This is a list of submitted surnames in which the description contains the keywords ruler or of or water.
Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
MuffettScottish A different form of Moffatt. 'Little Miss Muffett' is a traditional nursery rhyme: Little Miss Muffett / Sat on a tuffet, / Eating her curds and whey; / There came a big spider, / Who sat down beside her / And frightened Miss Muffet away. It has been speculated that 'Miss Muffett' is Patience Muffet, the daughter of the physician and entomologist Dr Thomas Muffet (1553-1604).
MughalUrdu Means "Mughal, Moghul" in Urdu, derived from Persian مغول (moghul) meaning "Mongol". This was the name of the dynasty (of Mongol origin) that ruled much of South Asia from the 16th to 19th centuries.
MuirScottish Topographic name for someone who lived on a moor, from a Scots form of Middle English more moor, fen.
MuisDutch, Indonesian From Dutch muis meaning "mouse". Could be a nickname denoting someone with mouse-like tendencies, or who caught mice, or a short form of the given name Bartholomeus.
MukushinaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 無垢 (muku) meaning "spiritual purity; freedom from desire or aversion" and 品 (shina), a clipping of 九品 (kokonoshina) meaning "the 9 Stages in Life (in Buddhism)".
MulcasterEnglish (Modern) The surname Mulcaster was first found in Cumberland where they trace their lineage back to the place name Muncaster, home of Muncaster Castle, a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, near the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria which dates back at least 800 years.
MulkerinIrish The Irish surname Mulkerin is an anglicied rendering of the Gaelic surname O'Maoilchiarain which means ,literally, "descendant of a follower of Saint Ciaran", the Irish saint who founded the great monastery at Clonmacnois... [more]
MullScottish Scottish, Irish, or English: Probably comes from the Scots language, as the Scots word for "headland" or comes from the geographical term, which is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Maol, a term for a rounded hill, summit, or mountain bare of trees... [more]
MullarkeyIrish From Irish Gaelic Ó Maoilearca "descendent of the follower of (St) Earc", a personal name meaning literally either "speckled one" or "salmon".
MüllerleileGerman Derived from Middle High German mülnære, müller meaning "miller" (see Müller), and the German given names Lawlin, Lauwelin and Lawelin, medieval diminutives of Nikolaus.
MullinixFrench A locational name "of de Moloneaux" probably from the noble family who trace their descent from William the Conqueror, from Molineaux-sur-Seine, near Rouen. The name came to England during the wake of the Norman Conquest... [more]
MultatuliDutch From the Latin phrase multa tulī meaning "I have suffered much" or "I have borne much". This was the pen name of the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), who wrote Max Havelaar, which denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies, now called Indonesia... [more]
MulvaneyIrish From Ó Maoilmheana meaning "descendant of Maoilmhaena."
MulveyIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maoilmhiadhaigh "descendant of Maoilmhiadhach", a personal name meaning "honorable chief".
MulvihillIrish Anglicized from Gaelic Ó Maoil Mhichíl meaning "descendant of Maoilmhichil", Maoilmhichil being a personal name meaning "devotee of (Saint) Michael", referring to the archangel.
MunchDanish, French, Norwegian (Rare) Either a variant of Münch or Munk, both meaning "monk". A notable bearer was Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), whose best known work is 'The Scream'.
MundakaBasque (Rare) From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Spain, of uncertain etymology. A popular theory is that it derives from Latin munda aqua "clean water", but there is no evidence to support this origin... [more]
MundenEnglish From the name of a parish in Hertfordshire, England.
MunevarColombian I actually don't know its orgin, just the meaning and that I have it.... [more]
MungChin From a part of a Chin masculine compound personal name of unexplained meaning.
MungarayApache, Spanish (Mexican) Very rare Apache name give to the Apache still in Mexico. We are decents of victorio and the local spa is/ Mexicans gave us this name that we still carry today.
MungiaBasque From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, possibly derived from the personal name Munio combined with the locative suffix -(t)egi.
MunkGerman, Scandinavian, Dutch, English From Middle High German münich Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish munk Middle Dutch munc "monk" a nickname for someone thought to resemble a monk or a metonymic occupational name for someone in the service of a monastery... [more]
MunkdahlSwedish (Rare) Perhaps derived from the name of the municipality and locality Munkedal in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. If that's the case, then the first element is Swedish munk "monk" and the second element is dal "valley"... [more]
MunnScottish, English Variant form of McMunn. In English, it is a nickname or an occupational name for a person who worked for monks, derived from Anglo-Norman French moun meaning "monk" (see Monk).
MunshiUrdu, Bengali Derived from Persian منشی (monshi) meaning "secretary, teacher, writer", ultimately of Arabic origin.
MünsterGerman, Dutch habitational name from any of the places called Münster (in Germany) or Munster derived from Latin monasterium "monastery" or a topographic name for someone living near a monastery.
Muravyov-AmurskyRussian (Rare) Combination of surname Muravyov and Amursky. The famous bearer of this surname is Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, who played a major role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into the Amur River basin and to the shores of the Sea of Japan.
MurchieEnglish (American, Anglicized), English (British, Anglicized) "Murchie" comes from the personal name "Murdo". The Scottish Gaelic form of the surname was "Mac Mhurchaidh", meaning son of "Murdo". The name "Murdo" is equivalent to "Murdock", and means sea warrior.
MurchisonEnglish (American) May be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic "Mac Mhurchaidh" meaning "Son of Sea Warrior"
MurdickScottish Most likely a derivative of Murdock, or Murdoch. Historical documentation, as late as the mid-1800's refer to my ancestors as Murdock, but can also reference the surname of Murdick - even, on occasion, in the same document... [more]
MurdveeEstonian Murdvee is an Estonian surname meaning "break water".
