DanzGerman Derived from a given name, a short form of the name Tandulf, the origins of which are uncertain. (In some cases, however, this surname may have originated as a nickname denoting a person who liked to dance, from the Middle High German word tanz, danz "dance".)
DanzaItalian Probably a habitational name from a place in Salerno, Italy. In the case of American actor Tony Danza, it’s a shortened form of Iadanza, used as a stage name.
DanzaItalian Means "dance" in Italian, a nickname for a dancer. Alternatively, it could derive from an Italian form of the given name Abundantius.
DänzerGerman Occupational name for a professional acrobat or entertainer; variant of Tanzer.
DanzigGerman Denoted a person who was from the city of Gdańsk, Poland (called Danzig in German).
ĐàoVietnamese Vietnamese form of Tao, from Sino-Vietnamese 陶 (đào).
D'aoustFrench D'Aoust, denotes someone from Aoust(e) in France. Aouste is situated in the Ardennes department (Champagne-Ardenne region) in the north-east of France at 29 km from Charleville-Mézières, the department capital... [more]
Da PalestrinaItalian, History Means "of Palestrina" in Italian, an Italian commune near Rome, derived from an Italian form of Latin Praenesteus or Praeneste, both of uncertain meaning. a famous bearer of the surname was the Italian late Renaissance composer GiovanniPierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594).
DapperDutch Nickname from dapper meaning ‘brave, gallant’ in Dutch. Famous bearers of this surname include the American actor and model Marco Dapper (1983-), and Dutch physician and writer Olfert Dapper (1636-1689).
Da PraItalian A topographic name for someone from a meadow, from the northern variant of "prato" (meadow).
DarabontHungarian, Romanian Occupational name meaning "guardsman" in Hungarian, ultimately derived from French brabançon. The American movie director Frank Darabont (1959-) is a famous bearer of this name.
DardenEnglish A habitation name in Northumberland of uncertain origin.
DareEnglish This interesting surname has two possible derivations. Firstly, it may derive from the Olde English pre-7th Century personal name "Deora", Middle English "Dere", which is in part a short form of various compound names with the first element "deor", dear, and in part a byname meaning "Beloved"... [more]
DarlingtonEnglish From Old English Dearthington believed to be the settlement of Deornoth's people (unclear root + ing a family group + ton an enclosed farm or homestead).
DarmadiChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Huo (霍) or Wang (汪). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
DarmawanChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Chen (陳), Guo (郭) or Huang (黃). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
DarmonJudeo-Spanish From the name of the Dharmon branch of the Berber tribe of Haouara, which historically roamed parts of Libya and Tunisia.
DarmsRomansh Derived from the preposition de "of" and the surname Arms.
Da RosaPortuguese Literally means "of the rose" in Portuguese. It is generally a component of personal names; among women, it is a Marian name; among men, it is of uncertain application.
DarskiPolish Last name of Adam "Nergal" Darski of the blackened death metal band Behemoth.
D'artagnanFrench, Literature Surname given to a person from Artagnan, France. It is also used by Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, the captain of the Musketeers from the novel, "The Three Musketeers".
DaskalakisGreek Comes from the Greek root word of "Daskalalos" (Δάσκαλος) that means "teacher", with the adittion of the ending "akis" (ακης) that usually shows a connection with the island of Crete
DaugaardDanish Danish name element gård "farmstead, yard" combined with prefix dau of unknown origin. ... [more]
DaughtryEnglish, Norman English (of Norman origin) habitational name, with fused French preposition d(e), for someone from Hauterive in Orne, France, named from Old French haute rive ‘high bank’ (Latin alta ripa).
D'aurevalleFrench (Archaic) This medieval surname literally means "from Aurevalle". Aurevalle can refer to any of the three French communes that are nowadays known by the more modern spelling Orival. All of them ultimately derive their name from Latin aurea vallis meaning "golden vale" or "golden valley".
D'aurevilleFrench This surname literally means "from Aureville". Aureville is a commune in southwestern France, which was established in late medieval times. It derives its name from Latin aurea villa or villa aurea which literally means "golden country-house, golden farm" but of course later came to mean "golden village".
D'aurevillyFrench Variant form of D'aureville. A known bearer of this name was the French novelist Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-1889).
DauteriveFrench Originally denoted a person hailing from any of the various places in France called Hauterive. This surname is no longer found in France. A famous fictional bearer is the character Bill Dauterive from the American animated series King of the Hill, starting 1997.
DavenportEnglish Habitational name from a town in Cheshire named Davenport, from the Dane river (apparently named with a Celtic cognate of Middle Welsh dafnu "drop, trickle") and Old English port "port, haven, harbour town".
