GillardEnglish English from a pejorative derivative of the personal name Giles.
GillardEnglish, French, Swiss English and French from an assimilated form of the personal name Gislehard, a compound of Old High German gisel ‘hostage’, ‘pledge’, ‘noble youth’ (see Giesel) + hard ‘hardy’... [more]
GilliardFrench, Swiss French and Swiss French from a derivative of Gillier, from the Germanic personal name Giselher, composed of gisil ‘hostage’, ‘pledge’, ‘noble offspring’ (see Giesel) + heri ‘army’.
GognonFrench, Occitan Nickname for an aggressive or belligerent man, from Old French Gagnon ‘ mastiff’, ‘guard dog’. Possibly from Occitan ganhon ‘young pig’, applied as an offensive nickname. See also Gonyeau.
GolanJewish Israeli ornamental name from the Golan Heights in Israel.
GoldwaterGerman (Anglicized), Jewish (Anglicized) This name is an Anglicized form of the German or Ashkenazic ornamental surname 'Goldwasser', or 'Goldvasser'. The name derives from the German or Yiddish gold', gold, with 'wasser', water, and is one of the very many such compound ornamental names formed with 'gold', such as 'Goldbaum', golden tree, 'Goldbert', golden hill, 'Goldkind', golden child, 'Goldrosen', golden roses, and 'Goldstern', golden star.
GolombJewish Ornamental name from Polish golab "dove" (from Latin columba "dove").
GonyeauFrench Respelling of French Gagnon, found predominantly in New England, possibly also of Gagneau, from a diminutive of Gagne.
GoodyMedieval English From Middle English god dai ‘good day’, possibly applied as a nickname for someone who frequently used this greeting.... [more]
GorenJewish Jewish (Ashkenazic) altered form of Horn (5), under Russian influence; since Russian has no h and alters h in borrowed words to g. In Israel the name has been reinterpreted by folk etymology as being from Hebrew goren 'threshing floor', which is in fact etymologically and semantically unrelated.
GothamEnglish English: habitational name from Gotham in Nottinghamshire, so named from Old English gat ‘goat’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘water meadow’.
GradenScottish Habitational name from the lands of Graden in Berwickshire.
GrafJewish, Yiddish Ornamental name selected, like Herzog and other words denoting titles, because of their aristocratic connotations.
GrangeEnglish, French English and French topographic name for someone who lived by a granary, from Middle English, Old French grange (Latin granica ‘granary’, ‘barn’, from granum ‘grain’)... [more]
GrantaireLiterature This is the name of a minor character in Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862), a follower of the revolutionary Enjolras.
GrapeLow German Metonymic occupational name for a maker of metal or earthenware vessels, from Middle Low German grope "pot".
GrawertLow German, German (East Prussian) As a Low German name, Grawert is derived from Middle High German grā and Old High German grāo "gray" (originally "shimmery, gleaming"). As a surname, it was a nickname given to someone with gray hair.... [more]
GreeleyEnglish, Norman English (of Norman origin): nickname for someone with a pock-marked face, from Old Northern French greslé ‘pitted’, ‘scarred’ (from gresle ‘hailstone’, of Germanic origin).
GrunwaldGerman, German (Swiss), Jewish German and Swiss German (Grünwald): habitational name from any of various places named Grün(e)wald, from Middle High German gruene ‘green’ + walt ‘wood’, ‘forest’. ... [more]
GuàrdiaCatalan, Spanish, Italian Catalan, Spanish, and Italian from Catalan guàrdia, Spanish and Italian guardia ‘guard’, ‘watch’, a topographic name for someone who lived by a watch place, an occupational name for a member of the town guard, or a habitational name from any of the numerous places named (La) Guardia.
GuentherGerman German: from a Germanic personal name composed of gund ‘battle’ + hari, heri ‘army’.
GuidryFrench (Cajun), Louisiana Creole Derived from the given name Witeric. This surname is particularly associated with Cajuns in Louisiana, United States, who seem all to be descended from Claude Guédry dit Grivois, who arrived in Acadia before 1671.
GuitryFrench Derived from the given name Witeric. A famous bearer of this name was Sacha Guitry (1885-1957), a French actor, playwright, screenwriter and director.
