This is a list of surnames in which the order is random.
Hartley EnglishHabitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in England named Hartley, from Old English
heorot "hart, male deer" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Woodrow EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"row of houses by a wood" in Old English.
Villalobos SpanishHabitational name for a person from the town of Villalobos, Spain, which is derived from Spanish
villa "town" and
lobo "wolf".
Tash EnglishFrom Middle English
at asche meaning
"at the ash tree".
Storstrand NorwegianOriginally denoted someone from Storstrand farm in Norway, derived from
stor meaning "big" and
strand meaning "beach".
Láník m CzechDerived 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.
Tyson 1 EnglishDerived from a nickname for a quarrelsome person, from Old French
tison meaning
"firebrand".
Zeman m Czech, SlovakMeans
"landowner", ultimately from Old Slavic
zemľa meaning "land".
Kellogg EnglishOccupational name for a pig butcher, from Middle English
killen "to kill" and
hog "pig, swine, hog".
Song Chinese, KoreanFrom Chinese
宋 (sòng) referring to the Song dynasty, which ruled China from 960 to 1279.
Tuft EnglishDenoted one who lived near a clump of trees or bushes, from Middle English
tufte "tuft, clump", from Old French.
Eaton EnglishFrom any of the various English towns with this name, derived from Old English
ea "river" and
tun "enclosure, yard, town".
Sorrentino ItalianDerived from the town of Sorrento near Naples, called
Surrentum in Latin, of unknown meaning.
Tamura JapaneseFrom Japanese
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy" and
村 (mura) meaning "town, village".
Rothschild JewishFrom Middle High German
rot "red" and
schilt "shield", or Yiddish
רויט (roit) and
שילד (shild). The famous Rothschild family of bankers took their name from a house with a red shield on it.
Virgo EnglishPossibly from Latin
virgo "virgin, maiden". It may have been a nickname for an actor who played the Virgin Mary in mystery plays, or for a shy man or a lecher.
Farnham EnglishIndicated a person from any of the various towns named Farnham in England, notably in Surrey. Their names are from Old English
fearn "fern" and
ham "home, settlement" or
ham "water meadow, enclosure".
Poirier FrenchMeans
"pear tree" in French, originally a nickname for someone who lived close to such a tree.
Sparacello ItalianFrom Sicilian
sparaciu meaning
"asparagus", an occupational name for an asparagus seller or grower.
English EnglishDenoted a person who was of English heritage. It was used to distinguish people who lived in border areas (for example, near Wales or Scotland). It was also used to distinguish an Anglo-Saxon from a Norman.
Dam Dutch, DanishMeans
"dike, dam" in Dutch and Danish. In modern Danish it also means "pond".
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.
Sawyer EnglishOccupational name meaning
"sawer of wood, woodcutter" in Middle English, ultimately from Old English
sagu meaning "saw". Mark Twain used it for the main character in his novel
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
Garrastazu BasqueFrom the Basque word
arratz "bush" combined with the suffix
sta denoting a place.
Poppins LiteratureUsed by P. L. Travers for the magical nanny in her
Mary Poppins series of books, first published in 1934. It is not known how Travers devised the name. She may have had the English words
pop or
poppet (meaning "young woman") in mind.
Pugliese ItalianFrom an adjectival derivative of Puglia, from Latin
Apulia, a region of southeast Italy containing the boot heel and some of the coastline of the Adriatic Sea. It is a regional name for someone from that region.
Keller GermanMeans
"cellar" in German, an occupational name for one in charge of the food and drink.
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.
Van Baarle DutchMeans
"from Baarle", a town in both the Netherlands and Belgium.
Merrill 2 EnglishFrom the name of various places in England, derived from Old English
myrige "pleasant" and
hyll "hill".
Bonney EnglishFrom northern Middle English
boni meaning
"pretty, attractive".
Lémieux FrenchDerived from the place name
Leymieux, a town in the Rhône-Alpes region of France.
Tosi ItalianMeans
"clean-shaven", usually denoting a younger man, from Latin
tonsus "shaved".
Muñoz SpanishPatronymic derived from the medieval Spanish given name
Muño, from Latin
Munnius, possibly of Germanic origin.
Arkwright EnglishOccupational name meaning
"chest maker", from Middle English
arc meaning "chest, coffer" and
wyrhta meaning "maker, craftsman".
Faragó HungarianAn occupational name meaning
"woodcutter", from Hungarian
farag meaning "carve, cut".
Sciacca ItalianOriginally denoted someone from Sciacca, Sicily, Italy, which is of uncertain origin.
Penny EnglishNickname meaning
"penny, coin" from Old English
penning.
Lebeau FrenchNickname for a handsome person, from French
le "the" and
beau "beautiful, handsome".
Casas SpanishFrom Spanish
casa meaning
"house", of Latin origin.
Proulx FrenchDerived from Old French
preu meaning
"valiant, brave".
Coelho PortugueseFrom the Portuguese word for
"rabbit", either a nickname or an occupational name referring to a hunter or seller of rabbits.
Escamilla SpanishDerived from the name of the town of Escamilla in Gualadajara, Spain.
Lehr GermanFrom Old High German
loh meaning
"meadow, clearing".
Belcher EnglishFrom a Middle English version of Old French
bel chiere meaning
"beautiful face". It later came to refer to a person who had a cheerful and pleasant temperament.
