Browse Submitted Surnames

Auestad Norwegian
A surname most commonly found in the Rogaland region of Norway. The most common theory for the meaning is that it originated from øde sted (or in older spellings, øde stad) meaning "abandoned/barren/solitary place"... [more]

Aufdemberge American (Rare)
The surname Aufdemberge originated in America, but in German it means "on the mountains".... [more]

Aufderheide German
Topographic name for someone who lived on a heath, derived from German auf der heide literally meaning "on the heath".

Aukio Finnish
"square", "plaza", "clearing", or "concourse"

Aune Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse auðn "wasteland, desolate place".

Aushev Ingush (Russified)
Russified form of an Ingush surname derived from Nakh ауш (aush) or аус (aus) literally meaning "rock, slope", figuratively meaning "strong, solid, confident".

Ausley English (Modern)
Rare surname which was from an English place name in which the second element is Old English leah "wood, clearing". The first element may be hors "horse" (in which case the name likely referred to a place where horses were put out to pasture) or the river name Ouse (ultimately from the ancient British root ud- "water").

Ausmaa Estonian
Ausmaa is an Estonian surname meaning "honorable land".

Avalon English
Means "island of apples".

Avellaneda Spanish
It literally means "hazelnut grove", denoting someone who either lived near one or worked in one.

Aviña Galician
Galician surname referring to someone who "lives by a vineyard", from d’Aviña, a variant of da viña.

Avivi Hebrew
Means "springlike" or "of the spring" in Hebrew. (see Aviv)

Avots Latvian
Means "fount, spring" or "source".

Awamura Japanese
Awa means "millet" and mura means "hamlet, village".

Awano Japanese
Awa means "millet" and no means "field, wilderness, plain".

Awaoka Japanese
Awa means "millet" and oka means "mound, hill".

Awatani Japanese
Awa means "millet" and tani means "valley".

Awaya Japanese
From Japanese 粟 (Awa) meaning "Mllet" and 谷 (Tani) meaning "valley".

Awayama Japanese
Away means "millet" and yama means "mountain".

Ayano Japanese
綾 (Aya) means "design" and 野 (no) means "field".... [more]

Ayden English, Scottish
From a Scottish surname which was derived from Gaelic caol meaning "narrows, channel, strait".

Ayukawa Japanese
From 鮎 (ayu) meaning "trout" and 川 (kawa) meaning "river."

Azahara Japanese
From Japanese 字 (aza) meaning "a section of a village" and 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".

Azusagawa Japanese (Rare)
Azusa (梓) means "catalpa", gawa/kawa (川) means "river", kawa changes to gawa due to rendaku. Sakuta Azusagawa (梓川 咲太) and his sister Kaede (梓川 花楓) from Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai are notable fictional characters who bear this surname.

Baba Japanese
From Japanese 馬場 (baba) meaning "riding ground".

Babao Filipino, Cebuano
From Cebuano babaw meaning "top, above, over".

Babaoka Japanese
Baba means "riding ground" and oka means "hill".

Babington English
Habitational name for someone from Babington in Somerset or Great or Little Bavington in Northumberland, named with the Old English personal name Babba + the connective particle -ing- meaning "associated with", "named after" + tūn meaning "settlement".

Bäcklund Swedish
Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, stream" and Lund "grove".

Backlund Swedish
Combination of Swedish backe "hill, slope" and Lund "grove".

Bäckman Swedish
Combination of Swedish bäck "small stream" and man "man".

Backman English, Swedish, German
Combination of Old English bakke "spine, back" and man "man". In Swedish, the first element is more likely to be derived from Swedish backe "hill", and in German the first element can be derived from German backen "to bake"... [more]

Bäckstrand Swedish
Combination of Swedish bäck "stream" and strand "shore".

Bäckström Swedish
Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, small stream" and ström "stream".

Backström Swedish
Combination of Swedish backe "slope, hill" and ström "stream".

Bacolod Filipino, Hiligaynon, Cebuano
Derived from Hiligaynon bakolod meaning "hill, mound, rise". This is also the name of a city in the Negros Occidental province in the Philippines.

Baddeley English
From place names in both Suffolk and Staffordshire derived from an Old English personal name, 'Badda,' possibly meaning "battle" and lee or leah for a "woodland clearing," therefore meaning someone from "Badda's woodland clearing."

Baechli German (Swiss)
Derived from the word "Bächli," which means "small brook" in Swiss German.

Bagnall English
From a place in England, derived from the Old English name "Badeca", a short form of any name beginning from beadu "battle", and halh "nook, recess".

Bagtas Filipino, Tagalog
Means "trail through rough country, passage across wilderness" in Tagalog.

Baio Italian
From a nickname for someone with light brown or reddish-brown hair or beard, from baio meaning "bay horse", ultimately derived from Late Latin badius meaning "red-brown".

Balcom English
Altered spelling of English Balcombe, a habitational name from Balcombe in West Sussex, which is named with Old English bealu "evil, calamity" (or the Old English personal name Bealda) combined with cumb "valley".

Balkwill Anglo-Saxon (Archaic)
From the Old English pre 7th Century balca, "beam", with wiell(a), "spring, stream", and probably refers to a primitive footbridge made by a tree trunk across the stream. The name may also be topographical for a dweller by the footbridge.

Balmaceda Spanish, Basque
From Balmaseda, the name of a town and municipality in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is derived from Spanish val meaning "valley" and Basque mahatseta meaning "vineyard"... [more]

Balston English
From the name of a place meaning "Beald's valley" from Old English denu meaning valley.

Baltimore English (American)
From the name of the American city of Baltimore, and an anglicisation of Irish Gaelic Baile an Tí Mhóir meaning "town of the big house".

