WittgensteinGerman, Jewish Denoted one who came from the Wittgenstein castle in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, derived from Old High German witt meaning "white" and stein meaning "stone"... [more]
WojtyłaPolish Derived from a diminutive of the given name Wojciech. It was the surname of Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920-2005), the pope John Paul II.
WorkmanEnglish Ostensibly an occupational name for a laborer, derived from Middle English work and man. According to a gloss, the term was used in the Middle Ages to denote an ambidextrous person, and the surname may also be a nickname in this sense.
WunderlichGerman A nickname for an eccentric or moody person, derived from the word wunderlich meaning "whimsical" in German.
WünscheGerman Probably denoted a person from Wendland, a region in Germany on the borders of the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Alternatively, the name could have been derived from Wendling, a municipality in the Grieskirchen District, Upper Austria, Austria.
WuttkeGerman Originally denoted a person from Wutike, a district near the town of Neuruppin in Brandenburg, Germany.
ZimbalistJewish Occupational name for a cymbalist or a dulcimer player, particularly the cimbalom, derived from Yiddish tsimbl meaning "dulcimer, cimbalom, cymbal". The American actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (1918-2014) was a famous bearer of this surname.
ZloczowerPolish, Jewish Denoted a person from Zolochiv (known as Złoczów in Polish), a small city in the Lviv Oblast of Ukraine.
ZsigmondyHungarian Derived from the given name Zsigmond. The Austrian-born chemist Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (1865-1929), together with the German physicist Henry Siedentopf, invented the ultramicroscope... [more]