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."
GustGerman German: from a short form of the personal name Jodocus, which is either a Latinized form of a Breton name, Iodoc, borne by a 7th-century Breton saint (compare Jost and Joyce) or from a reduced form of the personal name Augustus.... [more]
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]
GuttenbergGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of various places, for example in Bavaria, called Guttenberg, from the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of Old High German guot ‘good’ + berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’... [more]
HaddonEnglish Derived from the Old English word had meaning "heathland" and the Old English suffix -don meaning "hill"; hence, the "heathland hill" or the "heather-covered hill".... [more]
HaferGerman, Jewish Metonymic occupational name for a grower of or dealer in oats, from German Hafer "oats". Compare Haber. As a Jewish surname, it is in many cases ornamental.
HailesScottish, English Scottish habitational name from Hailes in Lothian, originally in East Lothian, named from the Middle English genitive or plural form of hall ‘hall’. ... [more]
HalliwellEnglish Derived from various place names in England named with Old English halig "holy" and well "spring, well".
HallowEnglish English: topographic name from Middle English hal(l)owes ‘nooks’, ‘hollows’, from Old English halh (see Hale). In some cases the name may be genitive, rather than plural, in form, with the sense ‘relative or servant of the dweller in the nook’.
HambergGerman, Danish, Jewish German, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name from any of several places named Hamberg. Jewish (Ashkenazic) variant of Hamburg.
HambergerGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name for someone from any of various places named Hamberg. Jewish (Ashkenazic) variant of Hamburger.
HamburgGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name from the great city and port at the mouth of the river Elbe, named with the Germanic elements ham ‘water meadow’ + burg ‘fortress’, ‘fortified town’.
HamburgerGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name for someone from Hamburg.
HamerEnglish, German From the town of Hamer in Lancashire from the old english word Hamor combining "Rock" and "Crag". It is also used in Germany and other places in Europe, possibly meaning a maker of Hammers.
HarbourEnglish Variant of French Arbour or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of a lodging house, from Old English herebeorg "shelter, lodging".
HarknessScottish, English (British), Northern Irish Apparently a habitational name from an unidentified place (perhaps in the area of Annandale, with which the surname is connected in early records), probably so called from the Old English personal name Hereca (a derivative of the various compound names with the first element here ‘army’) + Old English næss ‘headland’, ‘cape’... [more]
HarlessEnglish, German English: probably a variant spelling of Arliss, a nickname from Middle English earles ‘earless’, probably denoting someone who was deaf rather than one literally without ears.
HartwellEnglish Habitational name from places in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Staffordshire called Hartwell, from Old English heorot ‘stag’, ‘hart’ + wella ‘spring’, ‘stream’... [more]
HasleyEnglish Habitational name of uncertain origin. The surname is common in London, and may be derived from Alsa (formerly Assey) in Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex (recorded as Alsiesheye in 1268). nother possible source is Halsway in Somerset, named from Old English hals ‘neck’ + weg ‘way’, ‘road’.
HastingsEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hastings, a place in Sussex, on the south coast of England, near which the English army was defeated by the Normans in 1066. It is named from Old English H?stingas ‘people of H?sta’... [more]
HattendorfGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from places called Hattendorf, near Alsfeld and near Hannover. The element hatt, had means ‘bog’
HausGerman Topographic and occupational name for someone who lived and worked in a great house, from Middle High German, Middle Low German hus "house" (see House).
HauschGerman From the Germanic personal name Huso, a short form of a compound name composed with hus ‘house’, ‘dwelling’ as the first element.
HayEnglish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Frisian Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure, Middle English hay(e), heye(Old English (ge)hæg, which after the Norman Conquest became confused with the related Old French term haye ‘hedge’, of Germanic origin)... [more]
HayfordEnglish English habitational name from several places called Heyford in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, or Hayford in Buckfastleigh, Devon, all named with Old English heg ‘hay’ + ford ‘ford’.
HeathcoteEnglish English habitational name from any of various places called Heathcote, for example in Derbyshire and Warwickshire, from Old English h?ð ‘heathland’, ‘heather’ + cot ‘cottage’, ‘dwelling’.