Bando Japanese
It means "east of the slope", referring to eastern provinces of Osaka. The surname originates from there, and that is where it is most common.

Bangon Filipino, Maranao
Means "to rise, to get up" or "plot of land" in Maranao.

Bankhead Scottish, Northern Irish
Topographic name for someone who lived at the top or end of a bank or hill, derived from Middle English bank meaning "bank" and hed meaning "head". There are several minor places in Scotland so called, but the most likely source of the surname is one on the border between the parishes of Kilmarnock and Dreghorn in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Bankoku Japanese (Rare)
From Japanese 万国 meaning "all nations; the whole world; universal". The fact that it is homophonous as Japanese バンコク (Bankoku) meaning "Bangkok", the city in Thailand, is coincidental.

Bannai Japanese
From Japanese 坂 (ban) meaning "slope" and 内 (nai) meaning "inside".

Bantadtan Thai
From Thai บรรทัด (banthat) meaning "ruler; straight line" and ฐาน (than) meaning "base; location".

Bantayan Filipino, Cebuano
Means "watchtower, guard-place" in Cebuano.

Banville French, English, Irish
From a place in france derived from the Germanic name Bada and French ville "village, town".

Banwell English
Means "person from Banwell", Somerset ("killer spring (perhaps alluding to a contaminated water source)").

Baquiran Filipino, Ilocano
Derived from Ilocano bakiran meaning "forest".

Bardell English
Originally meant "person from Bardwell", Suffolk ("Bearda's spring"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mrs Bardell, Mr Pickwick's widowed landlady in Charles Dickens's 'Pickwick Papers' (1837), who misconstrues an innocent remark about having a companion as a marriage proposal, which leads to her suing Pickwick for breach of promise.

Barnaby English
Either (i) means "person from Barnaby", Yorkshire ("Beornwald's settlement"); or (ii) from the medieval male personal name Barnaby, the English form of Barnabas, a biblical name ultimately from Aramaic Barnabia "son of Nabia".

Barnewall Anglo-Norman, Irish
A locational surname given to those who lived by a stream in either Cambridgeshire, which derives its name from the Olde English beorna meaning "warrior" and wella meaning "stream", or from one in Northamptonshire, which got its name from the Olde English byrge meaning "burial mound" and well, which also means "stream." a burial mound and 'well(a)'... [more]

Barr Hebrew, Jewish
Possibly means “grain”, “son of Reuben”, or “wilderness”.

Barr Scottish, Northern Irish
Habitational name from any of various places in southwestern Scotland, in particular Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, named with Gaelic barr "height, hill" or a British cognate of this.

Barrios Spanish
Habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Spanish barrio "outlying suburb (especially an impoverished one), slum", from Arabic barr "suburb, dependent village". It may also be a topographic name for someone originating from a barrio.

Barrow English
Habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Old English bearo, bearu "grove" or from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, which is named with an unattested Celtic word, barr, here meaning "promontory", and Old Norse ey "island"... [more]

Barsby English
Derived from the Old Norse word barn, which occured as a byname and meant "child", and Old Norse býr "farm, settlement"

Barthorpe English
This surname originates from the village of the same name in the East Riding of Yorkshire, likely combining the Old Norse personal name Bǫrkr with Old Norse þorp meaning "village."

Baş Turkish
Means "head, top" or "leader" in Turkish.

Baselgia Romansh
Derived from Romansh baselgia "church".

Baskerville English
Means "bush town", from Anglo-Norman French boschet (a little bush) and ville (town).

Battersby English
Derives from the place of Battersby in North Yorkshire, which is composed of Old Norse personal name Bǫðvarr and the Old Norse suffix býr "farm, settlement"... [more]

Baucom English
Variant spelling of BALCOMBE, a habitational name from West Sussex derived from Old English bealu "evil" and cumb "valley".

Bauerdick German
A surname originating from the Rhineland region of Germany. It is derived from German Bauer (Bur in the locals dialects) "farmer" and Deich (Diek and Dick in the local dialects) "levee" or Teich "pond"... [more]

Bauknecht German, Upper German
Occupational name for a farm worker from Middle High German buknecht "plowboy, farmhand" derived from the elements bu "farm" and kneht "servant, apprentice".

Baumkötter German (Modern)
From the German words 'Baum' meaning 'tree' and 'Kötter' a type of villager who dwelt in a cottage, similar to the Scottish Cotter. "Presumably a 'Baumkötter' earned money from a small orchard on their property."

Baxendale English
Habitational name, probably an altered form of Baxenden, a place near Accrington, which is named with an unattested Old English word bæcstān meaning "bakestone" (a flat stone on which bread was baked) + denu meaning "valley"... [more]

Bayır Turkish
Means "slope, incline, hill" in Turkish.

Baykalov Russian
Derived from the name of Lake Baikal, derived from Turkish baiköl meaning "rich lake".

Beauchamp English, French
From the name of various places in France, for example in Manche and Somme, which was derived from Old French beu, bel meaning "fair, lovely" and champ, champs "field, plain".

Beaufay French (Rare)
In most cases, this surname is a locational surname that most likely took its name from the village of Beaufay, which is nowadays located in the Sarthe department of France. The village was called Bello Faeto, Bellofaido and Belfaidus during the Early Middle Ages, ultimately deriving its name from Latin bellus fagus (or bellum fagetum) meaning "beautiful beech tree(s)" or "beautiful beech woodland"... [more]

Beauford English
Variation of Buford. It is derived from the French word "beau", meaning "beautiful", and "ford", an Old English word meaning "river crossing".

Beckius Swedish
Combination of Swedish bäck "small stream, brook" and the common surname suffix -ius.

