This is a list of surnames in which the order is random.
Kelsey EnglishFrom an English place name meaning "Cenel's island", from the Old English name
Cenel "fierce" in combination with
eg "island".
Popescu RomanianPatronymic derived from Romanian
popă "priest". This is the second most common surname in Romania.
Fairclough EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"fair ravine, fair cliff" in Old English.
Barker EnglishMeans
"tanner", derived from the Middle English word
bark meaning "tree bark". This was an occupational name for a leather tanner, who often used tree bark in the tanning process.
De Witte DutchMeans
"the white" in Dutch, a nickname for a person with white or fair hair.
Pini ItalianName for a person who lived near a pine tree, from Italian
pino, Latin
pinus.
Sorrentino ItalianDerived from the town of Sorrento near Naples, called
Surrentum in Latin, of unknown meaning.
Cassidy IrishFrom Irish
Ó Caiside meaning
"descendant of Caiside".
Caiside is a given name meaning "curly haired".
Burnett EnglishMeans
"brown" in Middle English, from Old French
brunet, a diminutive of
brun.
Schröder 1 Low GermanOccupational name for a tailor, from Middle Low German
schroden meaning "to cut".
Skinner EnglishOccupational name for a person who skinned animals, from Old Norse
skinn.
Harper EnglishOriginally belonged to a person who played the harp or who made harps.
MacCarrick IrishMeans
"son of Cúcharraige" in Irish. The given name
Cúcharraige is composed of
cú "hound" and
carraig "rock".
Cantù ItalianFrom Cantù, an Italian town located in Lombardy, itself of uncertain origin.
Vela SpanishOccupational name for a guard, from Spanish
vela meaning
"watch, vigil".
Craig ScottishDerived from Gaelic
creag meaning
"crag, rocks, outcrop", originally belonging to a person who lived near a crag.
Lenz GermanFrom a nickname meaning
"springtime" in German.
Zubizarreta BasqueMeans
"old bridge", from Basque
zubia "bridge" and
zahar "old". A famous bearer is the Spanish soccer player Andoni Zubizarreta (1961-).
Pittaluga ItalianOriginally a nickname for somebody who steals grapes from vineyards. In the Genoese dialect
pittà means "to pick" and
uga means "grapes" (
uva in Italian).
Botterill EnglishProbably indicated someone from the town of Les Bottereaux in Normandy, itself derived from Old French
bot "toad".
Barros Portuguese, SpanishFrom the Portuguese and Spanish word
barro meaning
"clay, mud". This could either be an occupational name for a person who worked with clay or mud such as a builder or artisan, or a topographic name for someone living near clay or mud.
Lecce ItalianOriginally indicated a person from Lecce, southern Italy. The town was known as
Licea or
Litium in Latin, earlier
Lupiae.
Lennon IrishAnglicized form of the Irish name
Ó Leannáin, which means
"descendant of Leannán". The byname
Leannán means "lover". The name was borne by the musician John Lennon (1940-1980).
Ziegler GermanMeans
"bricklayer" or
"brickmaker" in German, from Middle High German
ziegel "brick, tile".
Chastain FrenchFrom Old French
castan "chestnut tree" (Latin
castanea), a name for someone who lived near a particular chestnut tree, or possibly a nickname for someone with chestnut-coloured hair.
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.
Villanueva SpanishOriginally denoted someone who came from one of the various Spanish towns by this name, derived from
villa "town" and
nueva "new".
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).
McCullough IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Mac Cú Uladh meaning
"son of Cú Uladh". The byname
Cú Uladh means "hound of Ulster". This surname has also been associated with Old Irish
cullach "boar".
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).
Aksoy TurkishFrom Turkish
ak "white" and
soy "lineage, ancestry".
Dahlberg SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
dal (Old Norse
dalr) meaning "dale, valley" and
berg meaning "mountain".
Horn English, German, Norwegian, DanishFrom the Old English, Old High German and Old Norse word
horn meaning
"horn". This was an occupational name for one who carved objects out of horn or who played a horn, or a person who lived near a horn-shaped geographical feature, such as a mountain or a bend in a river.
Bowman EnglishOccupational name for an archer, derived from Middle English
bowe, Old English
boga meaning "bow".
Moran IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Móráin meaning
"descendant of Mórán", a given name meaning "great, large".
Grimaldi ItalianFrom the given name
Grimaldo. It is the surname of the royal family of Monaco, which came from Genoa.
Jennings EnglishFrom the given name
Jenyn, a diminutive of
Jen, itself a Middle English form of
John.
Mark 2 EnglishOriginally indicated a person who lived near the boundary of a territory, from Old English
mearc meaning
"border, boundary".
