DropkinJewish, Belarusian Jewish (from Belarus): nickname from Belorussian drobka ‘crumb’+ the eastern Slavic patronymic suffix -in.... [more]
DruryEnglish, French, Irish Originally a Norman French nickname, derived from druerie "love, friendship" (itself a derivative of dru "lover, favourite, friend" - originally an adjective, apparently from a Gaulish word meaning "strong, vigourous, lively", but influenced by the sense of the Old High German element trut, drut "dear, beloved").... [more]
DrydenEnglish Possibly from an English place name meaning "dry valley" from the Old English elements drȳġe "dry" and denu "valley". A notable bearer was the English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright John Dryden (1631-1700).
EconomosGreek (Anglicized, Expatriate, ?) Alternate transcription of Greek Οικονόμος (see Oikonomos), which was an occupational surname meaning "one who manages a household, steward of an estate, housekeeper" from the ancient Greek word οἰκόνομος (oikonomos), itself derived from οἶκος (oikos) "house, household" and νόμος (nomos) "law, custom".
EiseleGerman Either from a diminutive of any of the Germanic given names formed with the element isarn meaning "iron" (such as Isanhard) or from Isenlin, a nickname for a blacksmith, ironworker or dealer in iron, composed of Middle High German īsen "iron" and the diminutive suffix -līn.
ElardoItalian Possibly from a variant of the given name Ilardo, which may be a form of the Germanic name Adalhard (see also Ilardi).
ElizaldeBasque, Spanish From Basque eleiza meaning "church" combined with the suffix -alde "by". This could be either a habitational name for a person who was from the town of Elizalde in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, or a topographic name for someone living near a church.
ElsegoodEnglish (British), English (Australian) Derived from an Old English given name, possibly *Ælfgod or *Æðelgod, in which the second element is god "god". (Another source gives the meaning "temple-god", presumably from ealh and god.)... [more]
EnjolrasLiterature From a surname which was from Occitan enjeura meaning "to terrify". This was the name of a charismatic activist in Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862).
EscuellaPopular Culture Based on Spanish escuela meaning "school". This was used for a character in the video games 'Red Dead Redemption' (2010) and 'Red Dead Redemption 2' (2018).
EshiroJapanese Combination of Japanese 江 (e) meaning "bay, inlet" and 城 (shiro) meaning "castle, city".
EspírituSpanish From a short form of Spanish del Espíritu Santo meaning "of the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Ghost" (Latin Spiritus Sanctus), which was the second part of religious compound names formed from the bearer's given name and del Espíritu Santo... [more]
EsplinScottish Scottish variant of Asplin. This was borne by the English stained glass artist and muralist Mabel Esplin (1874-1921).
EtienamNigerian, Ibibio (?), Spanish (Caribbean, ?) This is a name which originates from the Calabar/Akwa Ibom region of southeastern Nigeria. It means "a doer of good, or benevolent". It is also found in Spanish-speaking regions of the Caribbean such as Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba (El Oriente) which have populations of people of Ibibio/Efik decent known as "Carabali".
EvolaItalian Perhaps a topographic name from Italian ebbio, a type of plant known as danewort in English (genus Sambucus), itself derived from Latin ebullus; alternatively, it may have been a habitational name for a person from a minor place named with this word... [more]
EyreEnglish Derived from Middle English eyer, eir "heir", originally denoting a man who was designated to inherit or had already inherited the main property in a particular locality. The surname was borne by the heroine of Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' (1847).
FaheyIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fathaidh or Ó Fathaigh meaning "descendant of Fathadh", a given name derived from the Gaelic word fothadh "base, foundation".... [more]
FalcónSpanish, South American Originally a nickname from falcón, an archaic variant of Spanish halcón "falcon" (from Latin falco). It is a cognate of Falco.
FantasiaItalian From Italian fantasia meaning "imagination", possibly a nickname for a person who had a vivid imagination, or from the personal name Fantasia, the feminine form of Fantasio. Known bearers include American sociologist Rick Fantasia and Australian footballer Orazio Fantasia (1995-).
