AnouilhFrench From Catalan anull, meaning "slow worm". It is originally a nickname given to a spineless and slow person. The French author Jean Anouilh is a famous bearer of this surname.
AnsaiJapanese From Japanese 安 (an) meaning "peace" and 西 (sai) meaning "west", 斎 (sai) meaning "purification, worship", or 済 (sai) meaning "settle, finish".
AnsteadEnglish Possibly derived from places named with Old English ham-stede meaning "homestead".
AnstedEnglish Variant of Anstead, possibly derived from places named with Old English ham-stede meaning "homestead".
AnsteyEnglish Means "person from Anstey or Ansty", the name of numerous places in England (either "single track" or "steep track"). F. Anstey was the pen-name of British barrister and author Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934).
AntalaGujarati ANTALA SURNAME CAME FROM MANDALIYA SURNAME (HINDU PATEL'S SURNAME), ANTALA FAMILIES LIVED IN MANDALDESH IN VIKRAM SAVANT 1416. IN VIKRAM SAVANT 1416, built a temple OF SHIVA IN ANTALESHWAR AND THEN MANDLIYA BECOME ANTALA.... [more]
AntetokounmpoWestern African, Yoruba (Hellenized) Hellenized form of Adetokunbo. This name is borne by the Greek-Nigerian basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo (1994-), as well as his brothers Thanasis (1992-), Kostas (1997-) and Alex Antetokounmpo (2001-), also noted basketball players.
AntoliniItalian The family originated from Sarnano (Macerata) and at the end of the century XVII transplanted to Montealbodo today Ostra (Ancona) where it was aggregated to that nobility.
AntrimIrish Meaning "lone ridge". This is the name of an Irish county and was among some of Billy the Kid’s other known names (ie: Henry "Kid" Antrim).
AntrobusEnglish This very unusual name is of Old Norse origin and is a locational surname from the place in Cheshire called "Antrobus". The placename is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Entrebus", and in the Pipe Rolls of Cheshire of 1282 as "Anterbus"... [more]
AnzaBasque From Basque, which refers to a pasture in the dwarf elder trees.
AnzaiJapanese From Japanese 安 (an) meaning "peace" and 西 (sai) meaning "west", 斎 (sai) meaning "purification, worship", or 済 (sai) meaning "settle, finish".
AounArabic (Mashriqi), Arabic (Maghrebi) Derived from a French-influenced variant of a given name based on the Arabic noun عون (aun) meaning "help, aid". This surname is more commonly used by Maronite Christians in Lebanon. A notable bearer is the former Lebanese president Michel Aoun (1933-).
AoyagiJapanese From Japanese 青 (ao) meaning "green, blue" and 柳 (yagi) meaning "willow".
AozakiJapanese (Rare) Ao means "blue,somewhat green" & zaki means "blossom". So, Nobutaka "Blue Blossom",is an artist who was born in Japan,but now lives in New York as an artist who has been featured in magazines.
ApacibleSpanish (Philippines) Means "peaceful" in Spanish. Galicano Apacible was a Filipino physician and politician who was the co-founder of La Solidaridad and the Nacionalista Party.
ApaleNahuatl Possibly means "coloured water", from atl "water" and tlapalli "painting".
ApanecatlNahuatl Possibly related to Nahuatl apantli, "canal, channel, water ditch".
AparicioSpanish Derived from the Latin word “aparitio” meaning “appearance” or “arrival”. It may also be a habitational name, indicating a person who lived near or at a place with the same name.
ApellidoSpanish (Philippines) This likely originated as a surname taken by people who didn't have a surname and wrote "Apellido" (the Spanish for surname) when filling in an official form.
ApicellaItalian Southern Italian: from a diminutive of apa ‘bee’, probably applied as a nickname for an industrious person, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for a beekeeper.
ApisamaimongkolThai From Thai อภิ (aphi) meaning "superhuman, magic knowledge", สมัย (samai) meaning "time, era", and มงคล (mongkhon) meaning "prosperity".
AplinEnglish Probably a patronymic of the popular medieval English given name Abel. See also Appling.
ApolloItalian, Spanish From the Greek personal name Apollo. There are several saints Apollo in the Christian Church, including an Egyptian hermit and monastic leader who died in 395 ad. The personal name derives from the name in classical mythology of the sun god, Apollo, an ancient Indo-European name, found for example in Hittite as Apulana "god of the gate" (from pula "gate", cognate with Greek pylē), therefore "protector, patron".