HeddleEnglish Famous bearer is William Heddle Nash (1894-1961), the English lyric tenor.
HeilandGerman South German: from Middle High German heilant ‘savior’, ‘Christ’, presumably either a name given to someone who had played the part of Christ in a mystery play or an occupational name for a healer, from Middle High German heilen ‘to heal’, ‘save’.
HemsleyEnglish English: habitational name from either of two places in North Yorkshire called Helmsley. The names are of different etymologies: the one near Rievaulx Abbey is from the Old English personal name Helm + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’, whereas Upper Helmsley, near York, is from the Old English personal name Hemele + Old English eg ‘island’, and had the form Hemelsey till at least the 14th century
HenleyEnglish, Irish, German (Anglicized) English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Warwickshire, are named with Old English héan (the weak dative case of heah ‘high’, originally used after a preposition and article) + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’... [more]
HensleyEnglish Probably a habitational name from either of two places in Devon: Hensley in East Worlington, which is named with the Old English personal name Heahmund + Old English leah ‘(woodland) clearing’, or Hensleigh in Tiverton, which is named from Old English hengest ‘stallion’ (or the Old English personal name Hengest) + leah... [more]
HeritageEnglish (Rare) English status name for someone who inherited land from an ancestor, rather than by feudal gift from an overlord, from Middle English, Old French (h)eritage ‘inherited property’ (Late Latin heritagium, from heres ‘heir’).
HilliardEnglish English: from the Norman female personal name Hildiarde, Hildegard, composed of the Germanic elements hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’ + gard ‘fortress’, ‘stronghold’... [more]
HindEnglish, Scottish English (central and northern): nickname for a gentle or timid person, from Middle English, Old English hind ‘female deer’.... [more]
HindleyEnglish English (Lancashire): habitational name from a place near Manchester, so named from Old English hind ‘female deer’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
HolbrookEnglish, German (Anglicized) English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Derbyshire, Dorset, and Suffolk, so called from Old English hol ‘hollow’, ‘sunken’ + broc ‘stream’. ... [more]
HolladayEnglish English: from Old English haligdæg ‘holy day’, ‘religious festival’. The reasons why this word should have become a surname are not clear; probably it was used as a byname for one born on a religious festival day.
HoodEnglish, Scottish, Irish English and Scottish: metonymic occupational name for a maker of hoods or a nickname for someone who wore a distinctive hood, from Middle English hod(de), hood, hud ‘hood’. Some early examples with prepositions seem to be topographic names, referring to a place where there was a hood-shaped hill or a natural shelter or overhang, providing protection from the elements... [more]
HoughtonEnglish English habitational name from any of the various places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, get the name from Old English hoh ‘ridge’, ‘spur’ (literally ‘heel’) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’... [more]
HuntingtonEnglish English: habitational name from any of several places so called, named with the genitive plural huntena of Old English hunta ‘hunter’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’ or dun ‘hill’ (the forms in -ton and -don having become inextricably confused)... [more]
HurrellEnglish, Norman English (of Norman origin) from a derivative of Old French hurer ‘to bristle or ruffle’, ‘to stand on end’ (see Huron).
HutchinsEnglish Southern English patronymic from the medieval personal name Hutchin, a pet form of Hugh.
HuttonEnglish, Scottish Scottish and northern English habitational name from any of the numerous places so called from Old English hoh ‘ridge’, ‘spur’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.
HuxGerman Probably from a topographic name Huck or Hucks, of uncertain origin. It occurs in many place and field names.
IddendenEnglish (Rare) Iden as a village name is to be found in both the counties of Kent and Sussex, and describes a pasture, or strictly speaking an area within a marsh suitable for pasture. The origination is the pre 6th century phrase ig-denn with ig meaning an island... [more]
IretonEnglish Habitational name from either of two places in Derbyshire called Ireton, or one in North Yorkshire called Irton. All of these are named from the genitive case of Old Norse Íri ‘Irishmen’ (see Ireland) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.... [more]
IveyAnglo-Saxon, English Anglo-Saxon: Ivey is a variant of the Anglo-Saxon baptismal name Ive. It is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of "Son of Ive".... [more]
JavertLiterature The name of the policeman in Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables." His name was taken from the word Javert, which means "to pursue relentlessly."... [more]
JebsonEnglish Meaning "son of Jeb" of uncertain origin but likely English.
