Agramunt CatalanOriginally denoted a person from the town of Agramunt, Spain. It means "field hill" in Catalan.
Albero ItalianFrom Italian
albero meaning
"tree", ultimately from Latin
arbor, referring to someone who lived in the woods or worked as a woodcutter.
Aldenkamp DutchPossibly from an unknown place name meaning "old field" in Dutch.
Allaway ScottishFrom a Scottish place name, itself derived from
alla "wild" and
mhagh "field".
Aoki JapaneseFrom Japanese
青 (ao) meaning "green, blue" and
木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".
Appelhof DutchIndicated a person who lived by or at an apple garden, from Dutch
appel "apple" and
hof "yard, court".
Appleby EnglishFrom the name of various English towns, derived from Old English
æppel "apple" and Old Norse
býr "farm, settlement".
Appleton EnglishFrom the name of several English towns, meaning "orchard" in Old English (a compound of
æppel "apple" and
tun "enclosure, yard").
Ash EnglishFrom Old English
æsc meaning
"ash tree", indicating a person who lived near ash trees.
Aue GermanFrom German meaning
"meadow by a river, wetland". There are many places with this name in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Auer GermanFrom German
Aue, Old High German
ouwa, meaning
"meadow by a river, wetland".
Ayala SpanishFrom the name of the town of Ayala (called
Aiara in Basque) in Álava, Spain. It might be derived from Basque
aiher "slope" or
alha "pasture".
Bagley EnglishFrom various English place names, derived from the Old English given name
Bacga combined with
leah "woodland, clearing".
Barlow EnglishDerived from a number of English place names that variously mean "barley hill", "barn hill", "boar clearing" or "barley clearing".
Beauchêne FrenchFrom French place names derived from
beau "beautiful" and
chêne "oak".
Beech 2 EnglishOriginally a name for a person who lived near a beech tree, from Old English
bece.
Bergman SwedishFrom Swedish
berg meaning "mountain" and
man (Old Norse
maðr) meaning "person, man", originally a name for a person living on a mountain.
Bergmann GermanFrom Old High German
berg meaning "mountain" and
man meaning "man", originally denoting someone who lived on a mountain.
Berry EnglishDerived from a place name, which was derived from Old English
burh "fortification".
Blakeley EnglishFrom name of various English places, derived from Old English
blæc "black" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Blakesley EnglishFrom the name of a town in Northamptonshire, itself meaning "Blæcwulf's meadow" in Old English.
Blæcwulf is a byname meaning "black wolf".
Braband GermanDerived from the name of the region of Brabant in the Netherlands and Belgium. It possibly means "ploughed region" or "marshy region" in Old High German.
Brandon EnglishFrom the name of various places in England meaning
"hill covered with broom" in Old English.
Brownlow EnglishFrom 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.
Bush EnglishOriginally a name for a person who lived near a prominent bush or thicket.
Carrasco SpanishTopographic name derived from Spanish
carrasca meaning
"holm oak" (species Quercus ilex).
Clayton EnglishFrom the name of various places meaning "clay settlement" in Old English.
Clifford EnglishDerived from various place names that meant "ford by a cliff" in Old English.
Cock EnglishDerived from the medieval nickname
cok meaning
"rooster, cock". The nickname was commonly added to given names to create diminutives such as
Hancock or
Alcock.
Cockburn Scottish, EnglishOriginally indicated someone who came from Cockburn, a place in Berwickshire. The place name is derived from Old English
cocc "rooster" and
burna "stream".
Collingwood EnglishFrom a place name, itself derived from Old French
chalenge meaning "disputed" and Middle English
wode meaning "woods".
Corna ItalianDerived from the names of places in northern Italy, especially Lombardy, from a word that means
"crag, cliff" in the Lombard dialect.
Cowden EnglishFrom various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.
Croft EnglishFrom Old English
croft meaning
"enclosed field".
Delaney 1 EnglishDerived from Norman French
de l'aunaie meaning
"from the alder grove".
Denman EnglishFrom Middle English
dene "valley" combined with
man.
Dubois FrenchMeans
"from the forest", from French
bois "forest".
Dumbledore LiteratureFrom the dialectal English word
dumbledore meaning
"bumblebee". It was used by J. K. Rowling for the headmaster of Hogwarts in her
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.
Engberg SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
äng (Old Norse
eng) meaning "meadow" and
berg meaning "mountain".
Engström SwedishOrnamental name derived from Swedish
äng (Old Norse
eng) meaning "meadow" and
ström (Old Norse
straumr) meaning "stream".
