Surnames Categorized "landforms"

Aaldenberg Dutch
Originally denoted a person who came from an uncertain place called Aaldenberg, meaning "old mountain".

Åberg Swedish
From Swedish å meaning "river, stream" and berg meaning "mountain".

Achterberg Dutch, 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".

Ahlberg Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish al (Old Norse ǫlr) meaning "alder" and berg meaning "mountain".

Akiyama Japanese
From Japanese 秋 (aki) meaning "autumn" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Aldenberg Dutch
Variant of Aaldenberg.

Aoyama Japanese
From Japanese 青 (ao) meaning "green, blue" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Assenberg Dutch
From Dutch es meaning "ash tree" (plural essen) and berg meaning "mountain".

Aston 2 English
From the Old English given name Æðelstan.

Auer German
From German Aue, Old High German ouwa, meaning "meadow by a river, wetland".

Bakke Norwegian
Means "slope, hillside" in Norwegian, from Old Norse bakki "bank".

Bakken Norwegian
Means "the slope, the hillside" in Norwegian, from Old Norse bakki "bank".

Banks English
Originally indicated someone who lived near a hillside or a bank of land.

Barlow English
Derived from a number of English place names that variously mean "barley hill", "barn hill", "boar clearing" or "barley clearing".

Belmont French, English
French and English form of Belmonte.

Belmonte Spanish, Italian
From various place names in Italy and Spain meaning "beautiful mountain".

Berge Norwegian, German, Swedish
Variant of Berg.

Berger 2 German, Dutch
Variant of Berg.

Bergfalk Swedish
Derived from Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and falk (Old Norse falki) meaning "falcon".

Berggren Swedish
From Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and gren (Old Norse grein) meaning "branch".

Berglund Swedish
Ornamental name from Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and lund (Old Norse lundr) meaning "grove".

Bergman Swedish
From Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and man (Old Norse maðr) meaning "person, man", originally a name for a person living on a mountain.

Bergmann German
From Old High German berg meaning "mountain" and man meaning "man", originally denoting someone who lived on a mountain.

Bergqvist Swedish
From Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and qvist (Old Norse kvistr) meaning "twig, branch".

Bergström Swedish
Derived from Swedish berg meaning "mountain" and ström (Old Norse straumr) meaning "stream".

Blumenthal German, Jewish
Derived from German Blumen "flowers" and Thal "valley".

Brandon English
From the name of various places in England meaning "hill covered with broom" in Old English.

Bray English
From a place name derived from Cornish bre "hill".

Brook English
Denoted a person who lived near a brook, a word derived from Old English broc.

Brownlow English
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).

Cleveland English
Derived from a place name meaning "cliff land" in Old English.

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".

Cowden English
From various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.

Dahlberg Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish dal (Old Norse dalr) meaning "dale, valley" and berg meaning "mountain".

Dale English
From Old English dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.

Dam Dutch, 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".

Del Río Spanish
Means "of the river" in Spanish.

Denman English
From Middle English dene "valley" combined with man.

Downer English
Name for someone who lived on or near a down, which is an English word meaning "hill".

Drummond Scottish
From various Scottish place names that are derived from Gaelic drumainn, a derivative of druim meaning "ridge".

Dumont French
Means "from the mountain", from French mont "mountain".

Dunbar Scottish
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.

Dupuy French
Means "from the hill", from Occitan puy "hill", from Latin podium "platform".

Eide Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse eið meaning "isthmus".

Engberg Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish äng (Old Norse eng) meaning "meadow" and berg meaning "mountain".

Fonseca Spanish, Portuguese
Originally belonged to a person who lived near a dry spring, from Latin fons "well, spring" and siccus "dry".

Forsberg Swedish
Derived from Swedish fors meaning "waterfall" and berg meaning "mountain".

Freudenberger German, Jewish
Ornamental name from old German freud meaning "joy" and berg meaning "mountain".

Garland English
Means "triangle land" from Old English gara and land. It originally belonged to a person who owned a triangle-shaped piece of land.

Gill English
Originally indicated someone who lived near a ravine, from Middle English gil (of Old Norse origin).

Glynn Welsh, Cornish
Topographic name for someone who lived in a valley, from Welsh glyn and Cornish glin, or a habitational name from a place named with this word.

Gorecki Polish
Originally indicated a person from Górka, the name of various towns in Poland, ultimately from Polish góra "mountain".

Górka Polish
Variant of Gorecki.

Górski Polish
From the Polish word góra meaning "mountain".

Greenberg German, Jewish
Anglicized form of Grünberg.

