This is a list of surnames in which the categories include landforms.
ACHTERBERGDutch, German From the name of various places in the Netherlands and Germany, for example the village of achterberg in Utrecht. The place names are derived from Low German achter "behind" and berg "mountain, hill".
BANKSEnglish Originally indicated someone who lived near a hillside or a bank of land.
BARLOWEnglish Derived from a number of English place names that variously mean "barley hill", "barn hill", "boar clearing" or "barley clearing".
BELMONTESpanish, Italian From various place names in Italy and Spain meaning "beautiful mountain".
BERGMANNGerman From Old High German berg "mountain" and man "man", originally denoting someone who lived on a mountain.
BRAYEnglish From a place name derived from Cornish bre"hill".
BROOKEnglish Denoted a person who lived near a brook, a word derived from Old English broc.
BROWNLOWEnglish From Old English brun meaning "brown" and hlaw meaning "mound, small hill". The name was probably given to a family living on a small hill covered with bracken.
BURNS (1)English, Scottish Derived from Old English burna"stream, spring". A famous bearer was the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796).
COMO (2)Italian From the name of the city of Como in Lombardy, the rival city of Milan during the Middle Ages. Its name may come from a Celtic root meaning "valley".
COWDENEnglish From various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.
DALEEnglish From Old English dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.
DAMDutch, Danish Means "dike, dam" in Dutch and Danish. In modern Danish it also means "pond".
DEAN (1)English Derived from Middle English dene meaning "valley".
DENMANEnglish From Middle English dene "valley" combined with man.
DOWNEREnglish Name for someone who lived on or near a down, which an English word meaning "hill".
DRUMMONDScottish From various Scottish place names that are derived from Gaelic drumainn, a derivative of druim meaning "ridge".
DUNBARScottish From the name of a town in East Lothian, Scotland, derived from Gaelic dùn meaning "fort" and barr meaning "summit", so called from its situation on a rock that projects into the sea.
FONSECASpanish, Portuguese Originally belonged to a person who lived near a dry spring, from Latin fons "well, spring" and siccus "dry".
FREUDENBERGERGerman, Jewish Ornamental name from old German freud meaning "joy" and berg meaning "mountain".
GRÜNBERGGerman, Jewish From German grün "green" and Berg "mountain". This name indicated a person who lived on or near a forest-covered mountain.
HARDENEnglish From a place name meaning "hare valley" in Old English.
HARELJewish Ornamental name adopted from a biblical place name meaning "altar, mountain of God" in Hebrew.
HARTELLEnglish From various place names derived from Old English heort "hart, male deer" and hyll "hill".
HAYTEREnglish Name for a person who lived on a hill, from Middle English heyt meaning "height".
HEADEnglish From 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.
HEATHEnglish Originally belonged to a person who was a dweller on the heath or open land.
HILLEnglish Originally given to a person who lived on or near a hill, derived from Old English hyll.
HOPEEnglish Derived from Middle English hop meaning "small valley".
HORNEnglish, German, Norwegian, Danish From the Germanic 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.
HUFFEnglish Means "spur of a hill", from Old English hoh.
LYNDONEnglish Originally from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English.
MÄKELÄFinnish Means "the place of the hill" in Finnish.
MARLOWEnglish Originally a name for a person from Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. The place name means "remnants of a lake" from Old English mere "lake" and lafe "remnants, remains". A notable bearer was the English playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).
MENDOZASpanish, Basque From a Basque place name derived from mendi "mountain" and hotz "cold".
MERRILL (2)English From the name of various places in England, derived from Old English myrige "pleasant" and hyll "hill".
MOORE (1)English Originally indicated a person who lived on a moor, from Middle English mor meaning "open land, bog".
PEAKEnglish Originally indicated a dweller by a pointed hill, from Old English peac"peak". It could also denote a person from the Peak District in Derbyshire, England.
PLATTEnglish From Old French plat meaning "flat, thin", from Late Latin plattus, from Greek πλατύς (platys) meaning "wide, broad, flat". This may have been a nickname or a topographic name for someone who lived near a flat feature.
POLLOCKScottish From the name of a place in Renfrewshire, Scotland, derived from a diminutive of Gaelic poll meaning "pool, pond, bog". A famous bearer was the American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956).
RADCLIFFEnglish From various place names in England that mean "red cliff" in Old English.
RAKEEnglish Originally a name for a dweller on a narrow pass or hillside, from Old English hrace meaning "throat".
RANTAFinnish Originally indicated a person who lived near the shore, from Finnish ranta meaning "shore, beach".
READ (2)English From Old English ryd, an unattested form of rod meaning "cleared land". It is also derived from various English place names with various meanings, including "roe headland", "reeds" and "brushwood".
RIBEIROPortuguese Means "little river, stream" in Portuguese, ultimately from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".
RIDGEEnglish Denoted a person who lived near a ridge, from Old English hrycg.
RIVERSEnglish Denoted a person who lived near a river, from Middle English, from Old French riviere meaning "river", from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".
ROACHEnglish From Middle English and Old French roche meaning "rock", from Late Latin rocca, a word that may be of Celtic origin. It indicated a person who lived near a prominent rock, or who came from a town by this name (such as Les Roches in Normandy).
ROTHENBERGGerman, Jewish From Middle High German rot meaning "red" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Jewish name it may be ornamental.
ROWBOTTOMEnglish Originally indicated a person who lived in an overgrown valley, from Old English ruh "rough, overgrown" and boðm "valley".
RYEEnglish Topographic name. It could be a misdivision of the Middle English phrases atter ye meaning "at the island" or atter eye meaning "at the river". In some cases it merely indicated a person who lived where rye was grown or worked with rye (from Old English ryge).
SCHEINBERGJewish Ornamental name meaning "beautiful mountain" from old German schön "beautiful" and berg "mountain".
SHARROWEnglish Originally a name for someone from Sharrow, England, derived from Old English scearu "boundary" and hoh "point of land, heel".
SHERBURNEnglish Denoted 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".
SIERRASpanish Originally indicated a dweller on a hill range or ridge, from Spanish sierra"mountain range", derived from Latin serra "saw".
SOMMAItalian From the names of Italian places like Somma Lombardo or Somma Vesuviana, derived from Latin summa meaning "summit".
SPITZGerman Means "sharp" in German, indicating the original bearer lived near a pointed hill.
SWINDLEHURSTEnglish From 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".
TINDALLEnglish From Tindale, the name of a town in Cumbria, derived from the name of the river Tyne combined with Old English dæl "dale, valley".
UNDERHILLEnglish Means "dweller at the foot of a hill", from Old English under and hyll.
URBINABasque Derived from Basque ur "water" and bi "two", indicating a place where two waterways met.
WALLER (3)English From Old English well meaning "well, spring, water hole".
WHITTLEEnglish From various English place names derived from Old English hwit "white" and hyll "hill".