Behind the Name: Surnames Categorized "colors"

BLACKEnglish
Means 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.

BLAKEEnglish
Variant of BLACK. A famous bearer was the poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827).

BLUEEnglish
From a nickname for a person with blue eyes or blue clothing.

BRONSONEnglish
Patronymic form of BROWN.

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.

BRUNOItalian
Means "brown" in Italian, a nickname for a person with brown hair or brown clothes.

FROSTEnglish, German
From Old English and Old High German meaning "frost", a nickname for a person who had a cold personality or a white beard.

GRAYEnglish
From a nickname for a person who had grey hair or grey clothes.

GREENEnglish
Descriptive name for someone who often wore the colour green or someone who lived near the village green.

GREYEnglish
Variant of GRAY.

HIMURAJapanese
From Japanese 緋 (hi) meaning "scarlet, dark red" and 村 (mura) meaning "town, village".

KUROSAWAJapanese
From Japanese 黒 (kuro) meaning "black" and 澤 (sawa) meaning "marsh". A notable bearer was Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), a Japanese film director.

NERIItalian
From the Italian word nero "black". It indicated a person with a dark complexion or dark hair.

ROSAItalian, Catalan
Italian and Catalan form of ROSE (1).

ROSE (1)English, 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).

SCARLETTEnglish
Denoted a person who sold or made clothes made of scarlet, a kind of cloth, possibly derived from Persian سقرلاط (saghrilat).

TANTaiwanese
Min Nan romanization of CHEN.

WHITEEnglish
Originally a nickname for a person who had white hair or a pale complexion, from Old English hwit "white".

	Usage
	Initial letter
	Source
	Meaning	expand search to ancestral names the meaning is anything from the name's write-up that is surrounded by "double quotes" separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to ancestral names: meanings for names further up the family tree will be included in the search
	Description	ignore name meanings the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" will match names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus will match Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored
	Origin
	Length
	Syllables	syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results
	Pattern	the pattern will be compared to the name * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters example: oo will match names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter example: __z will match names which have two letters and then a z
	Sound	case sensitive see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee will match names which end with the sound lee* (s) will match exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)rah will match names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) will match a consonant (k) will match a consonant or consonant cluster (v) will match a vowel (p) will match a plosive or stop consonant (p) will match a fricative consonant (n) will match a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
	Related name
	Relationship	expand search to ancestral names the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive will return Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* will exclude peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree will be included
	Popularity
	Namesake
	User list	enter a behindthename.com username to search that user's public personal name lists to limit your search to a specific list, put the name of the list in brackets after the username
	Category	separate multiple categories with a comma * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the category
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