Beckley English
This surname was taken from an English habitational name from any of the various places, in Kent, Oxfordshire, and Sussex, named Beckley whose name was derived from the Old English byname Becca and the Old English lēah "woodland clearing".... [more]

Beckwith English (African)
Habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire named Beckwith, from Old English bece "beech" + Old Norse viðr "wood" (replacing the cognate Old English wudu).

Bedell English
This place name derives from the Old English words byde, meaning "tub," and "well," meaning a "spring," or "stream." As such, Bedell is classed as a habitational name.

Bedoya Spanish
Castilianized form of Bedoia. Name for someone from Bedoña, in the Spanish province Gipuzkoa. Bedoña likely comes from Basque bedi "pasture grazing" and -oña, suffix for a place name.

Bedwani Arabic (Egyptian, Rare)
Possibly derived from the English word bedouin, that comes from the Arabic badawī, which means "desert dweller". ... [more]

Beeden English (British)
Probably means "from Beeden", a village near Newbury in Berkshire. Ultimately coming from either Old English byden, meaning "shallow valley", or from the pre 7th century personal name Bucge with the suffix dun, meaning "hill of Bucge".

Belgrave English
Aristocratic surname from French, meaning "beautiful grove"; comes from a place name in Leicestershire. A famous namesake is British polar explorer Belgrave Ninnis, who perished in Antarctica on a 1912 expedition.

Béliveau French (Rare), French (Quebec)
Derived from Old French besliver meaning "to stagger along", originally a nickname referring to a drunkard. It could also denote a person who lived in a beautiful, lovely valley, derived from French beau "beautiful" or Old French beu, bel "fair, lovely", combined with val meaning "valley"... [more]

Belleisle French
Name for someone from an island named Belle Isle, French for "beautiful island".

Belmondo Italian
Name of Italian origin meaning "beautiful world". Famous bearers of the name are the French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-) and the Italian cross-country skier, twice Olympic champion and four times World champion Stefania Belmondo (1969-).

Belmont English
English surname of Norman origin, a variant of the surname Beaumont, which was derived from place names meaning "lovely hill" in Old French (from beu, bel "fair, lovely" and mont "hill").

Belrio Spanish
From the Spanish word meaning "beautiful river".

Benfield English
habitational name from one or more of the numerous places in England called Benfield or Binfield which are named from Middle English bent "bent-grass" and feld "open country" or "land converted to arable use" (Old English beonet and feld).

Bergamo Italian
From a Celtic word meaning "mountain".

Bergdahl Swedish
Combination of Swedish berg "mountain, hill" and dal "valley".

Bergholtz Swedish, German (Rare)
Possibly a variant of German Bergholz which is either a derivative of Berchtold or from a topographic name meaning "birch wood"... [more]

Bergin Swedish
Derived from Swedish berg "mountain" and the common surname suffix -in.

Bergkamp Dutch, German
From the name of various places in the Netherlands and Germany, derived from Old Dutch and Old High German berg meaning "mountain" and kamp meaning "field". This name is borne by Dutch former soccer player Dennis Bergkamp (1969-).

Berglin Swedish
Combination of Swedish berg "mountain" and the surname suffix -in.

Berglind Swedish
Combination of Swedish berg "mountain, hill" and lind "linden tree".

Bergling Swedish
Combination of Swedish berg "mountain" and the common surname suffix -ing "belonging to, coming from". It has also been found as a spelling variant of similarly spelled names, such as Berlin... [more]

Bergmark Swedish
Combination of Swedish berg "mountain, hill" and mark "land, ground, field".

Bergschneider German
topographic name for someone living by a mountain trail (as in cut into the hillside) from Berg "mountain hill" and Schneit "trail path running on a border" (Old High German sneita).

Berkeley English
From any of the locations called Berkeley derived the elements beorc "birch" and leah "clearing, wood" meaning "birch clearing"... [more]

Berki Hungarian
From a placename in Hungary derived from Hungarian "berek" meaning "grove".

Berlin Swedish
Of uncertain origin. The name could be a shortened form of Berglin. It could also be a habitational name from the city in Germany or from a place in Sweden named with ber or berg "mountain"... [more]

Berlin German, English
Habitational name from the city in Germany, the name of which is of uncertain meaning. It is possibly derived from an Old Slavic stem berl- meaning swamp or from a West Slavic word meaning "river lake".

Bernfield German
An Americanized variant of the German surname, "Bergfeld", meaning "mountain field".

Bernheim Jewish
From the Germanic elements bern meaning "bear" and heim meaning "home".

Bernthal Jewish
Ornamental name derived from the Yiddish given name Ber meaning "bear" and German thal meaning "valley". A famous bearer is American actor Jon Bernthal (1976-).

Bérubé French
Habitational name from some minor place named with Old French bel ru "beautiful stream", with the subsequent pleonastic addition of bé, variant of bel "beautiful".

Berwald German, Swedish (Rare), Danish (Rare)
Originally derived from the given name Bernwald, composed of Old High German bern, bero "bear" and wald "ruler"... [more]

Berzelius Swedish
Derived from the name of an estate named Bergsätter located near Motala, Östergötland, Sweden. Bergsätter is composed of Swedish berg "mountain" and säter "outlying meadow"... [more]

Bestauty Ossetian
Derived from Ossetian бистэ (biste) meaning "village, suburb" or from Persian به (beh) meaning "good, excellent, better". In the case of the former, it would have been used to indicate the place of residence of an ancestor.

Bethencourt French, English, Portuguese (Rare)
Bettencourt and Bethencourt are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]

Bettencourt French, English, Portuguese (Rare)
Bettencourt and Bethencourt are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]

Bevier French (Germanized)
From Old French bevier, meaning "a measure of land". This was probably a nickname for someone who owned or worked such a piece of land. This surname was first found in Austria, where the name Bevier came from humble beginnings but gained a significant reputation for its contribution to the emerging medieval society.

