PianaItalian Topographic name from piana ‘plain’, ‘level ground’, from Latin planus, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word.
PicaItalian, Catalan Nickname for a gossipy or garrulous person, from the central-southern Italian word pica ‘magpie’. Compare Picazo.Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Pica.Catalan: from either pica ‘pointed object’ (weapon, etc.) or a derivative of picar ‘to prick’.
PietrafesaItalian From the former name of a town in Potenza, Italy (changed to Satriano di Lucania in 1887), an Italianized form of Medieval Latin Petrafixa, composed of petra "rock, stone" and fixa "fixed, fastened, immovable; constant"... [more]
PininfarinaItalian A combination of "pinin", Piedmontese for youngest/smallest brother, and Farina, the Italian variant of Miller. This is the name of the Italian coachbuilder, founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina, later Battista Pininfarina.
PisaItalian Habitational name from the city of Pisa in Tuscany. The city was probably founded by Greek colonists, but before coming under Roman control it was in the hands of the Etruscans, who probably gave it its name... [more]
PischeddaSardinian Thought to derive from the Sardinian word pischedda, which translates to "little fish", possibly indicating a connection to fishing or aquatic occupations that were prevalent in coastal communities.
PisulaPolish, Lithuanian Informal nickname for a scribe or clerk, from a derivative of Polish pisać ‘to write’.
PitaSpanish Spanish and Portuguese: from Spanish, Portuguese pita ‘chicken’ or in some cases possibly from the plant pita ‘pita’, ‘American aloe’, presumably a topographic name.
PlataSpanish Means "silver" in Spanish. Plata could be a habitational name from places in Toledo and Cáceres provinces named Plata, or various places named La Plata.
PortanovaItalian, Portuguese, Galician Habitational name from a place or locality called Portanova "new gate" from the elements neos "new" and porta "door".
PorteraItalian Occupational name for a female servant, from Spanish portera.
PortolaSpanish, Portuguese, Romani (Caló) Portola is Spanish and Portuguese for Port and is a Romani calo surname. People include Gaspar de Portolá, a Spanish explorer who was the first governor of Baja and Alta California and had many names after him in California cities and streets.
PosadaItalian, Caribbean Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Posada, from posada ‘halt’, ‘resting place’. ... [more]
PostmaWest Frisian, Dutch West Frisian variant of the Dutch and North German surname Posthumus, given to a child born after their father’s death. It could also be a variant of the habitational name Post or an occupational name for a mailman or guard, using the Frisian suffix -ma.
PóvedaSpanish, South American habitational name from any of the places called Poveda in the provinces of Cuenca Ávila Salamanca and Soria or from Póveda de la Sierra in Guadalajara.
ProcidaItalian Habitational name from Procida, one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. Derived from Ancient Greek Προχύτη (Prokhútē) via Latin Prochyta, of uncertain etymology.
PuginaItalian Possibly derived from Venetian Pùgia, referring to the region of Puglia (see Pugliese), or pugia meaning "abundance, plenty" as well as referring to the cuccagna pole festivities... [more]
PugliaItalian habitational name from Apulia (Italian Puglia) in southeastern Italy. Variant of Pugliese.
PungaMaori The name means "reason, cause, origin". Punga is the name of the daughter of Ra (Sun) and his spouse Tame. This was the name of Ngati Mutunga chief Apitea Punga (1827?-1885) who had Moriori slaves and was a big land owner... [more]
PurnamaChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Bao (鮑) or Zhong (鍾). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
PurpuraItalian A nickname for someone associated with the color purple.
PutxetaBasque (Rare) From the name of a neighborhood of the municipality of Abanto, Biscay, possibly derived from Basque putzu "well, hole, puddle" and -eta "place of, abundance of".
PüüdjaEstonian Püüdja is an Estonian surname meaning "catcher".
PuustusmaaEstonian Puustusmaa is an Estonian surname meaning "wilderness".
QuintelaPortuguese Has its roots in Latin, deriving from "quintus," meaning "fifth." It likely originated from describing a person as the fifth child in a family or from the division of land among heirs, where a fifth part was given to one heir.
QuituguaChamorro Chamoru meaning "Knock down/tear down/cut down"
RadiamodaFilipino, Maranao From a title for a crown prince, derived from Maranao radia meaning "king" and moda meaning "young".
RadicaItalian Possibly derived from Italian radica meaning "root vegetable, carrot; briar root (wood)", or figuratively "uncultured person, unintelligent person", ultimately from Latin radix "root".
RagostaItalian from aragosta "lobster" used for a shell-fisherman or otherwise as a nickname for someone thought to resemble a lobster in some way.
RagusaItalian Habitational name from Ragusa in Sicily, or from the ancient city of Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia (Italian name Ragusa).
RaguseaItalian (Americanized) Possibly an Americanized form of Ragusa. Adam Ragusea (1982-) is an American internet personality who makes videos about food recipes, food science, and culinary culture.
RahaEstonian Raha is an Estonian surname meaning "money".
RaiaItalian, Sicilian Either a topographic name from Sicilian raia ‘smilax’ (a climbing shrub), or else derived from Sicilian raja meaning ‘ray’, or ‘skate’ (the fish), presumably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish or a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller.
RaiaArabic Derived from Arabic رياح (rayah) meaning ‘flag’.
RaidlaEstonian Raidla is an Estonian surname meaning "sculptural/hewed area".
RamaphosaSouthern African, Venda Means "the one who is born in the evening" in Venda. This name is borne by the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa (1952-).
RappaItalian, Sicilian from Sicilian rappa meaning ‘bunch, cluster’ or Italian rappa meaning ‘lock, quiff’, which was presumably applied as a nickname with reference to someone’s hair.
RasilaFinnish A variant of the finnish word (rasi) for a forest that has been cleared for slash and burn but has not yet been burnt for agricultural means. The suffix "-la" is usually added to the stem of the word to indicate a location... [more]