Grünberg German, Jewish
From German grün meaning "green" and Berg meaning "mountain". This name indicated a person who lived on or near a forest-covered mountain.

Harden English
From a place name meaning "hare valley" in Old English.

Harel Jewish
Ornamental name adopted from a biblical place name meaning "altar, mountain of God" in Hebrew.

Hartell English
From various place names derived from Old English heorot "hart, male deer" and hyll "hill".

Hayden 1 English
From place names meaning either "hay valley" or "hay hill", derived from Old English heg "hay" and denu "valley" or dun "hill".

Hayter English
Name for a person who lived on a hill, from Middle English heyt meaning "height".

Head English
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.

Heath English
Originally belonged to a person who was a dweller on the heath or open land.

Hedlund Swedish
From Swedish hed (Old Norse heiðr) meaning "heath, moor" and lund (Old Norse lundr) meaning "grove".

Hill English
Originally given to a person who lived on or near a hill, derived from Old English hyll.

Hillam English
From English places by this name, derived from Old English hyll meaning "hill".

Hilton English
From various English place names derived from Old English hyll "hill" and tun "enclosure, town". Famous bearers of this name include the Hilton family of hotel heirs.

Holm Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
From Swedish, Danish and Norwegian holme, holm meaning "islet" (Old Norse holmr).

Holmberg Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish holme (Old Norse holmr) meaning "small island" and berg meaning "mountain".

Holmgren Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish holme (Old Norse holmr) meaning "small island" and gren (Old Norse grein) meaning "branch".

Hope English
Derived from Middle English hop meaning "small valley".

Horáček Czech
Diminutive derived from Czech hora "mountain".

Horák Czech
Derived from Czech hora "mountain".

Horn English, German, Norwegian, Danish
From 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.

Hornick Czech (Anglicized), Slovak (Anglicized)
Anglicized form of Horník.

Horník Czech, Slovak
Occupational name meaning "miner" in Czech and Slovak.

Horowitz Jewish
From the German name of Hořovice, a town in the Czech Republic. Its name is derived from Czech hora "mountain".

Huff English
Means "spur of a hill", from Old English hoh.

Iwamoto Japanese
From Japanese 岩 (iwa) meaning "cliff, rocks" and 本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".

Järvi Finnish
Means "lake" in Finnish.

Jokela Finnish
Derived from Finnish joki "river".

Kalniņš Latvian
From Latvian kalns meaning "mountain, hill".

Kelsey English
From an English place name meaning "Cenel's island", from the Old English name Cenel "fierce" in combination with eg "island".

Kersey English
From an English place name meaning derived from Old English cærse "watercress" and ieg "island".

Knaggs English
From Middle English knagg meaning "small mound, projection". It is found most commonly in the north of England, in particular Yorkshire.

Knowles English
From Middle English knoll, Old English cnoll meaning "small hill, knoll". A famous bearer is American singer Beyoncé Knowles (1981-).

Knox Scottish
From the name of various places in Scotland and northern England, derived from Scottish Gaelic cnoc "round hill".

Kulmala Finnish
From Finnish kulma meaning "corner" with the suffix -la indicating a place.

Kyle Scottish
Derived from Scottish Gaelic caol meaning "narrows, channel, strait", originally given to a person who lived by a strait.

Laaksonen Finnish
Derived from Finnish laakso meaning "valley".

Lahti Finnish
Means "bay, cove" in Finnish.

Langdon English
Derived from the name of various places, of Old English origin meaning "long hill" (effectively "ridge").

Langenberg German, Dutch
From various place names meaning "long mountain" in German and Dutch.

Langford English
From any of various places in England with this name, derived from Old English lang "long" and ford "ford, river crossing".

Law English
Derived from Old English hlaw "hill".

Leitner German
Referred to one who lived on a hillside, from Middle High German lite "slope".

Lichtenberg Jewish
Means "light hill" in German.

Lindholm Swedish
From Swedish lind meaning "linden tree" and holme (Old Norse holmr) meaning "small island".

Lusk Scottish
Possibly from the place name Leask in Aberdeenshire, of unknown meaning.

Lyle English
Derived from Norman French l'isle meaning "island".

Lyndon English
Originally from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English.

Lyon 1 English, French
Originally denoted a person from the city of Lyon in central France, originally Latin Lugdunum, of Gaulish origin meaning "hill fort of Lugus". It could also denote a person from the small town of Lyons-la-Forêt in Normandy.

Lyons English
Variant of Lyon 1.

Mägi Estonian
Means "hill, mountain" in Estonian.