DaveyEnglish, Welsh Derived from the given name David. Alternately, it may be a variant spelling of Welsh Davies or Davis, which could be patronymic forms of David, or corrupted forms of Dyfed, an older Welsh surname and the name of a county in Wales.
DawlingEnglish Derived from the Old English given name Dealing, or possibly from Middle English Daulin, a rhyming pet form of Rawlin which is a medieval diminutive of Roul.
DayleyEnglish English surname of Norman origin derived from the Norman preposition de for someone from any of numerous places in Northern France called Ouilly.
DaysWelsh Patronymic from the personal name Dai, a pet form of Dafydd, with the redundant addition of the English patronymic suffix -s.
DazaSpanish, South American Derived from the Basque word dazio meaning "tax". It is a surname that is typically associated with the region of Navarre in Spain.
D’bailleuPicard This indicates familial origin within the commune of Bailleu.
De AnzaBasque (Hispanicized, Rare) An extremely rare surname of Basque origin. From Basque anza which refers to a pasture in the dwarf trees with the Spanish prefix de meaning "from".
DearbornEnglish The surname Dearborn was first found in Surrey where the family trace their lineage back to Abernon listed in the Domesday Book having sprung from the fief of that name in Normandy. ... [more]
De AssisPortuguese Referred to a person who was originally from the town of Assisi (called Assis in Portuguese) in Umbria, Italy. This surname is borne by several Brazilian soccer players, including Ronaldinho (1980-; birth name Ronaldo de Assis Moreira) and João Alves de Assis Silva (1987-), who is usually called simply Jô... [more]
De AthEnglish Probably a deliberate respelling of Death (i), intended to distance the name from its original signification.
DeathEnglish Originally indicated a person who played the personification of death in a play or pageant, from Old English deaþ. Famous bearers of the name include Australian rugby player Jason Death (b. 1971) and English footballer Steve Death (1949-2003).
DebarrosPortuguese Portuguese: habitational name for someone ‘from (de) Barros’, of which there are numerous examples, all named from the plural of barro ‘clay’.
DebeauFrench, English (British), History Nickname from le beau ‘the handsome’, a variant of Beau, with fused masculine definite article le. It is also found in England, as a surname of Huguenot origin... [more]
DebleEnglish This surname is of French derivation and was introduced to Britain by the Normans. It has two possible derivations, the first from the Roman (Latin) 'debil-is', which means literally "poorly" or "weak", and may have been a metonymic for a doctor or healer, whilst the second possible origin is a nickname derivation from the old French 'Theodore' to Tibald and Tibble or Dibble, Deble.
DebloisFrench French surname meaning "From Blois", a town in Mid-Western France. The origins of the surname started back in the 1600s when a man named Grégoire Guérard traveled to Flanders (Now Belgium) and immigrated to New France (Now Canada) in 1658... [more]
De BoisArthurian Cycle Possible form of the French surname Dubois. This is the last name of Prince Arthur's mother Ygraine de Bois in the series Merlin.
De BoonDutch Variant of Boon with the etymological element De, literally 'of (a family called) Boon'.
De BrazzaItalian Denoted someone who lived in Brač, an island off the coast in Dalmatia, from Italian Brazza "Brač". The famous bearer of this surname was an Italian-French explorer Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza (1852-1905).
De BruynAfrikaans "Bruyn" is an archaic spelling of "bruin", meaning "brown"
DebsFrench From the given name Debus, a variant of Thebs or Thebus, which was an altered short form of Mattheus. This was borne by American union leader Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926).
DeburauCzech (Gallicized) Gallicized form of Dvořák. Jean-Gaspard Deburau, born as Jan Kašpar Dvořák (1796-1846), was a Bohemian-French mime. He performed from 1816 to the year of his death at the Théâtre des Funambules, which was immortalized in Marcel Carné's poetic-realist film Children of Paradise.
DebussyFrench Means 'from Bussy'—the place name 'Bussy' refers to several communes in France. Variants include De Bussy and Bussy.... [more]
DebyeDutch Variant of De Bie. A notable bearer of the surname was the Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist Peter Debye (1884-1966), born Petrus Debije.
DecaturDutch Variant spelling of De Caters. A notable bearer was Stephen Decatur (1779-1820), an American naval officer and commodore during the War of 1812, the Barbary Wars and the Quasi-War.