Espina SpanishMeans
"thorn" in Spanish, a name for someone who lived near a thorn bush.
Espinosa SpanishFrom Spanish
espinoso meaning
"thorny", ultimately from Latin
spinosus, a derivative of
spina meaning "thorn, spine". This was the real surname of the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), who was of Portuguese Jewish origin.
Fairburn EnglishFrom a place name meaning
"fern stream", from Old English
fearn "fern" and
burna "stream".
Feld German, JewishMeans
"field" in German. The name was originally given to someone who lived on land cleared of forest.
Fenn EnglishFrom a name for someone who dwelt near a marsh, from Old English
fenn meaning
"fen, swamp, bog".
Fenwick EnglishFrom an English place name, derived from Old English
fenn "fen, swamp, bog" and
wic "village, town".
Fields EnglishName for a person who lived on or near a field or pasture, from Old English
feld.
Forest English, FrenchOriginally belonged to a person who lived near or in a forest. It was probably originally derived, via Old French
forest, from Latin
forestam (silva) meaning "outer (wood)".
Forst GermanDerived from Old High German
forst "forest". Probably unrelated to the Old French word
forest, which was derived from Latin, Old High German
forst was derived from
foraha meaning "fir tree".
Fox EnglishFrom the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.
Gardener EnglishOccupational surname for one who was a gardener, from Old French
jardin meaning "garden" (of Frankish origin).
Garland EnglishMeans
"triangle land" from Old English
gara and
land. It originally belonged to a person who owned a triangle-shaped piece of land.
Green EnglishDescriptive name for someone who often wore the colour green or someone who lived near the village green.
Greenwood EnglishTopographic name for someone who lived in or near a lush forest, from Old English
grene "green" and
wudu "wood".
Grover EnglishFrom Old English
graf meaning
"grove of trees". A famous bearer was the American president Grover Cleveland (1837-1908).
Grünewald GermanMeans
"green forest" from German
grün "green" and
Wald "forest".
Gwózdek PolishDerived from either archaic Polish
gwozd meaning
"forest" or
gwóźdź meaning
"nail".
Haggard EnglishFrom a nickname meaning
"wild, untamed, worn", from Old French, ultimately from a Germanic root.
Hartley EnglishHabitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in England named Hartley, from Old English
heorot "hart, male deer" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Hawking EnglishFrom a diminutive of
Hawk. A famous bearer was the British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018).
Hawthorne EnglishDenoted a person who lived near a hawthorn bush, a word derived from Old English
hagaþorn, from
haga meaning "haw berry" and
þorn meaning "thorn bush". A famous bearer was the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), author of
The Scarlet Letter.
Hayden 1 EnglishFrom place names meaning either
"hay valley" or
"hay hill", derived from Old English
heg "hay" and
denu "valley" or
dun "hill".
Haywood EnglishFrom various place names meaning "fenced wood" in Old English.
Heath EnglishOriginally belonged to a person who was a dweller on the heath or open land.
Herschel German, JewishDiminutive form of
Hirsch 1 or
Hirsch 2. A famous bearer was the British-German astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), as well as his sister Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) and son John Herschel (1792-1871), also noted scientists.
Hino JapaneseFrom Japanese
日 (hi) meaning "sun, day" or
火 (hi) meaning "fire" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Hirsch 1 GermanMeans
"deer, hart" in German. This was a nickname for a person who resembled a deer in some way, or who raised or hunted deer.
Holme English, ScottishReferred either to someone living by a small island (northern Middle English
holm, from Old Norse
holmr) or near a holly tree (Middle English
holm, from Old English
holegn).
Horsfall EnglishFrom a minor place in Yorkshire derived from Old English
hors "horse" and
fall "clearing".
Hu ChineseFrom Chinese
胡 (hú) meaning
"beard, whiskers, recklessly, wildly, barbarian".
Huff EnglishMeans
"spur of a hill", from Old English
hoh.
Hummel 2 German, DutchNickname for a busy person, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch
hommel, Middle High German
hummel, all meaning
"bee".
Huxley EnglishFrom the name of a town in Cheshire. The final element is Old English
leah "woodland, clearing", while the first element might be
hux "insult, scorn". A famous bearer was the British author Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).
Im KoreanFrom Sino-Korean
林 (im) meaning
"forest", making it the Korean form of
Lin, or
任 (im) of uncertain meaning, making it the Korean form of
Ren.
Keith ScottishFrom a place name that is probably derived from the Brythonic element
cet meaning
"wood". This was the surname of a long line of Scottish nobles.
