This is a list of surnames in which the order is random.
Starrett ScottishOriginally indicated a person from Stairaird, an estate in Scotland.
Quixote LiteratureCreated by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes for the main character in his novel
Don Quixote (1605), about a nobleman who goes mad after reading too many heroic romances and decides to become a wandering knight under the name Don Quixote. His real name in part one of the book is conjectured to be
Quixada or
Quesada, though in part two (published 10 years after part one) it is revealed as Alonso
Quixano. The Spanish suffix
-ote means "large".
Segura Spanish, CatalanFrom places with names derived from Spanish or Catalan
segura meaning
"safe, secure".
Stroud EnglishFrom Old English
strod meaning
"marshy ground overgrown with brushwood".
Reenberg DanishMeaning unknown. The second element is probably from Old Norse
berg "mountain" (modern Danish
bjerg).
Manfredonia ItalianOriginally indicated a person from Manfredonia, Italy. The city was named for the 13th-century King
Manfred of Sicily.
Di Caprio ItalianFrom the name of the island of Capri near Naples, itself possibly derived from Latin
capra meaning "goat" or Greek
κάπρος (kapros) meaning "wild boar".
Westley EnglishFrom the name of various English towns, derived from Old English
west "west" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Van Dalen DutchMeans
"from the valley", from Old Dutch
dal meaning "valley".
Shaw 2 ScottishFrom a given name or byname that was derived from Gaelic
sitheach meaning
"wolf" (Old Irish
sídach).
Stanley EnglishFrom various place names meaning
"stone clearing" in Old English. A notable bearer was the British-American explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904).
Veenstra DutchDerived from Dutch
veen meaning
"fen, swamp, peat".
Averill EnglishFrom Middle English
aueril, Old French
avrill meaning
"April", perhaps indicating a person who was baptized in that month.
Spalding EnglishFrom the name of the town of Spalding in Lincolnshire, derived from the Anglo-Saxon tribe of the Spaldingas.
Moser GermanName for someone who lived near a peat bog, from Middle High German
mos.
Altamura ItalianFrom the name of the Italian city of Altamura, which means "high walls" in Italian.
Halmi HungarianDerived from Hungarian
halom meaning
"mound, small hill". Originally the name was given to someone who lived near or on a hill.
Ness English, Scottish, NorwegianFrom English
ness and Norwegian
nes meaning
"headland, promontory", of Old Norse origin, originally referring to a person who lived there.
Broz CroatianDerived from
Broz, a diminutive of
Ambrozije. This was the birth surname of the Yugoslavian dictator Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980).
Thrussell EnglishFrom Old English
þrostle meaning
"song thrush", referring to a cheerful person.
Gárdonyi HungarianOriginally denoted a person from Gárdony, a town near Budapest in Hungary.
Berlusconi ItalianProbably from the Milanese word
berlusch meaning
"cross-eyed, crooked".
Trask EnglishOriginally indicated a person from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, derived from Old Norse
þresk meaning "fen, marsh".
Burgess EnglishFrom Middle English and Old French
burgeis meaning
"city-dweller", ultimately from Frankish
burg "fortress".
Tiryaki TurkishPossibly from a nickname meaning
"addict, opium user" in Turkish.
Flynn IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Floinn meaning
"descendant of Flann".
Lacey EnglishDerived 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.
Fairburn EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"fern stream", from Old English
fearn "fern" and
burna "stream".
Maeda JapaneseFrom Japanese
前 (mae) meaning "front, forward" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
Waller 2 EnglishDerived from Old English
weall meaning
"wall", denoting a builder of walls or someone who lived near a prominent wall.
Breisacher GermanOriginally denoted one who came from the town of Breisach, in Germany. The town's name is possibly from a Celtic word meaning "breakwater".
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.
Brown EnglishOriginally a nickname for a person who had brown hair or skin. A notable bearer is Charlie Brown from the
Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz.
Joly FrenchFrom Old French
joli meaning
"happy, jolly, pretty".
Bootsma FrisianOccupational name meaning
"boatman", derived from Dutch
boot "boat".
Laganà ItalianOccupational name for a greengrocer, meaning
"vegetables" in southern Italian dialects, ultimately from Greek
λάχανον (lachanon).
Zino ItalianDerived from the given name
Zino, a short form of names ending with
-zino, such as
Lorenzino, a diminutive of
Lorenzo, or
Vincenzino, a diminutive of
Vincenzo.
Howe EnglishName for one who lived on a hill, from Middle English
how "hill" (of Norse origin).
Hillam EnglishFrom English places by this name, derived from Old English
hyll meaning
"hill".
Katsaros m GreekMeans
"curly" in Greek, referring to a person with curly hair.
Polzin GermanFrom the name of a town in Pomerania, Poland (formerly part of Germany). In Polish it is called Połczyn.
Baggins LiteratureCreated by J. R. R. Tolkien for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the hero of
The Hobbit (1937), and also for his cousin Frodo Baggins, the hero of
The Lord of the Rings (1954). He probably derived it from the English word
bag. The Baggins family home was called Bag End, and Tolkien himself had an aunt who owned a farm by this name, so that may have been his inspiration. Tolkien used English-like translations of many hobbit names; according to his notes the real hobbit-language form of the surname was
Labingi.
Gerst GermanOccupational name for a barley farmer, derived from Old High German
gersta "barley".
Brogan IrishOccupational name derived from Irish
bróg meaning
"shoe".
Koizumi JapaneseFrom Japanese
小 (ko) meaning "small" and
泉 (izumi) meaning "spring, fountain". A notable bearer of this name is Junichiro Koizumi (1942-), who was Prime Minister of Japan.