Beyoğlu Turkish
Means son of a bey. “Bey” (Ottoman Turkish: بك‎ “Beik”, Albanian: bej, Bosnian: beg, Arabic: بيه‎ “Beyeh”, Persian: بیگ‎ “Beyg” or بگ “Beg”) is a Turkish title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders or rulers of various sized areas in the Ottoman Empire... [more]

Bhowmik Indian, Bengali
Means "landowner, landlord" in Bengali, ultimately derived from Sanskrit भूमि (bhūmi) "earth, soil, ground".

Bhuyan Indian, Bengali, Assamese, Odia
Means "landlord, chieftain", derived from Sanskrit भूमि (bhumi) meaning "earth, soil".

Bibylty Ossetian
Derived from Georgian ბიბილო (bibilo) meaning "scar" or "crest", used to refer to a person with a distinctive scar on their face.

Bickham English
Habitational name from places so named in Devon and Somerset, most of which are most probably named with an Old English personal name Bicca and Old English cumb "valley". The first element could alternatively be from bica "pointed ridge".

Biesheuvel Dutch
From Biesheuvel, the name of a small village in the north of the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. It is derived from Dutch bies meaning "bulrush, club rush" (a grasslike plant that grows in wetlands and damp locations) and heuvel meaning "hill"... [more]

Bigelow English
Habitational name from a place in England called Big Low meaning "big mound".

Biglin English (British)
German origin, settled by a single farmer in East Yorkshire in 1750. The name comes from the phrase "big land" meaning someone who owns alot of land.

Bilsland Scottish
From a place near Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Allegedly a combination of Bil and land "farm, land, property".

Bindschädler German (Swiss)
Derived from German binden "to bind" and Swiss German schädlen "to make wood vessels", this is an occupational surname referring to a cooper, a barrel maker.

Bingley English
Habitational surname for someone originally from the town of Bingley in West Yorkshire, England. The name is either derived from the given name Bynna combined with the suffix -inga meaning "the people of" or from the Old English elements bing meaning "hollow" and leah meaning "woodland, clearing".

Binsaki Japanese (Rare)
From Japanese 鬢 (bin) meaning a type of hairstyle and 崎 (saki) meaning "small peninsula; cape".

Birchall English
Probably a habitational name from Birchill in Derbyshire or Birchills in Staffordshire, both named in Old English with birce "birch" + hyll "hill".

Birke Low German, Swedish (Rare)
Variant of Birk. Perhaps a shortened form of any of various Danish and Norwegian surnames beginning with Birke-, for example Birkeland and Birkelund ("birch grove").

Birkeland Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse birki "birch" and land "farm, land". This was the name of several farms in Norway.

Birnfeld German (Portuguese-style, Rare, Expatriate)
Meaning “pear field” from the German words “birne”, meaning pear, and the word “feld”, meaning field.

Bisley English (British)
Bisley is a locational surname from the village of Bisley in Surrey. It comes from the words biss meaning “water” and leah meaning “farm”.

Bitencourt Brazilian, Portuguese (Brazilian), French (Rare), English
BITENCOURT, derives from Bittencourt, Bettencourt and Bethencourt; They are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]

Bizkarrondo Basque
It literally means "near the shoulder of a mountain".

Bjørklund Norwegian
From any of several farms named with Norwegian bjørk "birch" and lund "grove".

Björnberg Swedish
Ornamental name derived from Swedish björn meaning "bear" and berg meaning "mountain".

Blackford English
Derived from the words blæc "black" or blac "pale, shining, white" and ford "river crossing"

Blackley English
The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæcleah which meant "dark wood" or "dark clearing".

Blackmore English
BLACKMORE, an English name, has two possible beginnings: ... [more]

Blackwell English
From an English place name derived from Old English blæc meaning "black" and wille meaning "well, spring, water hole".

Blagden Anglo-Saxon
Blagden is a locational surname deriving from any one of the places called Blackden or Blagdon, or Blagden farm in Hempstead, Essex. Blackden in Cheshire, Blagden in Essex and Blagdon in Northumberland share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the dark or black valley", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "blaec", black, with "denu", valley, while the places called Blagdon in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, recorded as Blakedone in 1242, Blakeson in 1234, and Blachedone in the Domesday Book of 1086 respectively mean "the black hill", derived from the Old English "blaec", black, and "dun", down, hill, mountain... [more]

Blankenship English
Variant of Blenkinsop, a surname derived from a place in Northumberland called Blenkinsopp. The place name possibly derives from Cumbric blaen "top" and kein "back, ridge", i.e. "top of the ridge", combined with Old English hōp "valley" (compare Hope).

Blomstrand Swedish
From Swedish blomma (Old Norse blóm) meaning "flower" and strand (Old Norse strǫnd) meaning "beach, sea shore".

Błoński Polish
Habitational name for someone from any of various places named Błonie, derived from Polish błonie meaning "pasture, meadow".

Blumenberg Jewish
Ornamental name composed of German Blume "flower" and Berg "mountain, hill".

Bobeck Swedish, German, Jewish, Slavic
A respelling of the Swedish Bobäck, an ornamental name composed of the elements bo meaning "farm" and bäck meaning "stream".... [more]

Boden German, Low German
Patronymic from the personal name Bode or a topographic name for someone living in a valley bottom or the low-lying area of a field. From Middle High German boden "ground, bottom".