Mäkelä Finnish
Means "the place of the hill" in Finnish.

Mäkinen Finnish
Derived from Finnish mäki meaning "hill".

Marchegiano Italian
From the name of the Marche region in Italy, derived from Late Latin marca meaning "borderland". It was the real surname of the American boxer Rocky Marciano (1923-1969), who was born Rocco Marchegiano.

Marlow English
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).

Marsden English
From a place name derived from Old English mearc "boundary" and denu "valley".

Mendoza Spanish, 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".

Montagna Italian
Means "mountain" in Italian, from Latin montanus, indicating a person who lived on or near a mountain.

Montagne French
French cognate of Montagna.

Montague English
From a Norman place name meaning "sharp mountain" in Old French.

Montaña Spanish
Spanish cognate of Montagna.

Montana Italian
Variant of Montagna.

Montanari Italian
Means "from the mountain" in Italian.

Monte Italian
Variant of Monti.

Montero Spanish
Derived from Spanish monte "mountain".

Montes Spanish
From Spanish monte "mountain, hill", derived from Latin mons.

Montgomery English, Scottish
From a place name in Calvados, France meaning "Gumarich's mountain". A notable bearer was Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), a British army commander during World War II.

Monti Italian
Means "mountain, hill" in Italian, from Latin mons.

Moore 1 English
Originally indicated a person who lived on a moor, from Middle English mor meaning "open land, bog".

Moriyama Japanese
From Japanese 森 (mori) meaning "forest" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Niemi Finnish
Means "peninsula, cape" in Finnish.

Nieminen Finnish
Derived from Finnish niemi meaning "peninsula, cape".

Nishiyama Japanese
From Japanese 西 (nishi) meaning "west" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Nordberg Swedish, Norwegian
From Swedish and Norwegian nord (Old Norse norðr) meaning "north" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Swedish name it is ornamental.

Nurmi Finnish
Means "meadow, field" in Finnish. It was the surname of the athlete Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973).

Nyberg Swedish
From Swedish ny (Old Norse nýr) meaning "new" and berg meaning "mountain".

Odell English
Originally denoted a person who was from Odell in Bedfordshire, derived from Old English wad "woad" (a plant that produces a blue dye) and hyll "hill".

Oelberg German
Means "oil hill" from Middle High German öl "oil" and berg "mountain, hill".

Orenstein Jewish
Means "horn stone" in German.

Östberg Swedish
From Swedish öst (Old Norse austr) meaning "east" and berg meaning "mountain".

Østberg Norwegian
Norwegian form of Östberg.

Outterridge English
Derived from the Old English given name Uhtric.

Padilla Spanish
From various Spanish place names, derived from Spanish padilla, Latin patella meaning "shallow dish", used to indicate a depression in the landscape.

Peak English
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.

Penn 1 English
Derived from various place names that were named using the Brythonic word penn meaning "hilltop, head".

Pichler Upper German
From Bavarian Bühel meaning "hill".

Plamondon French
Derived from French plat "flat" and mont "mountain", referring to someone who lived near a flat-topped mountain.

Platt English
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.

Pollock Scottish
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).

Radcliff English
From various place names in England that mean "red cliff" in Old English.

Rake English
Originally a name for a dweller on a narrow pass or hillside, from Old English hrace meaning "throat, gorge".

Ranta Finnish
Originally indicated a person who lived near the shore, from Finnish ranta meaning "shore, beach".

Rantanen Finnish
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".

Ribeiro Portuguese
Means "little river, stream" in Portuguese, ultimately from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".

Ridge English
Denoted a person who lived near a ridge, from Old English hrycg.

Riva Italian
Means "bank, shore" in Italian, from Latin ripa, denoting one who lived by a river or a lake.

Rivers English
Denoted a person who lived near a river, from Middle English, from Old French riviere meaning "river", from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".

Roach English
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).

Rosenberg German, Swedish, Jewish
Means "rose mountain" in German and Swedish. As a Swedish and Jewish name it is ornamental.

Rosenberger German, Jewish
Variant of Rosenberg.

Rothenberg German, Jewish
From Middle High German rot meaning "red" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Jewish name it may be ornamental.

Rowbottom English
Originally indicated a person who lived in an overgrown valley, from Old English ruh "rough, overgrown" and boðm "valley".

Rye English
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).

Saari Finnish
From Finnish saari meaning "island".

Sandberg Swedish, Norwegian, Jewish
From Swedish and Norwegian sand (Old Norse sandr) meaning "sand" and berg meaning "mountain" (or in the case of the Jewish surname, from the Yiddish or German cognates).

