FernelFrench Derived from French ferronel, a diminutive of (obsolete) ferron "maker or seller of iron".
FerrarEnglish The Ferrars are the Lincolnshire branch of the noble De Ferrers family. The latter having been linked to Tamworth Castle, manors in Baddesley Clinton, Tutbury Castle and the now ruined Groby Castle as well as many other estates around the UK.... [more]
FerrignoItalian Derived from the Italian adjective ferrigno meaning "made of or resembling iron" (a derivative of Latin ferrum meaning "iron"), applied as a nickname to someone who was very strong or thought to resemble the metal in some other way... [more]
FeuerJewish Ornamental name from modern German Feuer "fire".
FeuerGerman Metonymic occupational name for a stoker in a smithy or public baths, or nickname for someone with red hair or a fiery temper, from Middle High German viur "fire".
FeuerhahnGerman Feuerhahn comes from the Old High German words (fivr) meaning "fire" & (hano) meaning "cock".
FilkinsEnglish Means either (i) "person from Filkins", Oxfordshire ("settlement of Filica's people"); or "son of Filkin", a medieval personal name meaning literally "little Phil", from Philip.
FilleryEnglish From a medieval nickname derived from Anglo-Norman fitz le rei "son of the king" (see also Fitzroy), probably applied mainly (and ironically) to an illegitimate person or to someone who put on quasi-royal airs.
FinanIrish Means "descendant of Fionnán", anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fionnáin.
FinnertyIrish Reduced anglicisation of Irish Ó Fionnachta meaning "descendant of Fionnachta", a given name derived from fionn meaning "fair, white" and sneachta meaning "snow".
FitzEmpressHistory, Anglo-Norman Means "son of the empress" in Anglo-Norman French. The three sons of Empress Matilda (1102-1167) were known as Henry FitzEmpress (King Henry II of England), Geoffrey FitzEmpress, Count of Nantes, and William FitzEmpress, Count of Poitou.
FlamJewish Ornamental name from Yiddish flam "flame".
FlamelFrench Meaning unknown. Proposals include french flamme meaning "flame" or a description of origin, such as "Flemish", or the French term for the same word, Flamand.... [more]
FlammiaItalian From Latin flammeus "flaming, fiery; flame-coloured", probably referring to the bearer's red hair.
FleetwoodEnglish Means "From the town of Fleetwood, in Lancaster".
ForsytheScottish, Northern Irish This surname has two possible origins. The more accepted explanation is that it comes from the Gaelic given name Fearsithe, which means "man of peace" from the elements fear "man" and sithe "peace"... [more]
FoxworthEnglish "dweller at the homestead infested by foxes." or "house of Fox" aka Foxworthy... [more]
FoyIrish (Anglicized) A different form of Fahy (from Irish Gaelic Ó Fathaigh "descendant of Fathach", a personal name probably based on Gaelic fothadh "foundation").
FrankenbergGerman, Jewish habitational name from a place in northern Hesse named as "fort (Old High German burg) of the Franks". From German franken and berg "mountain hill mountain"... [more]
FrisbyEnglish Means "person from Frisby", Leicestershire ("farmstead of the Frisians"). A frisbee is a plastic disc thrown from person to person as a game; the trademarked name, registered in 1959 by Fred Morrison, was inspired by the Frisbie bakery of Bridgeport, Connecticut, whose pie tins were the original models for the plastic discs.
FuenokazeJapanese Borne by character Ren Fuenokaze (笛の 風錬) in the fake visual novel adventure game 'Danganronpa 4K: Hopeless Rising', made up of the nouns 笛 (fue) meaning "flute", の (no) meaning "of the", and 風 (kaze) meaning "winds".... [more]
FujinomiyaJapanese Fuji means "wisteria", no means "therefore, of", and miya means "shrine".
FukamiJapanese From Japanese 深 (fuka) meaning "deep" and 見 (mi) meaning "look, appearance".
FutamiJapanese From Japanese 二 (futa) meaning "two" and 見 (mi) meaning "look, appearance".
GamageSinhalese Means "of the village", from Sinhala ගම (gama) meaning "village" and the locative suffix -ගේ (-ge) meaning "home, house".
GambierFrench Derived from gambier, a Northern French variant of jambier, the masculine form of jambière "greave (a piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin, and occasionally the tops of the feet)"... [more]
GamgeeLiterature In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", the surname of Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, Frodo Baggins' gardener.
GarabedianArmenian Means "son of Garabed", an Armenian personal name meaning literally "leader, precursor" and traditionally used as an epithet of John the Baptist in the Armenian church.