JenksEnglish, Welsh English (also found in Wales) patronymic from the Middle English personal name Jenk, a back-formation from Jenkin with the removal of the supposed Anglo-Norman French diminutive suffix -in.
JobEnglish, French, German, Hungarian English, French, German, and Hungarian from the personal name Iyov or Job, borne by a Biblical character, the central figure in the Book of Job, who was tormented by God and yet refused to forswear Him... [more]
JüngerGerman, Jewish German (Jünger) distinguishing name, from Middle High German jünger ‘younger’, for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, usually a son who bore the same name as his father... [more]
KanemotoJapanese Topographic name meaning ‘(one who lives) near where gold (or any metal) is found’. Found in the island of Okinawa, where it is variously written. ... [more]
KarélinRussian Altered spelling of Russian Karélin, ethnic name for someone from Karelia (see Karjala).
KareninaLiterature In Leo Tolstoy's novel 'Anna Karenina' (1877), this is the title character's surname, the feminine form of her husband's surname, Karenin.
KarjalaFinnish Finnish from karja ‘cattle’ + the local suffix -la, or possibly from a word of Germanic origin, harja- ‘host’, ‘crowd’, Old Swedish haer. Historic records suggest that the Germanic inhabitants of the area around Lake Ladoga (in present-day Russia) used this term to refer to the Finns who once lived there.
KärlinGerman German surname from the personal name Karl. Also an altered spelling of German Gerling.
KarlinJewish Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) habitational name for someone from Karlin, a suburb of Pinsk in Belarus, in which the Jews formed the majority of the population until the Holocaust. A well-known Hasidic sect originated in Karlin and at one time it attracted so many followers that a (now obsolete) Russian word for ‘Hasid’ was Karliner (of Yiddish origin)... [more]
KeelEnglish English habitational name from Keele in Staffordshire, named from Old English cy ‘cows’ + hyll ‘hill’, or from East and West Keal in Lincolnshire, which are named from Old Norse kjolr ‘ridge’... [more]
KelmGerman Germanized form of Polish Chelm ‘peak’, ‘hill’, a topographic name for someone who lived by a hill with a pointed summit, or habitational name from a city in eastern Poland or any of various other places named with this word.
KensitEnglish A surname of Old English, pre-7th-century origins. It derives from a locality, probably either Kingsettle in Somerset, which translates as "the seat of the King", and is believed to relate to Alfred the Great, or possibly Kingside in Cumberland, or to some now lost village or town with a similar spelling.
KeslerGerman, Dutch, Jewish It is an occupational name that means coppersmith. In alpine countries the name derived from the definition: the one living in the basin of a valley.
KhamwaenThai From Thai คำ (kham) meaning "gold" and แหวน (waen) meaning "ring".
KicklighterAmerican Americanized spelling of German Kückleiter, literally ‘chicken ladder’, probably a nickname for a chicken farmer.
KiehlMedieval Low German From Middle Low German kil ‘wedge’, applied as a metonymic occupational name or as a pejorative nickname for a ruffian. Possibly a habitational name from Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, from Dutch and Frisian kil ‘stagnant water’ (see Kiel)... [more]
KielGerman German surname of several possible origins and meanings.... [more]
KielDutch Dutch from Middle Dutch kidel, kedel ‘smock’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who make such garments or perhaps a nickname for someone who habitually wore one. Also a dutch habitational name from a place so named in Antwerp or from the German city Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein.
KilJewish Jewish (Ashkenazic) of uncertain origin; perhaps a nickname from Yiddish kil ‘cool’.
KilKorean There is one Chinese character for the Kil surname. In the 1930 census, there was a significantly larger number of Kils living in Korea; it was the 62nd most common name in Korea. In a census taken after the Korean War, however, it had dropped to 72nd... [more]
KilmesterGerman Kilmester is attested as a surname near Rostock in the 13th century.
KilroyEnglish "Kilroy was here" was a phrase widely written up on walls by American service personnel in the UK during World War II. The identity of the probably mythical Kilroy has been much debated (one theory is that he was a shipyard inspector of Quincy, Massachusetts, who chalked the phrase on material he had checked).