Sauveterre French
From the name of various towns in France, derived from French sauve "safe" and terre "land".

Scheinberg Jewish
Ornamental name meaning "beautiful mountain" from German schön "beautiful, good, nice" and berg "mountain".

Schwarzenberg German
Means "black mountain" in German.

Serra Italian, Portuguese, Catalan
Italian, Portuguese and Catalan cognate of Sierra.

Serrano Spanish
Variant of Sierra.

Sharrow English
Originally a name for someone from Sharrow, England, derived from Old English scearu "boundary" and hoh "point of land, heel".

Sherburn English
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".

Sherburne English
Variant of Sherburn.

Sierra Spanish
Originally indicated a dweller on a hill range or ridge, from Spanish sierra "mountain range", derived from Latin serra "saw".

Sjöberg Swedish
From Swedish sjö (Old Norse sær) meaning "lake, sea" and berg meaning "mountain".

Slade English
Derived from Old English slæd meaning "valley".

Söderberg Swedish
From Swedish söder (Old Norse suðr) meaning "south" and berg meaning "mountain".

Solberg Norwegian, Swedish
From a place name, derived from Old Norse sól meaning "sun" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Swedish name it may be ornamental.

Somma Italian
From the names of Italian places like Somma Lombardo or Somma Vesuviana, derived from Latin summa meaning "summit".

Spitz German
Means "sharp" in German, indicating the original bearer lived near a pointed hill.

Stenberg Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Derived from Scandinavian sten (Old Norse steinn) meaning "stone" and berg meaning "mountain". As a Swedish name it is ornamental.

Sternberg Jewish
Ornamental name derived from old German stern "star" and berg "mountain".

Strömberg Swedish
From Swedish ström (Old Norse straumr) meaning "stream" and berg meaning "mountain".

Sugiyama Japanese
From Japanese 杉 (sugi) meaning "cedar" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Sundberg Swedish
From Swedish sund meaning "strait" and berg meaning "mountain".

Sutherland Scottish
Regional name for a person who came from the former county by this name in Scotland. It is derived from Old Norse suðr "south" and land "land", because it was south of the Norse colony of Orkney.

Swindlehurst English
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".

Tindall English
From Tindale, the name of a town in Cumbria, derived from the name of the river Tyne combined with Old English dæl "dale, valley".

Uchiyama Japanese
From Japanese 内 (uchi) meaning "inside" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".

Underhill English
Means "dweller at the foot of a hill", from Old English under and hyll.

Unterbrink Low German
Means "dweller under the slope" from Old Saxon undar "under" and brink "edge, slope".

Urbina Basque
Derived from Basque ur "water" and bi "two", indicating a place where two waterways met.

Vale Portuguese
Means "valley" in Portuguese, ultimately from Latin vallis.

Van den Berg Dutch
Means "from the mountain", derived from Dutch berg meaning "mountain".

Van der Aart Dutch
Means "from the earth", derived from Dutch aarde "earth". It perhaps referred to either an earth bank or to a farmer.

Van der Berg Dutch
Variant of Van den Berg.

Van Wegberg Dutch
Means "from Wegberg", a small town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, close to the Dutch border. It is derived from old German weg "way, path, road" and berg "mountain".

Vik Norwegian
Means "cove, inlet" in Norwegian.

Waller 3 English
From Old English wille meaning "well, spring, water hole".

Wallin Swedish
From Swedish vall meaning "wall, bank" (ultimately of Latin origin).

Wang 3 German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
From Old High German wang or Old Norse vangr meaning "grassy slope, meadow".

Westenberg Dutch
Means "west of the mountain", originally referring to a person who lived there.

Westerberg Swedish
Derived from Swedish *väster (Old Norse vestr) meaning "west" and berg meaning "mountain".

Whittle English
From various English place names derived from Old English hwit "white" and hyll "hill".

Witherspoon English
Originally given to a person who dwelt near a sheep enclosure, from Middle English wether "sheep" and spong "strip of land".

Yamada Japanese
From Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".

Yamagishi Japanese
From Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain" and 岸 (kishi) meaning "beach, shore, bank".

Yamasaki Japanese
Variant of Yamazaki.

Yamashita Japanese
From Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain" and 下 (shita) meaning "under, below".

Yamauchi Japanese
From Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain" and 内 (uchi) meaning "inside".

Yamazaki Japanese
From Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape, peninsula".

Zuiderduin Dutch
Means "southern dune" in Dutch.