GarcésSpanish Meaning "son of García" ultimately from medieval spanish Garsea, using the patronymic suffix és/ez
GarlickEnglish (i) "grower or seller of garlic"; (ii) perhaps from a medieval personal name descended from Old English Gārlāc, literally "spear-play"; (iii) an anglicization of the Belorussian Jewish name Garelick, literally "distiller"
GarriguesFrench, Provençal This surname comes from Old Provençal garrique meaning "grove of holm oaks or kermes oaks."
GartonEnglish habitational name from Garton or Garton on the Wolds in the East Yorkshire or from various minor places so named from Old English gara "triangular plot of land" and tun "farmstead".
GarwoodEnglish Comes from a lost locational name from the Olde English gara, referring to a "triangular piece of land" or to a "spearhead", and wudu meaning a "wood".
GatchalianFilipino, Tagalog From a Hispanicised spelling of Gat Sa Li-Han, a Chinese title meaning "lord of Li-Han". It was used by the rulers of Li-Han, an ancient Philippine state that was located in the present-day city of Malolos.
GatdulaFilipino, Tagalog This surname honors Lakan Dula, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Tondo, via his alternative name Gat Dula. In it, the word or prefix Gat is a shortened version of the Tagalog honorific Pamagat, which at the time meant "nobleman," while Dula possibly means "palace." Altogether, it means "Nobleman of the Palace."
GatmaitanFilipino, Tagalog From a Hispanicised form of Gat Maitan, a title meaning "lord of Mait" that was used by rulers of an ancient place named Mait or Maitan.
GauntEnglish This name is believed to have derived "from the town of Gaunt, now Ghent, in Flanders."... [more]
GavazanskyBelarusian Means "from the town of Gavezhno". Gavezhno is a town in Belarus.
GeesonIrish This unusual name is the patronymic form of the surname Gee, and means "son of Gee", from the male given name which was a short form of male personal names such as "Geoffrey", "George" and "Gerard"... [more]
GillanIrish The Gillan surname is a reduced Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic Mac Gille Fhaoláin, which means "son of the servant of St Faolán." While the name may have originated in Ireland, this line was extant by the beginning of the 17th century, only to find many of the family to return to Ireland about 100 years later with the Plantation of Ulster.... [more]
GillespieScottish, Irish Gillespie can be of Scottish and Irish origin. The literal meaning is "servant of bishop", but it is a forename rather than a status name. The Irish Gillespies, originally MacGiollaEaspuig, are said to to be called after one Easpog Eoghan, or Bishop Owen, of Ardstraw, County Tyrone... [more]
GiorgainaGreek (Archaic) Andronymic meaning "wife of Georgios". This was used in early modern Greece, at which time a married woman's surname was formed from her husband's given name and the suffix -αινα (-aina)... [more]
GlockGerman Meant "person who lives by a church bell-tower or in a house with the sign of a bell", "bell-ringer" or "town crier" (German Glocke "bell"). It was borne by Sir William Glock (1908-2000), a British music administrator.
GlushkovRussian Derived from Russian глухой (glukhoy) meaning "deaf" or "remote, out-of-the-way", either used as a nickname for a deaf person or for someone originally from a remote place.
GogolUkrainian, Polish, Jewish Means "Common goldeneye (a type of duck)" in Ukrainian. Possibly a name for a fowler. A famous bearer was Nikolai Gogol.
GormleyIrish (Anglicized) Anglicised form of Ó Gormghaile meaning "descendant of Gormghal," Gormghal, a personal name, being derived from gorm meaning "noble, (dark) blue" and gal meaning "valour, ardour."
GoswamiIndian, Bengali, Hindi, Assamese Derived from Sanskrit गोस्वामिन् (gosvamin) meaning "religious mendicant" (literally "owner of cows" or "lord of cows"), from गो (go) meaning "cow" and स्वामिन् (svamin) meaning "owner, lord, master".
GoudierGerman Germanic patronym from "godhari" meaning "army of God".
GrableGerman Means "digger of ditches or graves" (from a derivative of Middle High German graben "ditch"). A famous bearer was US actress, dancer and singer Betty Grable (1916-1973).
GribbenIrish This surname is of Old Gaelic origin, and is a variant of "Cribben", which itself is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name "MacRoibin", meaning "son of (mac) Robin", a patronymic from the Anglo-Norman French given name "Robin"... [more]
GriffinIrish (Anglicized) Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic Ó Gríobhtha "descendant of Gríobhtha", a personal name from gríobh "gryphon".
GukasyanArmenian Means "son of Gukas", the Armenian equivalent of Luke.
GulianArmenian From Armenian word gul meaning "rose", as well as "laughter", combined with the common suffix of ian meaning "son of".