Melnyk UkrainianMeans
"miller" in Ukrainian. This is the most common Ukrainian surname.
Coy EnglishMeans
"quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English
coi.
Niemelä FinnishFrom Finnish
niemi meaning
"peninsula, cape" with the suffix
-la indicating a place.
Swindlehurst EnglishFrom the place name
Swinglehurst in the Forest of Bowland in central Lancashire, derived from Old English
swin "swine, pig",
hyll "hill" and
hyrst "wood, grove".
Chmela m CzechDerived from Czech
chmel "hops", referring to a person who grew hops, a plant used in brewing beer.
Zhang ChineseFrom Chinese
张 (zhāng) meaning
"stretch, extend". It may have denoted a bowmaker whose job it was to stretch bow wood.
Gatsby English (Rare), LiteratureRare variant of
Gadsby. This name was used by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald for the central character in his novel
The Great Gatsby (1925). In the book, James Gatz renames himself as Jay Gatsby at age 17 because he believes it sounds more sophisticated.
Thatcher EnglishReferred to a person who thatched roofs by attaching straw to them, derived from Old English
þæc meaning "thatch, roof". A famous bearer was the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).
Bellandi ItalianMeans
"son of Bellando", from a medieval given name derived from Latin
bellandus meaning "which is to be fought".
Flanagan IrishFrom Irish
Ó Flannagáin meaning
"descendant of Flannagán".
Flannagán is a given name meaning "blood red". From County Roscommon in Ireland, it has many other spellings.
Vaughan WelshFrom Welsh
bychan (mutated to
fychan) meaning
"little". It was a descriptive name to distinguish father from son.
Head EnglishFrom Middle English
hed meaning
"head", from Old English
heafod. It may have referred to a person who had a peculiar head, who lived near the head of a river or valley, or who served as the village headman.
Ellison EnglishPatronymic form of the English name
Ellis, from the medieval given name
Elis, a vernacular form of
Elijah.
Talbot EnglishOf Norman origin, possibly derived from an unattested Germanic given name composed of the elements
dala "to destroy" and
bod "message".
Acker German, EnglishDenoted a person who lived near a field, derived from Middle English
aker or Middle High German
acker meaning "field".
Averesch DutchFrom a place name, possibly from a dialectal variation of Dutch
over meaning "over" combined with
esch meaning "ash tree".
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.
Omdahl NorwegianDenoted a person hailing from any one of a number of farms in Norway called either Åmdal or Omdal meaning "elm valley".
Sherburn EnglishDenoted a person hailing from any of the various places called Sherborne or Sherburn in England, derived from Old English
scir "bright" and
burna "spring, fountain, stream".
Farina ItalianOccupational name for a miller, derived from Italian
farina "flour".
Van Niftrik DutchMeans
"from Niftrik", a town in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
Plamondon FrenchDerived from French
plat "flat" and
mont "mountain", referring to someone who lived near a flat-topped mountain.
Payne EnglishFrom a medieval given name or nickname derived from Latin
paganus meaning
"heathen, pagan" (from an earlier sense "rural, rustic"), which was given to children whose baptism had been postponed or adults who were not overly religious.
Duffy 1 IrishDerived from Irish
Ó Dubhthaigh meaning
"descendant of Dubthach". Their original homeland was Monaghan where the surname is still the most common; they are also from Donegal and Roscommon.
Fèvre FrenchOccupational name meaning
"blacksmith" in Old French, derived from Latin
faber.
Stenger GermanOccupational name for a post maker, from Old High German
stanga "pole".
Boyle IrishFrom Irish
Ó Baoighill meaning
"descendant of Baoigheall". The meaning of the given name
Baoigheall is uncertain, but it is thought to be connected to Irish
geall meaning "pledge".
Gill EnglishOriginally indicated someone who lived near a ravine, from Middle English
gil (of Old Norse origin).
Ratti ItalianFrom Italian
ratto meaning
"rat", originally denoting a sly individual.
Vinci 2 ItalianOriginally indicated a person from Vinci near Florence, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci.
Mushyan ArmenianOriginally denoted someone who came from the Armenian town of Mushi.
Dumbledore LiteratureFrom the dialectal English word
dumbledore meaning
"bumblebee". It was used by J. K. Rowling for the headmaster of Hogwarts in her
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.
Sauveterre FrenchFrom the name of various towns in France, derived from French
sauve "safe" and
terre "land".
Rietveld DutchMeans
"reed field", from Dutch
riet "reed" and
veld "field". It is found mostly in the western part of the Netherlands (the Holland area).
Holmberg SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
holme (Old Norse
holmr) meaning "small island" and
berg meaning "mountain".
Hawk EnglishOriginally a nickname for a person who had a hawk-like appearance or who acted in a fierce manner, derived from Old English
hafoc "hawk".
Niskanen FinnishDerived from Finnish
niska meaning
"neck", indicating someone who lived on a neck of land or who had a distinctive neck.
Broz CroatianDerived from
Broz, a diminutive of
Ambrozije. This was the birth surname of the Yugoslavian dictator Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980).
Mora SpanishDerived from Spanish
mora meaning
"mulberry", of Latin origin.
Fitzgerald IrishMeans
"son of Gerald" in Anglo-Norman French. It was brought to Ireland with William the Conqueror. A famous bearer was Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), an American jazz singer.