KincaidScottish Scottish habitational name from a place near Lennoxtown, north of Glasgow, which is first recorded in 1238 as Kincaith and in 1250 as Kincathe... [more]
KindEnglish, German, Jewish, Dutch German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) from Middle High German kint, German Kind ‘child’, hence a nickname for someone with a childish or naive disposition, or an epithet used to distinguish between a father and his son... [more]
KingsfordEnglish English habitational name from any of various places named Kingsford, for example in Essex, Devon, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The name ostensibly means ‘the king’s ford’, but the one in Worcestershire is named as Ceningaford ‘ford of Cena’s people’.
KiplinEnglish A locational surname that takes its name from the hamlet of Kiplin in the English county of North Yorkshire. In turn, the hamlet is said to derive its name from Old English Cyppelingas, which means "the people of Cyppel", as it consists of the Old English personal name Cyppel with the Old English word ingas meaning "people".
KippingGerman German: habitational name from a place named with Middle High German kip ‘point’, ‘peak’ or from Kippingen in the Rhineland.
KirchoferGerman German topographic name for someone living near a churchyard, or habitational name for the proprietor or tenant of a farm named as "Church Farm", from Middle High German kirche "church" + hof "farmstead", "manor farm".
KmetSlovene, Serbian, Croatian, Slovak Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovak status name for a type of peasant. In Slovenia this denoted a peasant who had his own landed property. In Serbia and elsewhere it was a status name for a feudal peasant farmer who cultivated the land of his lord instead of paying rent or doing military service... [more]
KnabeGerman German status name for a young man or a page, from Middle High German knabe (English knave). In aristocratic circles this term denoted a page or squire (a youth destined to become a knight), while among artisans it referred to a journeyman’s assistant or (as a short form of Lehrknabe) ‘apprentice’... [more]
KnappGerman Occupational name from the German word Knapp or Knappe, a variant of Knabe "young unmarried man". In the 15th century this spelling acquired the separate, specialized meanings "servant", "apprentice", or "miner"... [more]
KnappEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a hillock, Middle English "nappe, Old English cnæpp, or habitational name from any of the several minor places named with the word, in particular Knapp in Hampshire and Knepp in Sussex.
KnickerbockerDutch (Anglicized) Americanized spelling of the Dutch occupational name Knickerbacker "marble baker", i.e., a baker of children's clay marbles. This lowly occupation became synonymous with the patrician class in NYC through Washington Irving's attribution of his History of New York (1809) to a fictitious author named Diedrich Knickerbocker... [more]
KnollEnglish, German, Jewish English and German topographic name for someone living near a hilltop or mountain peak, from Middle English knolle ‘hilltop’, ‘hillock’ (Old English cnoll), Middle High German knol ‘peak’... [more]
KoelschGerman German from the adjective kölsch, denoting someone from Cologne (German Köln).
KrumholzJewish, German German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) from Krumbholz ‘bent timber’, ‘mountain pine’, hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a cartwright or wheelwright. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.
KuchGerman German metonymic occupational name for a pastry cook, from German kuchen ‘cake’, or simply a variant of Koch ‘cook’.
KühlGerman, Low German The spelling Kühl results from a folk-etymological association with High German kühl ‘cool’ (Middle High German küel(e), a nickname from Middle High German küel ‘cool’, ‘calm’... [more]
KuhlmanGerman Nickname from Middle High German küel ‘cool’, ‘calm.’
KupferGerman, Jewish German (Küpfer) and Jewish (Ashkenazic) metonymic occupational name for a worker or trader in copper, Middle High German kupfer, German Kupfer ‘copper’... [more]
KuryloUkrainian From the personal name Kurýlo, a Ukrainian form of the ancient Slavic name Kiril, from Greek Kyrillos, a derivative of kyrios ‘Lord.' This was the name of the saint and missionary of the Orthodox Church (826–869) who, together with his brother Methodios, brought Christianity to the Slavs... [more]
KutschGerman Topographic name of Slavic origin, from Sorbian kut ‘corner’, ‘nook’. Variant of Kutsche, metonymic occupational name for a coachman or coachbuilder, from the Hungarian loanword kocsi (see Kocsis).