GulliverEnglish From a medieval nickname for a greedy person (from Old French goulafre "glutton"). Jonathan Swift used it in his satire 'Gulliver's Travels' (1726), about the shipwrecked ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver, whose adventures "offer opportunities for a wide-ranging and often savage lampooning of human stupidity and vice."
GursulturJewish (Latinized), Kurdish, Hebrew This name is a composition of the following words: GUR; Hebrew for "lion cub", SUL; which is an abbreviation of Suleman (Kurdish for king Solomon), TUR; this word is derived from the Arba'ah Turim. The Arbaáh Turim are often called simply the Tur, which is an important Halakhic code.... [more]
GurugeSinhalese Derived from Sinhala ගුරු (guru) meaning "teacher, master" and the locative suffix -ගේ (-ge) meaning "of, home, house".
GuthrieScottish, Irish As a Scottish surname, this is either a habitational name for a person from the village of Guthrie near Forfar, itself from Gaelic gaothair meaning "windy place" (a derivative of gaoth "wind") and the locative suffix -ach, or alternatively it might possibly be an Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mag Uchtre meaning "son of Uchtre", a personal name of uncertain origin, perhaps related to uchtlach "child".... [more]
GyljárlaugssonIcelandic The name Gyljárlaugsson combines two Icelandic words, "gylja" meaning "to roar" and "laug" meaning "hot spring". Therefore, the name Gyljárlaugsson could be interpreted as "son of the roaring hot spring".
HaavistoFinnish Means "place with aspens" or "group of aspens". This name comes from a combination of haapa, "aspen", and the suffix -sto which is used for places and groups of things.
HaganIrish Reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÁgáin "descendant of Ógán", a personal name from a diminutive of óg "young".
HaganIrish Reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAodhagáin "descendant of Aodhagán", a personal name formed from a double diminutive of Aodh meaning "fire".
HallamEnglish Habitational name from Halam (Nottinghamshire) or from Kirk or West Hallam (Derbyshire) all named with the Old English dative plural halum "(at the) nooks or corners of land" (from Old English halh "nook recess"; see Hale)... [more]
HallinanIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÁilgheanáin "descendant of Áilgheanán", a pet form of a personal name composed of old Celtic elements meaning "mild, noble person".
HamillIrish According to MacLysaght, a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÁdhmaill "descendant of Ádhmall", which he derives from ádhmall "active".
HanleyIrish Means “descendant of Áinle.” Derived from “O’Hanley,” an anglicized form of “Ó hÁinle,” ultimately from Gaelic “ainle” meaning “beauty, grace.”
HanlonIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAnluain "descendant of Anluan", a personal name from the intensive prefix an- and luan "light", "radiance" or "warrior". Occasionally it has been used to represent Hallinan.
HanrattyIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInreachtaigh meaning "descendant of Ionnrachtach", a given name meaning "attacker".
HansdotterfSwedish Means "daughter of Hans". This name is only given to females. A notable bearer is Swedish alpine ski racer Frida Hansdotter (b. 1985).
HarndenEnglish From an English village Harrowden in Bedfordshire. This place name literally means "hill of the heathen shrines or temples," from the Old English words hearg and dun.
HarwoodEnglish, Scots Habitation name found especially along the border areas of England and Scotland, from the Old English elements har meaning "gray" or hara referring to the animals called "hares" plus wudu for "wood"... [more]
HaylingEnglish Either (i) "person from Hayling", Hampshire ("settlement of Hægel's people"); or (ii) from the Old Welsh personal name Heilyn, literally "cup-bearer" (see also Palin).
HazardEnglish, French, Dutch Nickname for an inveterate gambler or a brave or foolhardy man prepared to run risks, from Middle English, Old French hasard, Middle Dutch hasaert (derived from Old French) "game of chance", later used metaphorically of other uncertain enterprises... [more]
HenvilleWelsh Derived from the name of an ancestor meaning "Son of Anwyl"
HerbarthGerman, Norman References Old Norse Deity "Odin" being one of the "Son's of Odin". Remember that the Geats became the Ostrogoths through the Denmark pass--referenced in Beowulf. Or, it means "Warrior of the Bearded One", perhaps a King... [more]
HerlihyIrish From Irish Gaelic Ó hIarfhlatha "descendant of Iarfhlaith", a personal name meaning literally "lord of the west".
HermosilloSpanish Nickname for a dandy, from a diminutive of hermoso "finely formed, handsome". From Latin formosus, from forma "shape, form, beauty".
HerndonMedieval English The surname Herndon was first found in Bedfordshire (Old English: Bedanfordscir), located in Southeast-central England, formerly part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, where they held a family seat from ancient times... [more]