from Old English
hors "horse" and
fall "clearing".
Brasher EnglishMeans
"brass worker", derived from Old English
bræs "brass".
Street EnglishHabitational name for a person who lived in a place called Street, for example in Somerset. It is derived from Old English
stræt meaning
"Roman road", from Latin
strata.
Triggs EnglishFrom a byname derived from Old Norse
tryggr meaning
"true, loyal".
Król PolishMeans
"king" in Polish. The name referred to one who acted like a king or was connected in some way with a king's household.
Stolarz PolishOccupational name from Polish
stolarz meaning
"joiner, maker of furniture".
Hayden 1 EnglishFrom place names meaning either
"hay valley" or
"hay hill", derived from Old English
heg "hay" and
denu "valley" or
dun "hill".
Michalski m PolishHabitational name for a person from a village named
Michale or
Michały, both derived from the given name
Michał.
Vivas CatalanFrom the Catalan byname
vivas meaning
"may you live", which was bestowed upon children to bring good luck.
Shaw 2 ScottishFrom a given name or byname that was derived from Gaelic
sitheach meaning
"wolf" (Old Irish
sídach).
Collins 1 IrishAnglicized form of
Ó Coileáin. A famous bearer was Michael Collins, an Irish nationalist leader who was assassinated in 1922.
Bondesan ItalianVenetian name derived from the name of the town of Bondeno in northern Italy.
Reiher GermanMeans
"heron" in German, a nickname for a person with long legs.
Beaulieu FrenchFrom various French place names derived from
beau "beautiful" and
lieu "place".
Ávila SpanishFrom the name of the city of Ávila in Spain. It is of uncertain meaning, possibly of Punic or Celtic origin.
Ó Síoda IrishMeans
"descendant of Síoda", a byname meaning "silk" in Irish.
Cohen JewishMeans
"priest" from Hebrew
כֹּהֵן (kohen). It originally denoted one of the priestly tribe of Levi.
Aleppo ItalianFrom the name of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is from Arabic
خالاب (Khālāb), of uncertain meaning.
Muggia ItalianFrom the town of Muggia in northeastern Italy near the Slovenian border. It was called
Muglae in Latin.
Blair ScottishFrom any one of several places of this name in Scotland, which derive from Gaelic
blàr meaning "plain, field, battlefield".
Krämer GermanMeans
"shopkeeper, merchant" in German, derived from Old High German
kram meaning "tent, trading post".
Al-Mufti ArabicRefers to a
mufti, a Muslim legal advisor consulted in applying a religious law.
Sergeant English, FrenchOccupational name derived from Old French
sergent meaning
"servant", ultimately from Latin
servio "to serve".
Iwata JapaneseFrom Japanese
岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
Aguilar SpanishFrom a place name that was derived from Spanish
águila meaning
"eagle", ultimately from Latin
aquila.
McLeod ScottishFrom Gaelic
MacLeòid meaning
"son of Leod", a given name derived from Old Norse
ljótr "ugly".
Sitko PolishMeans
"fine sieve" in Polish, a diminutive of the Polish word
sito "sieve".
Žagar SloveneOccupational name for a woodcutter, from Slovene
žaga meaning
"saw".
Gump German (Rare), Popular CulturePossibly from a nickname derived from Middle High German
gumpen meaning
"to hop, to jump". This surname was used by author Winston Groom for the hero of his novel
Forrest Gump (1986), better known from the 1994 movie adaptation.
John EnglishDerived from the given name
John. A famous bearer is British musician Elton John (1947-), born Reginald Dwight.
Katsaros m GreekMeans
"curly" in Greek, referring to a person with curly hair.
Bloodworth EnglishOriginally indicated someone from the town of Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, which was derived from the Old English byname
Blīþa (meaning "happy, blithe") combined with
worð "enclosure".
Gorman 2 IrishFrom the Irish
Ó Gormáin meaning
"descendant of Gormán". The given name
Gormán means "little blue one".
Dupuy FrenchMeans
"from the hill", from Occitan
puy "hill", from Latin
podium "platform".
Hakala FinnishFrom Finnish
haka meaning
"pasture" with the suffix
-la indicating a place.