KutzItalian Habitational name for someone from Kuhz, near Prenzlau.
LaaksoFinnish From laakso ‘valley’, generally an ornamental name adopted during the name conversion movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Often, it was adopted by Finnish bearers of Swedish names containing the Swedish element dal ‘valley’.
LaithenEnglish English habitational name from any of various places so called, for example in Lancashire (near Blackpool) and in North Yorkshire. The former was named in Old English as ‘settlement by the watercourse’, from Old English lad ‘watercourse’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the latter as ‘leek enclosure’ or ‘herb garden’, from leac ‘leek’ + tun... [more]
LalondeFrench Habitational name from any of various places in Normandy called La Londe, from the French feminine definite article la combined with Old Norse lundr meaning "grove".
LambergFinnish, Swedish Perhaps combination of an unexplained first element (maybe taken from a place name) and Swedish berg "mountain". It could also be of German origin (see other submission).
LancasterEnglish From the name of a city in northwestern England derived from Middle English Loncastre, itself from Lon referring to an ancient Roman fort on the River Lune combined with Old English ceaster meaning "city, town".
LandeFrench, Norwegian, Jewish French: topographic name for someone living on a heath, lande (from Gaulish landa ‘space’, ‘land’), or a habitational name from any of numerous minor places named La Lande from this word.... [more]
LandenBelgian Belgian habitational name from Landen in Brabant.
LandisGerman, German (Swiss) German and Swiss German nickname for a highwayman or for someone who lays waste to the land, from Middle High German landoese.
LanghornEnglish, Danish, Dutch Northern English: probably a habitational name from a minor place in Soulby, Cumbria, called Longthorn, from Old English lang ‘long’ + horn ‘projecting headland’, or a topographic name with the same meaning.... [more]
LansingEnglish Derived from the name of Lancing, a place in West Sussex, which was composed of the Old English personal name Wlanc and -ingas meaning "family of" or "followers of".
LappGerman From Middle High German lap(pe) ‘cloth’, ‘patch’, ‘rag’; a metonymic occupational name for a mender of clothes or shoes, or a nickname for a simple-minded person.... [more]
LatimerEnglish English occupational name for a clerk who could translate documents to and from Latin and/or other languages, from Anglo-Norman French latinier, latim(m)ier.
LaughtonEnglish Habitational name from any of the numerous places in England so called. Most of them, as for example those in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (near Gainsborough), Sussex, and West Yorkshire, are named with Old English leac ‘leek’ + tun ‘enclosure’... [more]
LavioletteFrench, French (Quebec), French (Acadian) A secondary surname, associated with some forty family names in Canada and also used independently since 1698, a nickname from the flower violette ‘violet’, with the definite article la. In feudal France it was a name given to soldiers and domestic servants.
LawtonEnglish Habitational name, common in Lancashire and Yorkshire, from Buglawton or Church Lawton in Cheshire, or Lawton in Herefordshire, named in Old English as ‘settlement on or near a hill’, or ‘settlement by a burial mound’, from hlaw ‘hill’, ‘burial mound’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’... [more]
LedgerEnglish, Norman, French, Dutch English: from a Norman personal name, Leodegar, Old French Legier, of Germanic origin, composed of the elements liut ‘people’, ‘tribe’ + gar, ger ‘spear’... [more]
LeelynEnglish Locational surname denoting a person from Leyland, in Lancashire.
LegoreItalian Possibly Italian, a nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from a northern variant of lepre "hare". However, only the plural form Legori is attested in Italian records.
LeidigGerman From a short form of any of several Germanic personal names composed with the first element liut ‘people’, ‘tribe’. Also a nickname for a disagreeable, cantankerous person, from Middle High German leidic ‘disagreeable’, ‘tiresome’.
LeinbachGerman German topographic name from any of several streams called leinbach, from Middle High German lin ‘flax’ or Middle Low German leie (genitive leien) ‘rock’, ‘stone’ + bach ‘stream’.
LeitaoPortuguese Portuguese metonymic occupational name for a keeper of pigs, or nickname meaning ‘piglet’, from Portuguese leitão ‘(suckling) pig’.