BallEnglish From Middle English bal, Old English beall meaning "ball". This was either a nickname for a rotund or bald person, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a ball-shaped feature.
BowieScottish Anglicized 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).
BrownEnglish Originally 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.
DukeEnglish From the noble title, which was originally from Latin dux "leader". It was a nickname for a person who behaved like a duke, or who worked in a duke's household.
EdisonEnglish Means "son of Eda 2" or "son of Adam". The surname was borne by American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931).
MasonEnglish Occupational name for a stoneworker or layer of bricks, from Old French masson, of Frankish origin (akin to Old English macian "to make").
Murray 1Scottish Derived from the region in Scotland called Moray (Gaelic Moireabh), possibly of Pictish origin, meaning "seashore, coast". A notable bearer of this surname was General James Murray (1721-1794), who was the first British Governor-General of Canada.
NewportEnglish Given to one who came from the town of Newport (which means simply "new port"), which was the name of several English towns.
Rose 1English, French, German, Jewish Means "rose" from Middle English, Old French and Middle High German rose, all from Latin rosa. All denote a person of a rosy complexion or a person who lived in an area abundant with roses. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental, from Yiddish רויז (roiz).
RossEnglish, Scottish From various place names (such as the region of Ross in northern Scotland), which are derived from Scottish Gaelic ros meaning "promontory, headland".
SimpsonEnglish Means "son of Sim", Sim being a medieval short form of Simon 1. This is the name of a fictional American family on the animated television series The Simpsons, starting 1989.
SmithEnglish Means "metalworker, blacksmith" from Old English smiþ, related to smitan "to smite, to hit". It is the most common surname in most of the English-speaking world. A famous bearer was the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790).
StanfordEnglish Derived from various English place names meaning "stone ford" in Old English.
WashingtonEnglish From a place name meaning "settlement belonging to Wassa's people", from the given name Wassa and Old English tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town". A famous bearer was George Washington (1732-1799), the first president of the United States. This surname was sometimes adopted by freed slaves, resulting in a high proportion of African-American bearers.
Wright 1English From Old English wyrhta meaning "wright, maker", an occupational name for someone who was a craftsman. Famous bearers were Orville and Wilbur Wright, the inventors of the first successful airplane.
YorkEnglish From the name of the English city of York, which was originally called Eburacon (Latinized as Eboracum), meaning "yew" in Brythonic. In the Anglo-Saxon period it was corrupted to Eoforwic, based on Old English eofor "boar" and wic "village". This was rendered as Jórvík by the Vikings and eventually reduced to York.
YoungEnglish Derived from Old English geong meaning "young". This was a descriptive name to distinguish father from son.