Hofer GermanOccupational name for a farmer, from German
Hof "farm", from Old High German
hof "yard, court".
Van Rijn DutchMeans
"from the Rhine". A famous bearer was the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).
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.
Dickinson EnglishMeans
"son of Dicun",
Dicun being a medieval diminutive of
Dick 1. American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a famous bearer.
Maradona SpanishFrom the name of a place near Lugo in northern Spain. A notable bearer is the former Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona (1960-2020).
Capello 2 ItalianNickname for a thin person, from Italian
capello meaning
"a hair", ultimately derived from Latin
capillus.
Lê VietnameseVietnamese form of
Li 2, from Sino-Vietnamese
黎 (lê). This is the third most common surname in Vietnam.
Perrier FrenchOccupational name for a person who worked with stone, derived from French
pierre meaning
"stone", from Latin
petra, Greek
πέτρα (petra).
Silver EnglishFrom a nickname for a person with grey hair, from Old English
seolfor "silver".
Dale EnglishFrom Old English
dæl meaning
"valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.
Kinnunen FinnishPossibly derived from the Finnish dialectal word
kinni meaning
"animal skin, fur", borrowed from Swedish
skinn.
Wall EnglishOriginally denoted a person who lived near a prominent wall, from Old English
weall.
Braband GermanDerived from the name of the region of Brabant in the Netherlands and Belgium. It possibly means "ploughed region" or "marshy region" in Old High German.
Bleier GermanOccupational name for a worker of lead, derived from German
blei "lead".
Khachaturyan ArmenianMeans
"son of Khachatur" in Armenian. A famous bearer was the Armenian composer Aram Khachaturyan or Khachaturian (1903-1978).
Segal 2 FrenchOccupational name for a grower or seller of rye, from Old French, from Latin
secale "rye".
Gwózdek PolishDerived from either archaic Polish
gwozd meaning
"forest" or
gwóźdź meaning
"nail".
Janowski m PolishHabitational name for a person from a town named
Janowo,
Janów or
Janowice, all derived from the given name
Jan 1.
Sheridan IrishFrom the Irish name
Ó Sirideáin meaning
"descendant of Sirideán". The given name
Sirideán possibly means "searcher".
Jehlička m CzechFrom Czech
jehla meaning
"needle", most likely borne by tailors in reference to their occupation.
Proulx FrenchDerived from Old French
preu meaning
"valiant, brave".
Cabral PortugueseFrom places named from Late Latin
capralis meaning
"place of goats", derived from Latin
capra meaning "goat".
Witkowski m PolishFrom the name of various Polish places called
Witkowo,
Witków or
Witkowice, all derived from the given name
Witek.
Black EnglishMeans either
"black" (from Old English
blæc) or
"pale" (from Old English
blac). It could refer to a person with a pale or a dark complexion, or a person who worked with black dye.
Cody IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Cuidighthigh or
Mac Óda. A famous bearer was the American frontiersman and showman Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917).
Starek PolishFrom a nickname derived from Polish
stary meaning
"old".
Kundakçı TurkishFrom Turkish
kundak meaning
"stock, wooden part of a rifle".
Grieve ScottishOccupational name meaning
"steward, farm manager" in Middle English, related to the German title
Graf.
Brontë IrishVariant of
Brunty adopted by the Irish-born Englishman Patrick Brunty (1777-1861) as an adult. He was the father of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, each prominent authors.
Gutenberg German, JewishVariant of
Guttenberg. A notable bearer was the inventor of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468), whose family hailed from an estate by this name.
Wang 4 YiddishName for a Jew from Hungary, ultimately from Russian
Венгрия (Vengriya) meaning
"Hungary".
Dickens EnglishFrom the medieval given name
Dicun, a medieval diminutive of
Dick 1. A famous bearer of this surname was the British author Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
Skalický m Czech, SlovakIndicated the original bearer came from a place named
Skalice,
Skalica or
Skalička in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, derived from the Slavic root
skala meaning "rock".
Sabbadin ItalianFrom a nickname from Italian
sabbato "Saturday", a name for one born on that day of the week.
Campana Italian, SpanishOccupational name from Late Latin
campana meaning
"bell", ultimately derived from the Italian region of Campania, where bells were produced.