FarrimondEnglish Either from the Norman given name Faramund, or else a variant of the occupational surname Ferriman ('with post-medieval excrescent -d').
FauntleroyEnglish Little Lord Fauntleroy is the first children's novel written by English playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett. Fauntleroy is also Donald Duck's middle name.
FigginsEnglish Derived from a medieval diminutive of Fulk (such as Fygge or Fulchon).
FigueiredoPortuguese Name for someone from any of various places named Figueiredo, from Portuguese figueiredo meaning "fig tree orchard".
FiguierFrench (Rare) From French figuier meaning "fig tree" (ultimately from Latin ficus; a cognate of Figueroa), possibly indicating a person who lived near a fig tree or one who owned a plantation of fig trees.
FitzEmpressHistory, Anglo-Norman Means "son of the empress" in Anglo-Norman French. The three sons of Empress Matilda (1102-1167) were known as Henry FitzEmpress (King Henry II of England), Geoffrey FitzEmpress, Count of Nantes, and William FitzEmpress, Count of Poitou.
FitzoothFolklore (?) Fitzooth means "son of a nobleman". Robin Hood's real name was Robert Fitzooth.
FoleyIrish As a northern Irish surname it is derived from the Gaelic personal name Searrach, which was based on searrach "foal, colt" and anglicized as Foley because of its phonetic similarity to English foal.
ForsythScottish Variant of Forsythe. Known bearers include the Scottish botanist William Forsyth (1737-1804), after whom the genus Forsythia is named, and Scottish inventor Alexander John Forsyth (1769-1843).
ForsytheScottish, Northern Irish This surname has two possible origins. The more accepted explanation is that it comes from the Gaelic given name Fearsithe, which means "man of peace" from the elements fear "man" and sithe "peace"... [more]
FoucaultFrench Derived from the Germanic given name Folcwald, which was composed of the elements folk "people" and walt "power, leader, ruler"... [more]
FouquereauFrench (Quebec) Jean Fouquereau was born on November 6, 1617, in Anjou, Isère, France, his father, Louis, was 23 and his mother, Catherine, was 20. He married Renee Bataille on December 31, 1639, in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France... [more]
GentilisItalian (Latinized) Latinized form of Gentili. The Italian-born Oxford professor and jurist Alberico Gentili (1552-1608) was known as Albericus Gentilis in Latin.
GiorgainafGreek (Archaic) Andronymic meaning "wife of Georgios". This was used in early modern Greece, at which time a married woman's surname was formed from her husband's given name and the suffix -αινα (-aina)... [more]
GoosGerman, Flemish, Dutch Either a metonymic occupational name for a breeder or keeper of geese, from Middle Low German gōs and Middle Dutch goes "goose", or a short form of an Old German personal name containing Gote "Goth" or got "god", particularly Goswin or Gozewijn (a compound name with the second element wini "friend").
GouldingEnglish From the late Old English personal name Golding, which was derived from Golda (or the feminine form Golde) and the patronymic suffix -ing.... [more]
GourmaudFrench A famous bearer is a journalist well known from the educational TV, Jamy Gourmaud
GrantaireLiterature This is the name of a minor character in Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862), a follower of the revolutionary Enjolras.
GreenwayEnglish Originally given to a person who lived near a grassy path, from Middle English grene "green" and weye "road, path" (cf. Way).... [more]
GrissomEnglish From a diminutive of Grice, which was originally a nickname for a grey-haired man, derived from Middle English grice, gris meaning "grey" (itself from Old French gris, apparently of Germanic origin).
GucciItalian Patronymic or plural form of the given name Guccio, a late medieval Italian diminutive of various names ending in go, such as Arrigo (via Arriguccio) or Ugo (via Uguccio)... [more]
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."
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]
HavelockEnglish From the Middle English male personal name Havelok, from Old Norse Hafleikr, literally "sea sport". It was borne by the British general Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857).
HawleyEnglish From the place name Hawley, specifically from the former settlement in Yorkshire from Old Norse haugr meaning "hill" and Old English leah meaning "woodland".