DecazesFrench The surname Decazes was first found in Gascony (French: Gascogne), an area of southwest France bordering Spain, that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution, where the family held a family seat in ancient times.... [more]
De ClareEnglish, Anglo-Norman From the town of Clare in Suffolk, which was the centre-point of lands given to Richard fitz Gilbert after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066... [more]
De ClermontFrench Means "of the bright hill" from the French de meaning "of" and clair, cler 'bright', 'clear' + mont 'hill'
DecurtinsRomansh Derived from the preposition de "of" and Romansh curtin "garden".
De CurtisItalian Originally denoting someone who was short, or came from a family of short people. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian actor Antonio "Totò" De Curtis (1898–1967).
De DrumonMedieval Scottish This name appears carved on the tomb of "Jonnes de Drumon". This is said to be the earliest known written example of the Scottish surname Drummond. We believe that de Drumon could have been costal French or Belgium... [more]
DedualRomansh Derived from the preposition de "of" and the surname Dual.
DeeEnglish, Scottish From the name of any of various rivers in England and Scotland named Dee, itself derived from Celtic dewos meaning "god, deity".
DeesIrish The surname Dees refers to the grandson of Deaghadh (good luck); dweller near the Dee River; one with a dark or swarthy complexion. Also considered of Welsh origin.
DeetzGerman (Americanized), German Either an Americanized form of German Dietz or a North German surname which is ultimately derived from the same source (from an old personal name formed with Old High German diota "people, nation")... [more]
DefeoItalian This surname is well known in popular culture as the surname of Ronald Defeo who murdered his family in the 1970s while they lived in Amittyville, NY. The surname may mean “Of Ugly”.
DefilaRomansh Derived from the preposition de "of" and the given name Fila.
DefilippoItalian The Italian surname De Filippo is a patronymic name created from the first name of a male ancestor. As a first name, it is derived from the Latin "Philippus,". This name is composed of the element "philos" which means "friend," and "hippos," meaning "horse.
DeforgeFrench This is a surname of French origins. Introduced into England after the famous Invasion and Conquest of 1066, it is residential, but also possibly occupational. It is a surname which in its different forms is widely recorded heraldically, and particularly in the French regions of Brittany and Normandy... [more]
DefraiaItalian From an archaic Sardinian term, possibly meaning "factory", or from an alteration of frai "brother". Alternately, may mean "from Fraia", a settlement in Italy.
De GeerDutch, Swedish Derived from the town of Geer near Liège, Belgium. The town lies along the course of the river Jeker, which is called Geer in French. Alternatively, it could derive from Dutch geer "wedge-shaped piece of land".
De GeusDutch Means "the beggar" in Dutch, derived from French geaux "beggar, poor", itself from Middle Dutch guyte "rascal, rogue, vagabond, freeloader". In many instances, this surname would derive from an association with the Geuzen ("The Beggars"), a group of Dutch rebels opposing Spanish rule in the Netherlands.
De GoeijDutch From Dutch goei meaning "good", making this a cognate of Good. A famous bearer is the retired Dutch soccer goalkeeper Eduard de Goeij (1966-), better known as Ed de Goey.
De GoeyDutch Variant of De Goeij. Famous bearers of this name include former Dutch soccer goalkeeper Ed de Goey (1966-) and Australian rules footballer Jordan De Goey (1996-).
De GraaffDutch Variant spelling of De Graaf "the count", an occupational name for someone who worked for a count, or perhaps a nickname for someone who behaved like one.
De GroeveFlemish Etymology uncertain. Possibly a habitational name from any of several places called De Groeve, derived from groeve "quarry, pit; excavated watercourse"... [more]
De La ChaumetteFrench Name for someone from one of several places in central France named La Chaumette; or someone who lived on a chaumette, a high, arid plateau with little vegetation. The term is a diminutive of chaume "bare land", from a specialized sense of Latin calmus "calm, unruffled".
DelacourtFrench Denoting someone who lived or worked at a manorial court a courtly retainer. Derived from French de la meaning "of the" or "from the" and court meaning "court, yard".
DelafoyFrench From Old French de la foy meaning "of the faith". This is probably a name given to a cleric or a very pious person among the French Catholics.
De La HalleFrench Means "of the hall" or "of the covered market" in French, from French halle "hall, covered market". Adam de la Halle (1245-1306) was a French poet-composer trouvère, widely considered as both a conservative and progressive composer.
DelahayeFrench, Walloon Variant with fused preposition de "from" of Lahaye. This surname is also found in the Flemish part of Belgium.
DelahuntIrish Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dulchaointigh meaning "descendant of a satirist", from Irish dul "going, to go" or "satirist" and cainteach "talkative, chatty" or "plaintive, sad".