Bodily Anglo-Saxon
A habitational name from the parish of Budleigh, near Exeter in Devon or Baddeley Green in Staffordshire. From the Old English budda, meaning "beetle" and leah, meaning "wood" or "clearing", also known as a glade... [more]

Bodin Swedish
Swedish bo "dwelling, home" or bod "small shop, boutique, shed, shack" combined with the common surname suffix -in.

Bøe Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse býr "farm, village, settlement" or búa "to reside".

Bøen Norwegian
Habitational name from the common farm name Bøen, simply meaning "the farm" (ultimately derived from Old Norse býr "farm, village, settlement" and the definite article -en).

Bois French, French (Quebec)
Derived from French bois "wood, forest", this name used to denote someone who lived near a forest.

Boisvert French
Means "green wood" in French, from bois "wood" and vert "green".

Bolland French, German, English
From the Ancient Germanic name Bolland. Alternatively it derive from the place name Bowland from the Old English boga meaning "bow" and land meaning "land".

Bolloqui Basque
Means "mill place."

Boman Swedish
Combination of Swedish bo (noun) "nest, farm, dwelling" and man "man".

Bomengen English (American), Norwegian (Rare)
Name created from during immigration from Norway to the United States in either the late 19th or early 20th century meaning, "The farm with the big gate."

Bonde Norwegian (Rare)
From a farm named Bonde, named with Old Norse bóndi "farmer" and vin "meadow".

Bondoc Filipino, Tagalog
Derived from Tagalog bundok meaning "mountain".

Boothroyd English
Possibly from the Old English booth meaning "hut, shack" and royd meaning "clearing (in the woods)".

Borák Czech
Habitational name for someone from one of many places named with bor meaning "pine forest"; alternatively from a short form of the personal names Dalibor or Bořivoj, containing the element -bor meaning "battle".

Borecki English
Habitational name for someone from a place called Borek or Borki, from bór "pine forest".

Borgedalen Norwegian (Rare)
Combination of Norwegian borg "fortification, castle" and dal "valley".

Borges Portuguese, Spanish
Possibly from Old French burgeis meaning "town-dweller" (see Burgess). Alternately, it may have denoted someone originally from the city of Bourges in France.

Borkowski Polish
Habitational name for someone from any of various locations called Borki, Borkowice or Borek, all derived from Polish bór meaning "conifer forest, pine forest".

Bormann German
This surname is presumed to be a variant of Bornemann, which is made up of Middle Low German born meaning "spring" and man meaning "man," denoting someone who lived by a spring or a well.

Borsheim Norwegian (Rare)
Habitational name from either of two farmsteads in Norway: Borsheim in Rogaland and Børsheim in Hordaland. Borsheim is a combination of an unknown first element and Norwegian heim "home", while Børsheim is a combination of Old Norse byrgi "fence, enclosure" and heim.

Bosch American
The surname Bosch originates from the Old Norse word "buski," meaning "bush," or "woods” thus it is classed at a toponymic surname and was most likely used by a man who lived near a prominent bush... [more]

Boscolo Italian
Habitational name for someone who lived by a forest, derived from Italian bosco meaning "woods, forest".

Bosley English
English habitation surname derived from the Old English personal name Bosa and the Old English leah "clearing, field". It's also possibly a variant of the French surname Beausoleil meaning "beautiful sun" from the French beau 'beautiful, fair' and soleil 'sun'... [more]

Bostani Persian
Derived from Persian بوستان (bostan) meaning "garden".

Boström Swedish
Combination of Swedish bo "dwelling, home" and ström "stream, river".

Bostwick English
From an English surname which was from a lost or unidentified place name. The second element is clearly Old English wic "outlying (dairy) farm".

Bothwell Scottish
Also N Irish... [more]

Bouhouche Berber, Northern African
Kabyle name possibly derived from Arabic أَبُو (ʾabū) meaning "father" and حَوْش (ḥawš) meaning "courtyard, enclosure, farm" (chiefly Algerian).

Boulton English
Means "district" characterized by bends from the Old English words boga and land.

Bourgeois French
from bourgeois "burgher" (from Old French burgeis from burc "fortified town") a status name for an inhabitant and (usually) freeman of a fortified town (see Bourg)... [more]

Bourget French
Possibly meaning "from the city, town" or given to wealthy families, (from bourgeois)

Boutella Arabic (Maghrebi, Rare)
Means "father of the mountain" or "father of the hill", from Arabic أَبُو (ʾabū) meaning "father (of)" and تَلّ (tall) meaning "hill, foothill". Two notable bearers include father and daughter Safy (1950-) and Sofia (1982-) Boutella, an Algerian singer and an Algerian-French actress, respectively.

Bouzigat Medieval Occitan
Lengadocian (dialect of Occitan): meaning "fallow land" or "cleared, uncultivated land"

Bowden English
Habitational name from any of several places called Bowden or Bowdon, most of them in England. From Old English boga "bow" and dun "hill", or from Old English personal names Buga or Bucge combined with dun.... [more]

Boys English
From the Old French word bois, which means "wood," indicates that the original bearer lived near a wooded area, such as a forest.

Bradfield English
habitational name from any of the places in Berkshire Devon Essex Suffolk South Yorkshire and elsewhere named Bradfield from Old English brad "broad" and feld "open country" meaning "wide field".

Bradham English
Means "broad home". From brad "broad", and ham "home"

Bradshaw English
Habitational name from any of the places called Bradshaw, for example in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, from Old English brad "broad" + sceaga "thicket".

Braham English
From the name of a town called Braham, probably derived from Old English brom meaning "broom (a type of plant)" and ham meaning "home, settlement" or hamm meaning "river meadow".

Brailey English
Habitational name for a person from Brayley Barton in Devon, which is derived from the name of the Bray river (a back formation from High Bray which is from Celtic bre meaning "hill" or Old English brǣg "brow") combined with Old English leah "woodland, clearing".