Fairclough EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"fair ravine, fair cliff" in Old English.
Saller 2 GermanDenoted a person who lived by a prominent sallow tree, from Middle High German
salhe "sallow tree".
Kirk EnglishFrom northern Middle English
kirk meaning
"church", from Old Norse
kirkja (cognate of
Church). A famous fictional bearer is the starship captain James Kirk from the
Star Trek television series (1966-1969), and subsequent films.
Messina ItalianFrom the name of the Sicilian city of Messina, founded by Greek colonists. The city was named after the Greek city
Μεσσήνη (Messene).
Linton EnglishOriginally from place names meaning either "flax town" or "linden tree town" in Old English.
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.
Tamaro ItalianPossibly from the Old German given name
Thietmar. It is typical of the area around Trieste in northern Italy.
Østergård DanishFrom Danish
øst meaning "east" and
gård meaning "enclosure, farm".
Xiao ChineseFrom Chinese
蕭 (xiāo) referring to the fiefdom or territory of Xiao (in present-day Anhui province) that existed during the Zhou dynasty.
Izquierdo SpanishMeans
"left, left-handed" in Spanish, ultimately from Basque
ezker.
Ramsey English, ScottishMeans
"garlic island", derived from Old English
hramsa "garlic" and
eg "island". The surname was brought to Scotland by the Norman baron Simundus de Ramsay.
Carbone ItalianFrom a nickname for a person with dark features, from Italian
carbone meaning
"coal".
Zimmermann German, JewishFrom the German word for
"carpenter", derived from Middle High German
zimber "timber, wood" and
mann "man".
Dickinson EnglishMeans
"son of Dicun",
Dicun being a medieval diminutive of
Dick 1. American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a famous bearer.
Perry 1 EnglishFrom Old English
pirige meaning
"pear tree", a derivative of
peru meaning "pear", itself from Latin
pirum. A famous bearer was Matthew Perry (1794-1858), the American naval officer who opened Japan to the West.
Coppola ItalianFrom the name of a type of hat characteristic of Sicily and southern Italy. This surname indicated a person who wore or made these hats. A famous bearer is the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (1939-), as well as other members of his extended family also in show business.
Van der Stoep DutchMeans
"from the paved entrance", from Dutch
stoep meaning "paved porch at the entrance to a house".
Spannagel GermanOccupational name for a nailsmith, from Middle High German
span nagel "connecting bolt".
Beyersdorf GermanMeans
"farmers village", from German
Bauer meaning "farmer" and
Dorf meaning "village".
Emmet EnglishVariant of
Emmett. This name was borne by the Irish nationalist Robert Emmet (1778-1803).
Waller 1 EnglishDerived from Old French
gallier meaning
"person with a pleasant temper".
Melville ScottishFrom the place name
Malleville meaning "bad town" in Norman French.
Ó Meadhra IrishMeans
"descendant of Meadhra". The given name
Meadhra is derived from the Gaelic
meadhar meaning "merry, happy".
Brady IrishAnglicized form of the Irish name
Ó Brádaigh meaning
"descendant of Brádach". A famous bearer is the American football quarterback Tom Brady (1977-).
Dvořák m CzechOccupational name derived from Czech
dvůr "manor", indicating a person who worked at such a place. This name was borne by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904).
Zima mu Czech, Slovak, Polish, RussianFrom an Old Slavic word meaning
"winter". This may have been a nickname for a person with a chilly personality.
Solheim NorwegianFrom the name various of various villages in Norway, derived from Old Norse
sól meaning "sun" and
heimr meaning "home".
Robledo SpanishMeans
"oak wood" from Spanish
roble "oak", ultimately from Latin
robur.
Honda JapaneseFrom Japanese
本 (hon) meaning "root, origin, source" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
Penn 2 EnglishOccupational name for a person who kept penned animals, from Old English
penn.
Brigham EnglishOriginally referred to one who came from a town called Brigham, meaning "homestead by the bridge" in Old English. This is the name of towns in Cumberland and Yorkshire.
Zupan SloveneFrom Old Slavic
županŭ meaning
"head of the district, community leader", a derivative of
župa meaning "district, region".
Siddall EnglishFrom the name of various English towns, derived from Old English
sid "wide" and
halh "nook, recess".
Toledano SpanishDerived from the name of the city of Toledo in Spain, which was from Latin
Toletum, which may have been derived from a Celtic word meaning "hill".
Lécuyer FrenchFrom French
écuyer meaning
"squire, shield-bearer", from Latin
scutarius, a derivative of
scutum "shield".
Bullard EnglishPossibly a nickname derived from Middle English
bole "fraud, deceit".
Peck 2 EnglishOccupational name for a maker of pecks (vessels used as peck measures), derived from Middle English
pekke.
Marshall EnglishDerived from Middle English
mareschal "marshal", from Latin
mariscalcus, ultimately from Germanic roots akin to Old High German
marah "horse" and
scalc "servant". It originally referred to someone who took care of horses.
Borgogni ItalianFrom the name of the French region of Burgundy (called Bourgogne in French), which is named after the Germanic tribe the Burgundians, meaning "people from the high land".
Padmore EnglishOriginally indicated a person from Padmore in England, derived from Old English
padde "toad" and
mor "moor, marsh".
Gwózdek PolishDerived from either archaic Polish
gwozd meaning
"forest" or
gwóźdź meaning
"nail".
Saitō JapaneseFrom Japanese
斎 (sai) meaning "purification, worship" and
藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria". The latter character could indicate a connection to the Fujiwara clan.
Holst Danish, Low German, DutchOriginally 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).