MurilloSpanish Habitational name for someone from any of various locations called Murillo, so named from a diminutive of Spanish muro meaning "wall".
MurkowskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Murkowo.
MurlandIrish Murland is an Irish surname, which according to MacLysaght's The Surnames of Ireland is MacMurghalain in Gaelic, ultimately deriving from words meaning "sea" and "valor".
MusickPolish This Polish and Czech surname was a name of two-fold origin. It was a name given to a peasant or vassal and was also a nickname from the Polish word 'musiec' meaning 'must'. It appears that the name derived from someone who had to take orders, perhaps from an overseer or lord of the manor.
MussertDutch Dutch cognate of Mussett. This name was borne by the infamous Nazi politician Anton Mussert (1894-1946), the leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) during World War II.
MussoItalian Nickname for someone with some peculiarity of the mouth.
MustonEnglish Habitational name from places so named, from Old English mus "mouse", or must, "muddy stream or place" combined with tun "enclosure, settlement". Another explanation could be that the first element is derived from an old Scandinavian personal name, Músi (of unknown meaning), combined with tun.
MutamboLuba It means "forest" in Songye and Tshiluba, but can also mean "supreme ruler" in Tshiluba.
MutiaEastern African, Maasai A Kenyan Maasai surname known mostly in the West as the name of a certain fictitious escarpment, which appears infrequently in old Tarzan Films.
MuvazaDungan From the first part of the given name Muhammad and Chinese 娃子 (wázi), a dialectal term meaning "(small) child".
MuxikaBasque From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Coincides with, or possibly derives from, the Basque word muxika meaning "peach".
MyattEnglish From the medieval personal name Myat, literally "little Mihel", an Anglo-Norman variant of Michael.
MycroftEnglish From Old English ġemȳþ "mouth (of a river)" + croft meaning "enclosed field", originally denoting somebody who lives at the mouth of a river.... [more]
MyōchinJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 明珍 (myōchin), the 2 characters used in 明らかに珍しい (akiraka ni mezurashii) meaning "evidently rare". This is from the event in the Heian Period, of an armorer who created an armor that was then praised by Emperor Konoe... [more]
MyungKorean Korean form of Ming, from Sino-Korean 明 (myeong).
NaKorean There is only one Chinese character for the Na surname. Some sources indicate that there are 46 different Na clans, but only two of them can be documented, and it is believed that these two sprang from a common founding ancestor... [more]
NabbEnglish (British), Scottish (Anglicized) English (Lancashire): topographic name for someone who lived by a nab, Middle English nabbe ‘hillock, knoll’ (Old Norse nabbi ‘projecting peak, hill’), or a habitational name from any of the many minor places in northern and eastern England named with this word, for example Whalley Nab in Blackburn (Lancashire), Nab Scar in Rydal (Westmorland), and The Nab in Burgh Saint Margaret (Norfolk).... [more]
NachtriebGerman It possibly comes from the German name of a nachtrab, which is a "night bird like the owl". Another possible meaning is "night tribe".
NacrourArabic The name of a family of Lebanese goldsmiths descended from the Ottoman Prince Hanna, the name itself refers to the actual sound the hammer makes as it hits the gold. This is the French spelling but the original Arabic spelling is äÞÑæÑ ; other spellings in the Latin alphabet include Nakrour and Nacrur.
NadelGerman, Jewish Metonymic occupational name for a maker of needles, or in some cases for a tailor, from Middle High German nadel(e), German Nadel "needle".
NaegiJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 苗木 with 苗 (byou, myou, nae, nawa-) meaning "sapling, seedling, shoot" and 木 (boku, moku, ki, ko-) meaning "tree, wood."... [more]
NaeshiroJapanese The meaning of Naeshiro/苗代 equals to "Seedling Substitute"
NagatoJapanese (Rare) There might be different readings, but one is Naga meaning "chief" and to meaning "gate".... [more]
NagavekarIndian Of Indian origin, specifically from the Konkan region of Maharashtra. The name is derived from the words "nagav" which means cobra and "kar" meaning owner, thus Nagavekar means "owner of cobras" in English... [more]
NagórnyRussian, Polish, Ukrainian Place name for someone from multiple cites of Russia named Nagornoye and Nagorny, itself derived from the The prefix Nagorno- that derives from the Russian attributive adjective nagorny (нагорный), which means "highland".
NaharArabic Means “river” or “canal”. It is likely that individuals with this last name come from a family with a history or connection to water or irrigation systems.
NahasapeemapetilonPopular Culture Borne by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a fictional character from the television series 'The Simpsons' (1989-). According to the show's sources, the character is meant to be of Bengali Indian origin.
NaiduIndian The surname Naidu occurs in communities of Andhra Pradesh. It is composed of a stem word ‘naya’, which means leader or chief. The suffix ‘du’ is a third person masculine suffix in Telegu.
NaimanUkrainian, Jewish Before Genghis Khan conquered the world, he conquered his neighbors, and his last great victory, in 1204, was over a tribe of Turkic Christians called the Naiman. (Some Naimans today are Christian but most are Jewish.)... [more]
NainggolanBatak From the name of a village located on the island of Samosir in Lake Toba (itself on the island of Sumatra).
NairIndian, Malayalam From Nair, the name of a group of Hindu castes concentrated in the Indian state of Kerala. The origin of the word itself is somewhat disputed. Some believe it is derived from nayaka, an honorific meaning "leader of the people", while another theory suggests that is is derived from the Sanskrit नाग (nāgá) "snake, serpent" (a reference to the practice of snake worship)... [more]