Kerr Scottish, EnglishFrom Scots and northern Middle English
kerr meaning
"thicket, marsh", ultimately from Old Norse
kjarr.
Kjær DanishTopographic name for someone living near a wetland, from Danish
kær "marsh", from Old Norse
kjarr "thicket".
Kohl GermanDerived from Middle High German
kol "cabbage".
Kurosawa JapaneseFrom Japanese
黒 (kuro) meaning "black" and
沢 or 澤 (sawa) meaning "marsh". A notable bearer was Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), a Japanese film director.
Langbroek DutchFrom the name of a small town in the province of Utrecht, Holland, derived from
lang meaning "wide" and
broek meaning "marsh, wetland".
Langley 1 EnglishFrom any of the various places with this name, all derived from Old English
lang "long" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Layton EnglishDerived from the name of English towns, meaning "town with a leek garden" in Old English.
Lee 1 EnglishOriginally given to a person who lived on or near a
leah, Old English meaning
"woodland, clearing".
Linton EnglishOriginally from place names meaning either "flax town" or "linden tree town" in Old English.
Lowell EnglishFrom a nickname derived from a Norman French
lou meaning
"wolf" and a diminutive suffix.
Lyndon EnglishOriginally from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English.
Marsh EnglishOriginally denoted one who lived near a marsh or bog, derived from Old English
mersc "marsh".
Marston EnglishFrom a place name derived from Old English
mersc "marsh" and
tun "enclosure".
Maxwell ScottishFrom a place name meaning "Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". A famous bearer was James Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who studied gases and electromagnetism.
Meadows EnglishReferred to one who lived in a meadow, from Old English
mædwe.
Moore 1 EnglishOriginally indicated a person who lived on a moor, from Middle English
mor meaning
"open land, bog".
Moser GermanName for someone who lived near a peat bog, from Middle High German
mos.
Northrop EnglishOriginally denoted one who came from a town of this name England, meaning "north farm".
Ó Cuilinn IrishMeans
"descendant of Cuileann",
Cuileann being a nickname meaning "holly".
Ojeda SpanishFrom the name of the Ojeda river in Soria, Spain, possibly derived from Latin
folia "leaves".
Ono JapaneseFrom Japanese
小 (o) meaning "small" and
野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
Oppenheimer GermanOriginally indicated a person from Oppenheim, Germany, perhaps meaning "marshy home".
Ortega SpanishFrom a Spanish place name (belonging to various villages) derived from
ortiga "nettle".
Østergård DanishFrom Danish
øst meaning "east" and
gård meaning "enclosure, farm".
Padmore EnglishOriginally indicated a person from Padmore in England, derived from Old English
padde "toad" and
mor "moor, marsh".
Park 2 EnglishFrom Middle English
park, from Latin
parricus, of Frankish origin. This was a name for someone who worked in or lived in a park.
Peacock EnglishFrom Middle English
pecok meaning
"peacock". It was originally a nickname for a proud or haughty person.
Plaskett EnglishOriginally denoted a dweller by a swampy meadow, from Old French
plascq meaning
"wet meadow".
Poirot French, LiteratureFrom a diminutive of French
poire "pear", originally referring to a pear merchant or someone who lived near a pear tree. Starting in 1920 this name was used by the mystery writer Agatha Christie for her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Christie based the name on that of Jules Poiret, a contemporary fictional detective.
Pollock ScottishFrom 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).
Pond EnglishOriginally referred to one who lived near a pond.
Rafferty IrishAnglicized form of Irish
Ó Rabhartaigh meaning
"descendant of Rabhartach". The given name
Rabhartach means "flood tide".
Read 2 EnglishFrom 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".
Regenbogen German, JewishFrom a German nickname meaning
"rainbow", probably a habitational name for someone who lived in a house with the sign of a rainbow. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.
Reis German, JewishFrom Middle High German
ris meaning
"twig, branch, bush", denoting a person who lived in an overgrown area. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.
Rhodes EnglishTopographic name derived from Old English
rod meaning
"cleared land", or a locational name from any of the locations named with this word.
Rietveld DutchMeans
"reed field", from Dutch
riet "reed" and
veld "field". It is found mostly in the western part of the Netherlands (the Holland area).
Rivera SpanishFrom Spanish
ribera meaning
"bank, shore", from Latin
riparius.
Roosevelt DutchMeans
"rose field" from Dutch
roos "rose" and
veld "field". This was the surname of American presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).
Rose 1 English, French, German, JewishMeans
"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).
Rowbottom EnglishOriginally indicated a person who lived in an overgrown valley, from Old English
ruh "rough, overgrown" and
boðm "valley".