Braithwaite English
Northern English habitational name from any of the places in Cumbria and Yorkshire named Braithwaite, from Old Norse breiðr "broad" + þveit "clearing".

Bramah English
From a place called either Bramall, or Bramhall formerly Bromale. From old english brom "broom" and halh, "nook, recess"

Brandenburg German (East Prussian, Rare)
From a state in eastern Germany, formerly known as Prussia, containing the capital city of Berlin. Ancient. Associated with the Margravate (Dukedom) of Brandenburg, the seat of power in the Holy Roman Empire... [more]

Brandybuck Literature
Brandybuck is the surname of Meriadoc, a young Hobbit in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Possibly derived from the Brandywine River, which in turn is derived from Sindarin Baranduin, "Brown River"... [more]

Brännström Swedish
Combination of Swedish bränna "to burn" and ström "stream".

Bransby English (British)
English locational name from the village of Bransby in Lincolnshire. The place name is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Branzbi' and later (1115) as 'Brandesby'. These recordings showing that the derivation is from the Old Norse personal name Brandr meaning "sword" and byr, the whole meaning being "Brand's village" or "homestead"... [more]

Branting Swedish
A combination of Swedish brant "steep hill" and the suffix -ing. A famous bearer was Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), Prime Minister of Sweden in the 1920s.

Bråthen Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse broti "land cleared for cultivation by burning". This was a common farm name in southeastern Norway.

Braunschweig German, Jewish
Denoted a person from the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, Germany, which is of Old Saxon origin meaning "Bruno's settlement".

Braybrooke English
From the name of the Northamptonshire village of Braybrooke, meaning "the broad brook."

Brayton English
Derived from the Old Norse name breithr meaning "broad", or the Old Norse personal name Breithi, combined with the Old English suffix tun meaning "town, farmstead".

Breed English
Habitational name from any of various minor places, for example Brede in Sussex, named with Old English brǣdu "breadth, broad place" (a derivative of brād "broad").

Breeding German
From the Low German brēde "open field". Denotes a person from such a place.

Brekke Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse brekka meaning "hill, slope".

Brenden Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse brenna "land cleared for cultivation by burning" (also known as svedjebruk "slash-and-burn agriculture").

Brenna Norwegian
Variant of Brenden, a Norwegian surname derived from brenna "land cleared for cultivation by burning" (also known as svedjebruk "slash-and-burn agriculture").

Brenton English
habitational name primarily from Brenton near Exminster possibly named in Old English as Bryningtun "settlement (Old English tun) associated with Bryni" (a personal name from Old English bryne "fire flame") or "Bryni's town".

Brereton English
From the name of locations in Cheshire and Staffordshire, England. The name is derived from Old English brér "briar" + tún "enclosure, farmstead".

Brevik Norwegian
Habitational name from any of several farms named Brevik, from Norwegian bred "broad" and vik "bay".

Brick Irish (Anglicized), English, German, Jewish
Irish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bruic "descendant of Broc", i.e. "badger" (sometimes so translated) or Ó Bric "descendant of Breac", a personal name meaning "freckled"... [more]

Brinck German
Means "home on or near a hill".... [more]

Brindley English
Habitational name from a place in England so named. From Old English berned "burnt" and leah "woodland clearing".

Brink Low German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish
The Dutch and Low German meaning is "village green". In Danish and Swedish, the name is thought to be a borrowing of Middle Dutch brinc / brink, meaning "grassy edge" or perhaps "slope",, and the Danish word now means "where the water runs deep".

Brinker German, Dutch
From the word brink "edge, slope". This indicated that the bearer of the surname lived near a prominent slope of land

Brinkley English
"From Brinca's Field" or "Field in the forest"

Brinsley English
From a place meaning "brun's clearing" or "brown clearing" with the elements brun "brown" and leah "meadow, clearing".

Brinton English
English locational surname, taken from the town of the same name in Norfolk. The name means "settlement belonging to Brun" - the personal name coming from the Old English word for "fire, flame".

Brion French
Refers to any of several places of the same name. Derived from Gaulish briga "height, hill" and the suffix -one.

Brissenden English
Derived from either of two places in Kent, England called Brissenden (one near Frittenden and the other near Tenterden), both named with the Old English given name Breosa (a byname derived from bresa meaning "gadfly") and Old English denn meaning "woodland pasture (for swine)".

Broadhead English (British)
From Middle Eglish brod "wide, broad" and heved, hed "head, headland". Name for someone who lived by a broad headland.

Broccoli Italian, Sicilian
From the Italian plural for “The flowering crest of a cabbage”. Best known as the surname of the (Calabrian-originated) Sicilian American family who made James Bond internationally famous, by making movies (loosely) based on the books where the titular antihero himself appeared.

Brockhaus German
Occupational hereditary surname for a person who was physically powerful, derived from Old German brock which may refer to persons with a stocky or strong build. Or derived from Old German "Brook" or "Brauk," for people near a marshy landscape, common in northern regions.

Brogden English
From the name of a place in West Yorkshire meaning "valley brook", from Old English broc "brook" and denu "valley".

Bromley English
Habitational name from any of the many places so called in England. Most of them derived from Old English brom "broom" and leah "woodland clearing".

Brook German, Dutch
Topographic name for someone who lived by a water meadow or marsh, from Low German brook, Dutch broek (cf. Bruch).... [more]

Brooksby English
Means "farm by a brook". From Old English broc "brook, small stream" and Old Norse býr "farm, settlement"

Broomfield English
From a place name meaning "gorse field", from Old English brom "gorse" and feld "field, open country".

Brougham English
From the parish of Brougham in Westmoreland, derived from Old English burg "stronghold" + ham "piece of land".