HaylockEnglish English surname of uncertain origin, possibly from the Old English given name Hægluc, a diminutive of the unrecorded name *Hægel, found in various place names... [more]
HaythornthwaiteEnglish (British) From a place name that was derived from Old English haguthorn meaning "hawthorn (tree)" and Old Norse þveit meaning "clearing, meadow".
HeardEnglish Occupational name for a tender of animals, normally a cowherd or shepherd, from Middle English herde (Old English hi(e)rde).
HinckleyEnglish From the name of a place in Leicestershire meaning "Hynca's wood", from the Old English byname Hynca, derivative of hún "bear cub", and leah "woodland, clearing".
HollierEnglish, French Occupational name for a male brothel keeper, from a dissimilated variant of Old French horier "pimp", which was the agent noun of hore "whore, prostitute". Hollier was probably also used as an abusive nickname in Middle English and Old French.... [more]
HollisterEnglish English: occupational name for a brothelkeeper; originally a feminine form of Hollier.
HortaCatalan, Portuguese Means "garden" (Latin hortus), hence a topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosed garden or an occupational name for one who was a gardener.
HowdyshellAmerican, German Americanized (i.e., Anglicized) form of the Swiss German Haudenschild, which originated as a nickname for a ferocious soldier, literally meaning "hack the shield" from Middle High German houwen "to chop or hack" (imperative houw) combined with den (accusative form of the definite article) and schilt "shield".
HumboldtGerman (?) Derived from the Germanic given name Hunibald. Notable bearers of this surname were Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a Prussian naturalist, geographer, explorer and polymath, and his brother Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), a linguist, philosopher and diplomat.
HumperdinckGerman (?), Literature From the German surname Humperdinck. As a surname it was born by the composer Engelbert Humperdinck. As a first name it was used for the villain Prince Humperdinck in William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride.
HusseyEnglish, Irish As an English surname, it comes from two distinct sources. It is either of Norman origin, derived from Houssaye, the name of an area in Seine-Maritime which ultimately derives from Old French hous "holly"; or it is from a Middle English nickname given to a woman who was the mistress of a household, from an alteration of husewif "housewife"... [more]
ImbimboNeapolitan From Italian bimbo meaning "a child, a male baby" (which is a variant of bambino "child") combined with in-, a prefix indicating "belonging to the family of".
ImpeyEnglish From Impey, the name of various places in England, derived from Old English *imphaga, *imphæg "sapling enclosure". Alternatively it could have indicated a person who lived near an enclosure of young trees.
JaunzemeLatvian Feminine form of Jaunzems, a Latvian occupational surname meaning "new farmer", composed of jauns meaning "new" and zeme meaning "land" (compare zemlja).
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]
JeanpetitFrench Means "little Jean" from Old French petit "small" and the given name Jean 1, originally a nickname for a small man called Jean (or applied ironically to a large man), or a distinguishing epithet for the younger of two men named Jean.... [more]
JolicoeurFrench (Quebec), Haitian Creole From Old French joli "joyful, cheerful" and cuer "heart". It was originally a nickname for a cheerful person. This was a frequent French Canadian secondary surname (or dit name).
JourdemayneMedieval English Likely from Old French jor de main meaning "day labourer". This was borne by Margery Jourdemayne, an English woman known as the "Witch of Eye" who was burned at the stake in 1441 for conspiring to kill the king with witchcraft... [more]
KalashnikUkrainian Means "maker of kalaches", a variant of калачник (kalachnik) - itself composed of калач (kalach), a type of bread, and the agent suffix -ник (-nik). See also Kalashnikov.
KalashnikovRussian Means "son of the kalach-maker", derived from Russian калашник (kalashnik), a variant of калачник (kalachnik) "maker of kalaches" - kalach being a type of bread - combined with the patronymic suffix -ов (-ov)... [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]
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.
KehlerGerman Habitational name from various places called Kehl, notably the town across the Rhine from Strasbourg. In some cases it may be a variant of Köhler.
