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.
BianchiItalian From Italian bianco meaning "white", originally given to a person who was white-haired or extremely pale.
BiondiItalian Means "fair-haired, blond" in Italian. This name was borne by the American swimmer Matt Biondi (1965-).
BlancFrench Means "white" in French. The name referred to a person who was pale, or whose hair was blond.
BlancoSpanish Means "white" in Spanish. The name most likely referred to a person who was pale or had blond hair.
BreitbarthGerman From Old High German breit "broad" and bart "beard", originally a nickname for someone with a full beard.
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.
BrunFrench, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish Means "brown" in French, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. It was originally a nickname for a person who had brown hair or skin.
BrunetFrench From a diminutive of French brun meaning "brown".
BrunoItalian Means "brown" in Italian, a nickname for a person with brown hair or brown clothes.
CabelloSpanish Means "hair" in Spanish, used as a nickname for a person with a large amount of hair.
CalvoSpanish Means "bald" in Spanish, from Latin calvus.
CanoSpanish Means "white-haired, old" in Spanish, from Latin canus.
CarusoItalian Means "close-cropped hair" in Italian, also having the secondary sense "boy, young man".
CassidyIrish From Irish Ó Caiside meaning "descendant of Caiside". Caiside is a given name meaning "curly haired".
CharbonneauFrench Derived from a diminutive form of French charbon"charcoal", a nickname for a person with black hair or a dark complexion.
ChastainFrench From 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.
ChauvinFrench From a diminutive of French chauve"bald".
ĆosićCroatian, Serbian From Croatian and Serbian ćosav"beardless", ultimately from Persian کوسه (koseh) meaning "shark".
CouchCornish From Cornish cough"red", indicating the original bearer had red hair.
De WitteDutch Means "the white" in Dutch, a nickname for a person with white hair.
DonneScottish, Irish From Gaelic donn meaning "brown", a nickname for a person with brown hair.
DunnEnglish, Scottish, Irish Derived from Old English dunn"dark" or Gaelic donn"brown", referring to hair colour or complexion.
FehérHungarian Means "white" in Hungarian, originally referring to a person with white hair or complexion.
FeketeHungarian Means "black" in Hungarian, originally a nickname for a person with dark hair or a dark complexion.
FodorHungarian From Hungarian fodor meaning "curly, wavy", referring to a person with curly or wavy hair.
FoxEnglish From the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.
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.
FuchsGerman From Old High German fuhs meaning "fox". It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair.
GoldEnglish, German, Jewish From Old English and Old High German gold meaning "gold", an occupational name for someone who worked with gold or a nickname for someone with yellow hair. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.
Gough 1Welsh Nickname for a red-haired person, from Welsh coch"red".
GrayEnglish From a nickname for a person who had grey hair or grey clothes.
HuChinese From Chinese 胡 (hú) meaning "beard, whiskers, recklessly, wildly, barbarian".
KahlerGerman From a nickname derived from German kahl meaning "bald".
KatsarosGreek Means "curly" in Greek, referring to a person with curly hair.
KędzierskiPolish From a nickname meaning "curly", describing a person with curly hair.
KosmatkaPolish Derived from Polish kosmaty meaning "shaggy, hairy".
KrausGerman From Middle High German krus meaning "curly", originally a nickname for a person with curly hair.
KučeraCzech Means "curl" in Czech, a nickname for a person with curly locks of hair.
KudrnaCzech Means "curl" in Czech, a nickname for someone with curly hair.
LeblancFrench Means "the white", from French blanc "white". The name referred to a person who was pale or whose hair was blond.
LerouxFrench Means "the red", from Old French ros "red". This was a nickname for a person with red hair.
LombardiItalian Originally indicated someone who came from the Lombardy region of northern Italy, which was named for the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who invaded in the 6th century. Their name is derived from the Old German roots lang "long" and bart "beard".
PleškoSlovene Nickname for a bald person, from Slovene pleša meaning "bald patch".
PrietoSpanish From a nickname meaning "dark" in Spanish, referring to a person with dark hair or skin.
Rapp 2German From Middle High German raben meaning "raven", a nickname for a person with black hair.
Read 1English Means "red" from Middle English read, probably denoting a person with red hair or complexion.
RicciItalian From Italian riccio meaning "curly", a nickname for someone with curly hair. It is ultimately from Latin ericius meaning "hedgehog".
RoigCatalan Means "red" in Catalan, from Latin rubeus, originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a red complexion.
RojoSpanish Means "red" in Spanish, referring to the colour of the hair or complexion.
RossiItalian Derived from a nickname for a red-haired person, from Italian rosso, Latin russus meaning "red". This is the most common surname in Italy.
RothGerman, Jewish From Middle High German rot meaning "red". It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair.
RouxFrench Derived from Old French ros meaning "red", from Latin russus, a nickname for a red-haired person.
Roy 2Scottish From Gaelic ruadh meaning "red-haired".
RubioSpanish Nickname for a person with red hair, from Latin rubeus"red".
RussellEnglish From a Norman French nickname that meant "little red one", perhaps originally describing a person with red hair.
SchwarzGerman, Jewish Means "black" in German, from Old High German swarz. It originally described a person with black hair or a dark complexion.
SgroItalian Nickname for a curly-haired person, from Greek σγουρός (sgouros) meaning "curly".
SkjeggestadNorwegian From a place name, derived from Norwegian skjegg "beard" and stad "town, place".
SpanòSicilian From Sicilian spanu meaning "sparse, thin hair", ultimately from Greek σπάνιος (spanios) meaning "scarce, rare".
TarHungarian Derived from Hungarian tar meaning "bald".
TosiItalian Means "clean-shaven", usually denoting a younger man, from Latin tonsus "shaved".
VlasákCzech Derived from Czech vlas"hair", probably referring to a barber or a person who bought and sold hair.
VörösHungarian Means "red" in Hungarian, referring to a person with red hair or face.
VossGerman From Middle Low German vos meaning "fox". It was originally a nickname for a clever person or a person with red hair.
WeissGerman, Yiddish From Middle High German wiz or Yiddish װייַס (vais) meaning "white". This was originally a nickname for a person with white hair or skin.
WhiteEnglish Originally a nickname for a person who had white hair or a pale complexion, from Old English hwit"white".
WhiteheadEnglish Nickname for someone with white or light-coloured hair, from Old English hwit"white" and heafod "head".