Broughton English
Habitational name from any of the many places so called in England. The first name element is derived from Old English broc "brook", burh "fortress", or beorg "castle". The second element is derived from Old English tun "settlement, dwelling".

Brownlee Scottish, Scottish Gaelic, Northern Irish, English
"Brown field" in Old English.

Bruch German
Topographic name for someone who lived by a marsh or a stream that frequently flooded, from Middle High German bruoch "water meadow" or "marsh" (cognate to old English broc "brook", "stream" cf... [more]

Brühl German, Jewish
Topographic name for someone who lived by a swampy area, derived from Middle High German brüel and Middle Low German brul meaning "swampy land with brushwood". It may also be a habitational name from various places named Brühl in Germany.

Brumby English
English habitational name from a place in Lincolnshire named Brumby, from the Old Norse personal name Brúni or from Old Norse brunnr "well" + býr "farmstead, village".

Brunner Upper German, German (Austrian), German (Swiss), Jewish
Derived from Middle High German brunne "spring, well", this name denoted someone who lived beside a spring.

Brunton English (Rare)
From Old English burna meaning "stream" and tun, settlement; hence, "settlement by a stream".

Brzeziński Polish
Derived from any of the various places named with Polish brzezina "birch forest".

Buckingham English
Habitational name from the former county seat of the county of Buckinghamshire, Old English Buccingahamm "water meadow (Old English hamm) of the people of (-inga-) Bucc(a)".

Buckland English
Habitational name from any of the many places in southern England (including nine in Devon) named Buckland, from Old English bōc "book" and land "land", i.e. land held by right of a written charter, as opposed to folcland, land held by right of custom.

Buczyński Polish
Name for a person from any of various towns named Buczyn or Buczyna, derived from Polish buczyna meaning "beechwood, beech forest".

Budou Japanese
From Japanese 武 (bu) meaning "military, martial" combined with 堂 (dou) meaning "temple, shrine" or from 武道 (budou) meaning "Japanese martial arts".

Buglass English
Possibly from the Booklawes region near Melrose, Roxburgshire, originally spelt "Buke-Lawes" (lit. "buck/stag" combined with "low ground"); otherwise from the Gaelic words buidhe - "yellow" and glas - "green".

Buisson French, Haitian Creole (Rare)
Topographic name for someone who lived in an area of scrub land or by a prominent clump of bushes from (Old) French buisson "bush scrub" (a diminutive of bois "wood"); or a habitational name from (Le) Buisson the name of several places in various parts of France named with this word.

Buitenhuis Dutch
Means "outside the house", derived from Dutch buiten meaning "outside, out of, in the country" and huis meaning "house".

Bukhari Arabic, Urdu
Indicated a person from the city of Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan, itself possibly derived from Sogdian βuxārak meaning "place of good fortune".

Bukit Indonesian
Means "hill" in Indonesian.

Bulstrode English
Locational surname referring to the medieval village of Bulstrode in Berkshire. ... [more]

Bumpus English
(i) from a medieval nickname for a vigorous walker (from Old French bon "good" + pas "pace"); (ii) perhaps "person who lives by a place through which travel is easy" (from Old French bon "good" + pas "passage")

Buquid Filipino, Tagalog
From Tagalog bukid meaning "farm, field, countryside".

Burbidge Anglo-Saxon
This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a dialectal variant of the locational surname, deriving from any of the places called "Burbage", in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Wiltshire... [more]

Burchell English
An English surname derived from the village of Birkehill (also known as Biekel or Birtle). It means "birch hill".

Burdon English
From 'bur' meaning "fort" and 'don' meaning "hill"

Burger English, German, Dutch
Status name for a freeman of a borough. From Middle English burg, Middle High German burc and Middle Dutch burch "fortified town". Also a German habitational name for someone from a place called Burg.

Burgio Italian
Denoting someone from a town of the same name, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "high, lofty", possibly by way of Arabic بُرْج (burj) "tower", German burg "castle, fortification; settlement", French bourg "burg, market town", or Latin burgus "watchtower, fortified town".

Burgmeier German
Occupational name for the tenant farmer of an estate belonging to a castle or fortified town, from Middle High German burc "(fortified) town, castle" and meier "tenant farmer" (see Meyer 1).

Burkhalter German
Topographic name composed of the Middle High German elements burc "castle" "protection" and halter from halde "slope".

Burley English
English habitation name from the elements burh meaning "stronghold or fortified settlement" and leah meaning "field or clearing".

Burr English, Scottish, German
Nickname for a person who is difficult to shake off, derived from Middle English burr meaning "bur" (a seedhead that sticks to clothing). It could also be a derivation from Old English bur meaning "small dwelling, building", or a German topographic name derived from burre meaning "mound, hill"... [more]

Burridge English
Derived from an English place name, derived from Old English burg "fortress, fortification, castle" and Old English hrycg, Old Norse hryggr "ridge" or from the name Burgric.

Burroughs English
Topographic name for someone who lived by a hill or tumulus, Old English "beorg", a cognate of Old High German berg "hill", ‘mountain’ (see Berg). This name has become confused with derivatives of Old English burh ‘fort’ (see Burke)... [more]

Busby English
Habitational name from a place in North Yorkshire, recorded in Domesday Book as Buschebi, from Old Norse buskr "bush, shrub" or an Old Norse personal name Buski and býr "homestead, village", or from some other place so called.

Buschiazzo Italian
It's a surname in northern Italy (Piedmont). It emerges from the German spelling Bosch or Busch and this means "forest" or "wooded area".

Bushida Japanese
Bushi means "warrior, samurai" and da is a form of ta meaning "rice paddy, wilderness, field".