Case EnglishFrom Norman French
casse meaning
"box, case", ultimately from Latin
capsa. This was an occupational name for a box maker.
Aalto FinnishFrom Finnish
aalto meaning
"wave". A famous bearer was Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).
Hoggard EnglishOccupational name meaning
"pig herder", from Old English
hogg "hog" and
hierde "herdsman, guardian".
Ridge EnglishDenoted a person who lived near a ridge, from Old English
hrycg.
Kapanadze GeorgianMeans
"son of the one from Kapan", originally denoting someone who came from the city of Kapan in present-day Armenia (from Armenian
կապել (kapel) meaning "to tie, to fasten").
Kipling EnglishFrom the name of a town in Yorkshire, of Old English origin meaning "Cyppel's people", from a given name
Cyppel of unknown meaning. A famous bearer of this name was the author Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).
Glenn Scottish, EnglishFrom place names derived from Gaelic
gleann "valley". A famous bearer was the American astronaut John Glenn (1921-2016).
Upton EnglishDenoted a person hailing from one of the many towns in England bearing this name. The place name itself is derived from Old English
upp "up" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Grant English, ScottishDerived from Norman French meaning
"grand, tall, large, great". A famous bearer was the American general and president Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885).
Hamilton English, ScottishFrom an English place name, derived from Old English
hamel "crooked, mutilated" and
dun "hill". This was the name of a town in Leicestershire, England (which no longer exists).
Power 1 English, IrishFrom Old French
Poier, indicating a person who came from the town of Poix in Picardy, France.
Nørup DanishFrom the name of Danish villages named
Nørup or
Norup.
Dubois FrenchMeans
"from the forest", from French
bois "forest".
Ware 1 EnglishFrom Old English
wer meaning
"dam, weir", indicating someone who lived near such a structure.
Hodžić BosnianFrom Bosnian
hodža meaning
"master, teacher, imam", a word of Persian origin.
Ross English, ScottishFrom various place names (such as the region of Ross in northern Scotland), which are derived from Scottish Gaelic
ros meaning "promontory, headland".
Senft 2 GermanNickname for a helpful, kind person, from Old High German
semfti meaning
"soft, accommodating".
Dudley EnglishFrom a place name meaning "
Dudda's clearing" in Old English. The surname was borne by a British noble family.
Arriola Spanish, BasqueFrom Basque place names, themselves derived from Basque
arri "stone" and
-ola "place of, house".
Benenati ItalianMeans
"son of Benenato", a given name derived from Latin
bene "good, well" and
natus "good".
Horton EnglishFrom the names of various places in England, which are derived from Old English
horh "dirt, mud" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Tornincasa ItalianFrom a medieval Italian name given to a boy born after the death of a previous one, derived from Italian
ritorna in casa "come back home".
Benton EnglishDenoted someone who came from Benton, England, which is derived from Old English
beonet "bent grass" and
tun "enclosure".
McMillan ScottishAnglicized form of Gaelic
MacMhaoilein meaning
"son of Maolan", itself meaning "devotee, servant, tonsured one".
Regenbogen German, JewishFrom a German nickname meaning
"rainbow", probably a habitational name for someone who lived in a house with the sign of a rainbow. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.
Narang HindiFrom the name of a Pakistani town that was in undivided India.
Carideo ItalianOriginally denoted someone from San Pietro di Caridà, a town in Calabria. The town's name may be derived from Greek
χάρις (charis) meaning "grace, kindness".
Baardwijk DutchFrom the name of a town in the Netherlands, possibly from
Baard, a variant of
Bert, and
wijk meaning "neighbourhood, district".
Szántó HungarianOccupational name for a ploughman or tiller, derived from Hungarian
szánt meaning "to plow".
Oleastro SpanishMeans
"wild olive" in Spanish, originally indicating one who lived near such a tree.
Maxwell ScottishFrom a place name meaning "Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". A famous bearer was James Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who studied gases and electromagnetism.
Purcell EnglishFrom Old French
pourcel "piglet", from Latin
porcellus, a derivative of
porcus "pig". This was a nickname or an occupational name for a swineherd.
Northrop EnglishOriginally denoted one who came from a town of this name England, meaning "north farm".
Rafferty IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Rabhartaigh meaning
"descendant of Rabhartach". The given name
Rabhartach means "flood tide".
Pfeiffer GermanOccupational name meaning
"pipe player" in German, from Middle High German
pfifen "to whistle".
Royer FrenchFrom French
roue meaning
"wheel", ultimately from Latin
rota, an occupational name for a wheelwright.
Kahler GermanFrom a nickname derived from German
kahl meaning
"bald".
Sabbadin ItalianFrom a nickname from Italian
sabbato "Saturday", a name for one born on that day of the week.