KelleherIrish From Gaelic Ó Céileachair meaning "son of Céileachar". The Irish given name Céileachar means "companion-dear", i.e., "lover of company".
KellenGerman From the name of a place in Rhineland, which is derived from Middle Low German kel (a field name denoting swampy land) or from the dialect word kelle meaning "steep path, ravine".
KeltyScottish From the name of a village in Fife, Scotland, which was derived from Scottish Gaelic coillte "wooded area, grove".
KemptonEnglish From the name of a place in Shropshire meaning "Cempa's town" or "warrior town", from a combination of either the Old English word cempa "warrior" or the byname derived from it and tun "farmstead, settlement".
KidwellWelsh, English The origins of this surname are uncertain, but it may be derived from Middle English kidel "fish weir", denoting a person who lived by a fish weir or made his living from it, or from an English place called Kiddal, probably meaning "Cydda's corner of land" from the Old English given name Cydda and halh "nook or corner of land".
KilgoreScottish Habitational name for someone from Kilgour in Fife, named with the Gaelic coille "wood" and gobhar, gabhar "goat".
KinsellaIrish From Gaelic Uí Ceinnsealaigh meaning "descendant of Cinnsealach", a given name probably meaning "chief warrior".
KirwanIrish From Gaelic Ó Ciardhubháin meaning "descendant of Ciardhubhán", a given name composed of the elements ciar "dark" and dubh "black" combined with a diminutive suffix.
KnightonEnglish English surname which was derived from a place name composed of the Old English elements cnihta meaning "servant, retainer" (genitive plural of cniht) and tun "enclosure, settlement".
KnowlesIrish As an Irish surname it is an anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Tnúthghail meaning "descendant of Tnúthgal", a given name composed of the elements tnúth "desire, envy" and gal "valor".
KochaviHebrew From Hebrew כוכב (kokhav) meaning "star", commonly used as a replacement for Ashkenazi surnames containing the old German element stern "star". For example, it was adopted as a surname by the Romanian-born Israeli archaeologist and university professor Moshe Kochavi (1928-2008), whose birth surname was Stern.
KulhánekCzech Bohemian for a man who walks with a limp.
KupkaCzech, Polish, Ukrainian, Slovak, Sorbian, Jewish Nickname or topographic name from the Polish, Ukrainian, Czech and Sorbian word kupka, a diminutive of kupa meaning "heap, pile", in Upper Sorbian also "lump".... [more]
LabontéFrench (Quebec), Haitian Creole, Mauritian Creole From French la bonté meaning "(the) kindness, (the) goodness", originally used as a soldier's name and perhaps also as a nickname for a benevolent person. This surname is rare in France.
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".
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".
LaveranFrench The surname Laveran probably became popular as a first name thanks to the French Nobel Prize in Medicine Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. Laveran discovered that protozoan parasites were the causative agent of malaria.
LaverdureFrench From the French place name La Verdure meaning "greenness, greenery".
LaverickEnglish Derived from Old English lāferce meaning "lark", making it a cognate of Lark.
LazenbyEnglish From a place name which was derived from leysingi and byr, two Norse words meaning "freedman" and "settlement" respectively.
LeafEnglish Derived from Old English lēof "dear, beloved".
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.
LenoirFrench French surname which was originally a nickname for a person with dark hair or skin, derived from noir "black" combined with the definite article le. A famous bearer is Étienne Lenoir (1822 - 1900), the inventor of the internal combustion engine.
LestradeLiterature The name of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional head of Scotland Yard. Possibly from the French surname Lestrange
LeszczyńskiPolish Name for someone from any of various places called Leszczyna, Leszczyno, Leszczyny or Leszczynek, all derived from Polish leszczyna meaning "hazel".
LiebmanJewish Variant of German Liebmann, itself a variant of Libman and derived from the Yiddish personal name Lipman, from Middle High German liep "dear, beloved" and man "man"... [more]
LiljedahlSwedish, Norwegian Ornamental name derived from Swedish lilje, a genitive form of lilja "lily" used in compounds, and the archaic word dahl (Old Norse dalr) meaning "valley"... [more]