AppelGerman, Dutch, Jewish, Yiddish From Low German Appel, Middle Dutch appel, or Yiddish epl "apple", an occupational name for a grower or seller of the fruit. As a Jewish surname, it is generally ornamental rather than occupational.
AppelGerman, Dutch From the personal name Appel, a pet form of Apprecht (common especially in Thuringia and Franconia), itself a variant of Albrecht... [more]
AppenzellGerman Habitational name for someone from Appenzell (village or canton) in northeastern Switzerland. The placename derives from Latin abbatis cella, "cell (i.e., estate) of the abbot".
ApplegarthEnglish, Scottish Topographic name from northern Middle English applegarth meaning "apple orchard" (Old Norse apaldr meaning "apple tree" + gar{dh}r meaning "enclosure"), or a habitational name from a place so named, of which there are examples in Cumbria and North and East Yorkshire, as well as in the county of Dumfries.
ApplegateEnglish Extremely common variant of Applegarth, in which the less familiar final element has been assimilated to the northern Middle English word gate meaning "road" or to modern English gate.
ApplewhiteEnglish Habitational name from a place named Applethwaite, from Old Norse apaldr ‘apple tree’ and þveit ‘meadow’. There are two or three such places in Cumbria; Applethwaite is also recorded as a surname from the 13th century in Suffolk, England, pointing to a possible lost place name there... [more]
AquinasItalian Aquinas indicates ancestral origins from the Italian county "Aquino." Aquino comes from the latin word "Aquinum" which itself probably comes from the latin word aqua. Aqua means water in English.
ArabeyaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 荒 (ara) meaning "uncultivated, desolate", 部 (be) meaning "department, division; part", and 谷 (ya) meaning "valley".
AràbiaItalian, Spanish Ethnic name for someone from Arabia or some other Arabic-speaking country or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with one of these countries.
ArabianArmenian Patronymic from the ethnic term arab ‘Arab’.
ArabieFrench Ethnic name denoting someone from Arabia or an Arabic-speaking person.
ArabikiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 荒 (ara) meaning "rough; harsh; intense", referring to rough land, and 引 (biki), from 引き (biki), the joining continuative form of 引く (hiku) meaning "to pull".
ArablePopular Culture An occupational surname for people who are capable of being farmed productively. Also used in the novel Charlotte's Web (1952).
ArabuliGeorgian Means "Arabic, Arab" in Georgian, referring to Arabs who historically resided in the region of Khevsureti in Georgia.
ArachchiSinhalese From a title used during the British colonial era of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to denote a native village headman or leader.
ArachchigeSinhalese From the colonial-era Sinhala title ආරච්චි (arachchi) used to denote a native village headman combined with the suffix -ගේ (-ge) meaning "of, home, house".
AradhyaIndian, Sanskrit Means "one who worships god". Commonly seen in India, Karnataka and other parts of India like kashi. They wear holy thread (yagnopaveetha).
AragónSpanish Habitational name from Aragon Spain which was an independent kingdom from 1035 to 1479. It took its name from the river Aragón which arises in its northwestern corner... [more]
ArahiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 荒 (ara) meaning "rough; harsh; intense", referring to rough land, and 樋 (hi) meaning "gutter".
ArahiraJapanese From Japanese 荒 (ara) meaning "rough; harsh; intense" and 平 (hira) meaning "flat; flattened" or, in a dialect, "cliff", referring to a rough flatland or a rough cliff.... [more]
AraiJapanese From Japanese 新 (ara) meaning "new, natural" or 荒 (ara) meaning "rough, sparse, wild" and 井 (i) meaning "well".
AraldiItalian Means “heralds” in Italian. Famous bearers include Italian painters Alessandro Araldi (c. 1460 – c. 1529) and Paolo Araldi (18th century – after 1820).
AranJapanese From 亜 (a), a phonetic character, and 蘭 (ran) meaning "orchid."
AranaBasque This indicates familial origin within either of 3 eponymous localities: the hamlet in the County of Trebiñu, the neighborhood in Gasteiz, or the neighborhood in Bermeo.
AranamiJapanese Ara (荒) means rough, wild. Nami (波) means wave(s).
AranburuBasque Proper, non-Castilianized form of Aramburú, literally meaning the peak of a valley.
ArancedoAsturian It indicates familial origin within the eponymous parish of the municipality of El Franco.