Bustamante Spanish
Habitational name for someone originally from the town of Bustamante in Cantabria, Spain, derived from Latin bustum Amantii meaning "pasture of Amantius".

Butera Italian
Means “vineyard” or “grapevine” in Italian.

Butsuen Japanese (Rare)
From Japanese 仏 (butsu) meaning "Buddha, Buddhism" and 園 (en) meaning "garden; park", referring to a Buddhist-style garden.

Buxton English
1. A habitational name for someone from Buxton in Derbyshire, from the Middle English Buchestanes or Bucstones (meaning "bowing stones"), from Old English būgan meaning "to bow" and stanes, meaning "stones".... [more]

Byam English
Probably means "person from Bytham", Lincolnshire ("homestead in a valley bottom"). Glen Byam Shaw (1904-1986) was a British theatre director.

Byberg Norwegian, Swedish (Rare)
Combination of Swedish and Norwegian by "village" and berg "mountain".

Bylin Swedish
A combination of Swedish by "village" and the suffix -in, derived from Latin -inus, -inius "descendant of"

Bylund Swedish
Combination of Swedish by "village" and lund "grove".

Byre English
Probably derived from Old English bȳre "farm, barn".

Byron English
An English place name, earlier Byram, from byre, meaning "farm" and the suffix -ham meaning "homestead". Famously borne by the aristocratic poet, Lord Byron.

Bystedt Swedish
A combination of Swedish by "village" and German stedt "home, place".

Cabatuan Filipino, Cebuano
Derived from Cebuano kabatoan meaning "rocky area, rocky place".

Caccavale Italian
Possibly a combination of cacare "to shit" and vale "valley".

Cadafalch Catalan
Derived from Catalan cadafal meaning "burial mound" or "platform, stage", ultimately from Latin catafalicum meaning "scaffold, wooden siege tower, catafalque". A famous bearer was the Catalan architect and politician Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956).

Caderas Romansh
Derived from Romansh casa "house" and dera "free area".

Çağlayan Turkish
Means "waterfall, cascade" in Turkish.

Cairns Scottish
From Gaelic carn "cairn", a topographic name for someone who lived by a cairn, i.e. a pile of stones raised as a boundary marker or a memorial.

Caithness Scottish
Anglicized form of Scottish-Gaelic Gallaibh, which means "among the strangers" (referring to the Norse). The name of the Catti survives in the Gaelic name for eastern Sutherland, Cataibh, and in the old Gaelic name for Shetland, Innse Chat... [more]

Calasso Italian
Possibly from the given name Galasso, or from the dialectical word cala "cove, inlet, creek".

Calcaterra Italian
Nickname from calcare meaning "to tread", "to stamp" + terra meaning "land", "earth", "ground", probably denoting a short person, someone who walked close to the ground, or an energetic walker.

Camantigue Filipino, Tagalog
From Tagalog kamantigi meaning "garden balsam (a type of plant)".

Camden English
From a place name perhaps derived from Old English camp meaning "enclosure" and denu meaning "valley".

Campagna Italian
Name for someone originally from any of various locations named Campagna, all derived from Latin Campania, itself from campus meaning "field".

Campus Spanish
Derived from the Latin word campus, meaning "field". It denoted someone who either lived in a field or worked in one.

Canizales Spanish (Latin American)
This surname came from around the beginnings of 1800 in south regions of Colombia where sugar cane was cultivated. It's a variation of Cañizales, that literally means "sugar cane fields".

Cant English
Means "singer in a chantry chapel", or from a medieval nickname for someone who was continually singing (in either case from Old Northern French cant "song").

Canteloup French
Name of several places in France. The surname means "Song of the Wolf" from canta and loup as in "place where the wolves howl".

Canterbury English
Habitational name from Canterbury in Kent, named in Old English as Cantwaraburg "fortified town (burgh) of the people (wara) of Kent".

Caplin English
Means "singer in a chantry chapel" (from Old Northern French capelain, a variant of standard Old French chapelain (cf. Chaplin)).

Carballeira Galician
From Galician meaning "oak grove".

Cardwell English
From the traditionally British surname, which is a variant of the British surname Caldwell, a from the Old English cald "cold" and well(a) "spring, stream".

Carisbrook English
Carisbrooke is a village on the Isle of Wight; the name is thought to mean "Carey's brook". When in 1917 the British royal family changed its name from the "House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha" to the "House of Windsor" and renounced all German titles, the title of Marquess of Carisbrooke was created for the erstwhile German Prince Alexander of Battenberg.

Carlberg Swedish
Combination of the given name Carl or Swedish karl "man", and berg "mountain".

Carlström Swedish
Combination of the given name Carl and Swedish ström (Old Norse straumr) meaning "stream".

Carrasquillo Spanish
The surname Carrasquillo is of Spanish origin and it is derived from the word "carrasca" which means "holm oak". Therefore, the name roughly translates to "a place where there are holm oaks".

Carraway English (British)
The name Carraway belongs to the early history of Britain, and its origins lie with the Anglo-Saxons. It is a product of one having lived on a road near a field or piece of land that was triangular in shape... [more]

Carrender English (American)
Probably from Scottish kerr meaning "rough, wet ground" combined with ender (possibly related to the end of something). It probably denoted someone who lived between rough, wet ground and normal ground.

Cartagena Spanish
From the name of the city of Cartagena in southeastern Spain, derived from Latin Carthāgō Nova meaning "New Carthage" (ultimately derived from Phonecian qrt-ḥdšt meaning "new city").

Cartmell English
Denoted a person from Cartmel, a village in Cumbria, England (formerly in Lancashire). It is the site of a famous priory, inland from Cartmel Sands. The place name is derived from Old Norse kartr meaning "rocky ground" and melr meaning "sandbank".