Rowntree EnglishOriginally given to a person who lived near a rowan tree or mountain ash.
Sadowski m PolishDenoted someone who lived in Sadowo, Sadowice or other places beginning with Polish
sad "garden, orchard".
Sandberg Swedish, Norwegian, JewishFrom 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).
Sandoval SpanishDerived from the name of a town in Spain, ultimately from Latin
saltus "forest, glade" and
novalis "unploughed land".
Savage EnglishEnglish nickname meaning
"wild, uncouth", derived from Old French
salvage or
sauvage meaning "untamed", ultimately from Latin
silvaticus meaning "wild, from the woods".
Schoorl DutchOriginally indicated a person from the town of Schoorl in the province of Noord-Holland in the Netherlands. It means "forest by the shore" in Dutch.
Sheinfeld JewishOrnamental name derived from German
schön "beautiful, good, nice" and
feld "field".
Shirley EnglishFrom an English place name, derived from Old English
scir "bright" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Skov DanishTopographic name meaning
"forest, wood" in Danish, from Old Norse
skógr.
Smedley EnglishFrom an unidentified place name probably meaning "smooth clearing" in Old English.
Stanley EnglishFrom various place names meaning
"stone clearing" in Old English. A notable bearer was the British-American explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904).
Stone EnglishName for a person who lived near a prominent stone or worked with stone, derived from Old English
stan.
Su ChineseFrom Chinese
苏 (sū) meaning
"perilla", also referring to an ancient minor state called Su.
Summerfield EnglishOriginally indicated the bearer was from a town of this name, derived from Old English
sumor "summer" and
feld "field".
Tenley EnglishPossibly from the name of an English town derived from Old English
tind "point" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Thorley EnglishFrom any of the various places in England called
Thornley or
Thorley, meaning "thorn clearing" in Old English.
Thornton EnglishFrom any of the various places in England by this name, meaning "thorn town" in Old English.
Trask EnglishOriginally indicated a person from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, derived from Old Norse
þresk meaning "fen, marsh".
Tuft EnglishDenoted one who lived near a clump of trees or bushes, from Middle English
tufte "tuft, clump", from Old French.
Tveit NorwegianHabitational name derived from Old Norse
þveit meaning
"clearing".
Vadas HungarianFrom Hungarian
vad meaning
"wild", either a nickname or an occupational name for a hunter of wild game.
Vance EnglishIndicated a dweller by a fen, from Old English
fenn meaning
"fen, marsh".
Van Dalen DutchMeans
"from the valley", from Old Dutch
dal meaning "valley".
Van Gogh DutchMeans
"from Goch", a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, near the border with the Netherlands. It may be derived from a Low German word meaning "meadow, floodplain". This name was borne by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
Vernon EnglishLocational name in the Eure region of Normandy, from the Gaulish element
vern "alder (tree)" with the genitive case maker
onis.
Vestergaard DanishFrom a place name, derived from Danish
vest "west" and
gård "farm, yard".
Vogel German, DutchFrom Old High German and Old Dutch
fogal meaning
"bird". It was originally an occupational name for a bird catcher, or a nickname for a person who liked to sing.
Voll 1 NorwegianOriginally indicated a person who lived in a meadow, from Old Norse
vǫllr "meadow, field".
Voss GermanFrom Middle Low German
vos meaning
"fox". It was originally a nickname for a clever person or a person with red hair.
Waldvogel German, JewishFrom a nickname for a carefree person, derived from German
Wald meaning "forest" and
Vogel meaning "bird". As a Jewish name it is ornamental.
Weasley LiteratureUsed by J. K. Rowling for the character of Ron Weasley (and other members of his family) in her
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997. Rowling presumably derived it from the English word
weasel, perhaps in combination with the common place name/surname suffix
-ley, which is derived from Old English
leah meaning "woodland, clearing".
Whinery EnglishFrom Middle English
whin "gorse bush" and
wray "nook of land".
Witherspoon EnglishOriginally given to a person who dwelt near a sheep enclosure, from Middle English
wether "sheep" and
spong "strip of land".
Wolf German, EnglishFrom Middle High German or Middle English
wolf meaning
"wolf", or else from an Old German given name beginning with this element.
Wood English, ScottishOriginally denoted one who lived in or worked in a forest, derived from Old English
wudu "wood".
Woodward EnglishOccupational name for a forester, meaning
"ward of the wood" in Old English.
Yasuda JapaneseFrom Japanese
安 (yasu) meaning "peace, quiet" or
保 (yasu) meaning "protect, maintain" and
田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".