Browse Surnames

This is a list of surnames in which the usage is English; and the categories include animals.

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

Best 1 English
Derived from Middle English beste meaning "beast", an occupational name for a keeper of animals or a nickname for someone who acted like a beast. A famous bearer of this surname was soccer legend George Best (1946-2005).

Beverley English
From the name of an English city, derived from Old English beofor "beaver" and (possibly) licc "stream".

Beverly English
Variant of Beverley.

Bird English
Occupational name for a person who raised or hunted birds.

Blakesley English
From the name of a town in Northamptonshire, itself meaning "Blæcwulf's meadow" in Old English. Blæcwulf is a byname meaning "black wolf".

Botterill English
Probably indicated someone from the town of Les Bottereaux in Normandy, itself derived from Old French bot "toad".

Brock English
Derived from Old English brocc meaning "badger", ultimately of Celtic origin.

Buckley 1 English
From an English place name derived from bucc "buck, male deer" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Bull English
From a nickname for a person who acted like a bull.

Bullock English
From a nickname meaning "young bull".

Cock English
Derived 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, English
Originally indicated someone who came from Cockburn, a place in Berwickshire. The place name is derived from Old English cocc "rooster" and burna "stream".

Colt English
Occupational name for a keeper of horses, derived from Middle English colt.

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

Crawford English
From a place name derived from Old English crawe "crow" and ford "river crossing". A notable bearer was the American actress Joan Crawford (1904-1977), born Lucille Fay LeSueur.

Darby English
From the name of the English town Derby, derived from Old Norse djúr "animal" and býr "farm, settlement".

Deering English
From the Old English given name Deora meaning "dear, beloved".

Evered English
From the given name Everard.

Everly English
From place names meaning derived from Old English eofor "boar" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Finch English, Literature
From the name of the bird, from Old English finc. It was used by Harper Lee for the surname of lawyer Atticus Finch and his children in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).

Fox English
From the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.

Giles English
From the given name Giles.

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

Hardwick English
From Old English heord "herd" and wic "village, town".

Harford English
Habitational name from places called Harford in Gloucestershire and Devon, meaning "hart ford" or "army ford".

Harland English
From various place names meaning "hare land" in Old English.

Harley English
Derived from a place name meaning "hare clearing", from Old English hara "hare" or hær "rock, heap of stones" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Hart English
Means "male deer". It was originally acquired by a person who lived in a place frequented by harts, or bore some resemblance to a hart.

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

Hartley English
Habitational 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".

Hawk English
Originally a nickname for a person who had a hawk-like appearance or who acted in a fierce manner, derived from Old English hafoc "hawk".

Hawking English
From a diminutive of Hawk. A famous bearer was the British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018).

Hogarth English
Variant of Hoggard.

Hoggard English
Occupational name meaning "pig herder", from Old English hogg "hog" and hierde "herdsman, guardian".

Horsfall English
From a minor place in Yorkshire derived from Old English hors "horse" and fall "clearing".

Howard 2 English
Occupational name meaning "ewe herder", from Old English eowu "ewe" and hierde "herdsman, guardian".

Kellogg English
Occupational name for a pig butcher, from Middle English killen "to kill" and hog "pig, swine, hog".

Kidd English
From a nickname meaning "young goat, kid" in Middle English, of Old Norse origin.

Lamb English
From the name of the animal, perhaps a nickname for a shy person.

Leach English
Originally indicated a person who was a physician, from the medieval practice of using leeches to bleed people of ills.

Leon English
Variant of Lyon 1, Lyon 2 or Lyon 3.

Leonard English
Derived from the given name Leonard.

Leonardson English
Means "son of Leonard".

Lowell English
From a nickname derived from a Norman French lou meaning "wolf" and a diminutive suffix.

Lyon 2 English, French
From a nickname derived from Old French and Middle English lion meaning "lion".

Lyon 3 French, English
From the given name Leon.

Marshall English
Derived from Middle English mareschal "marshal", from Latin mariscalcus, ultimately from Germanic roots akin to Old High German marah "horse" and scalc "servant". It originally referred to someone who took care of horses.

Mutton English
Referred to a shepherd or else someone who in some way resembled a sheep, derived from Norman French mouton "sheep".

Padmore English
Originally indicated a person from Padmore in England, derived from Old English padde "toad" and mor "moor, marsh".

Peacock English
From Middle English pecok meaning "peacock". It was originally a nickname for a proud or haughty person.

Porcher English, French
Means "swineherd" from Old French and Middle English porchier, from Latin porcus "pig".

Pound English
Occupational name for a person who kept animals, from Old English pund "animal enclosure".

Purcell English
From Old French pourcel "piglet", from Latin porcellus, a derivative of porcus "pig". This was a nickname or an occupational name for a swineherd.

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".

Rey 2 English
Means "female roe deer" from Old English ræge, probably denoting someone of a nervous temperament.

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).

Roscoe English
From the name of a town in Lancashire, derived from Old Norse rá "roebuck" and skógr "wood, forest".

Rowe 2 English
From the medieval name Row, which is either a variant of Roul or short form of Roland.

Seward 2 English
Means "swineherd" from Old English su "sow, female pig" and hierde "herdsman, guardian".

Shepherd English
Occupational name meaning "shepherd, sheep herder", from Old English sceaphyrde.

Steed English
Occupational name for one who tended horses, derived from Middle English steed, in turn derived from Old English steda meaning "stallion".

Stidolph English
From the Old English given name Stithulf.

Stoddard English
Occupational name for a horse keeper, from Old English stod "stallion, stud" and hierde "herder".

Strickland English
From the name of a town in Cumbria, derived from Old English stirc "calf, young bullock" and land "cultivated land".

Swallow English
From the name of the bird, from Old English swealwe, a nickname for someone who resembled or acted like a swallow.

Swift English
Nickname for a quick person, from Old English swift.

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".

Todd English
Means "fox", derived from Middle English todde.

Tupper English
Occupational name for a herdsman, derived from Middle English toupe "ram".

Turnbull English, Scottish
Nickname for someone thought to be strong enough to turn around a bull.

Warren 1 English
Denoted a person who lived near a warren, from Norman French warrene meaning "animal enclosure" (of Germanic origin).

Wilbur English
From the nickname Wildbor meaning "wild boar" in Middle English.

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

Wolf German, English
From Middle High German or Middle English wolf meaning "wolf", or else from an Old German given name beginning with this element.

Wolfe English
Variant of Wolf.

Woodcock English
Nickname referring to the woodcock bird.