Surnames Categorized "landforms"

This is a list of surnames in which the categories include landforms.
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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".
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".
BELMONTE Spanish, Italian
From various place names in Italy and Spain meaning "beautiful mountain".
BERGMANN German
From Old High German berg "mountain" and man "man", originally denoting someone who lived on a mountain.
BLUMENTHAL German, Jewish
Derived from German Blumen "flowers" and Thal "valley".
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).
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.
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 an English word meaning "hill".
DRUMMOND Scottish
From various Scottish place names that are derived from Gaelic drumainn, a derivative of druim meaning "ridge".
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.
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 "waterfall" and berg "mountain".
FREUDENBERGER German, Jewish
Ornamental name from old German freud meaning "joy" and berg meaning "mountain".
GRÜNBERG German, Jewish
From German grün "green" and Berg "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 heort "hart, male deer" and hyll "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.
HILL English
Originally given to a person who lived on or near a hill, derived from Old English hyll.
HOPE English
Derived from Middle English hop meaning "small valley".
HORN English, 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.
HUFF English
Means "spur of a hill", from Old English hoh.
JÄRVI Finnish
Means "lake" in Finnish.
JOKELA Finnish
Derived from Finnish joki "river".
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 eg "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-).
KULMALA Finnish
From Finnish kulma meaning "corner" with the suffix -la indicating a place.
KYLE Scottish
Derived from 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 various places names, of Old English origin meaning "long hill" (effectively "ridge").
LANGENBERG German, Dutch
From various place names meaning "long mountain" in German and Dutch.
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 "linden tree" and holme "small island".
LUSK Scottish
Possibly means "cave" in Gaelic.
LYNDON English
Originally from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English.
MÄKELÄ Finnish
Means "the place of the hill" in Finnish.
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).
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".
MOORE (1) English
Originally indicated a person who lived on a moor, from Middle English mor meaning "open land, bog".
NIEMI Finnish
Means "peninsula, cape" in Finnish.
NIEMINEN Finnish
Derived from Finnish niemi meaning "peninsula, cape".
NURMI Finnish
Means "meadow, field" in Finnish. It was the surname of the athlete Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973).
ORENSTEIN Jewish
Means "horn stone" in German.
OUTTERRIDGE English
Derived from the Old English given name UHTRIC.
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.
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".
RANTA Finnish
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".
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.
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).
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".
SCHEINBERG Jewish
Ornamental name meaning "beautiful mountain" from old German schön "beautiful" and berg "mountain".
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".
SIERRA Spanish
Originally indicated a dweller on a hill range or ridge, from Spanish sierra "mountain range", derived from Latin serra "saw".
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.
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".
UNDERHILL English
Means "dweller at the foot of a hill", from Old English under and hyll.
URBINA Basque
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".
WHITTLE English
From various English place names derived from Old English hwit "white" and hyll "hill".
ZUIDERDUIN Dutch
Means "southern dune" in Dutch.