Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
PorcelliItalian From Italian porcello, meaning "piglet". Used to denote someone who worked as a swineherd, or perhaps a nickname for someone who resembled a piglet in some way.
PorkEstonian Pork is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "põrkama" meaning to "bound", "strike", and "bump". bounce, spring
PorkoFinnish Meaning uncertain, possibly derived from Finnish poro meaning "reindeer".
PoroshenkoUkrainian From Ukrainian порох (porokh) meaning "(gun)powder, dust", used as an occupational name for someone who made or sold gunpowder. A notable bearer is current Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (1965-).
PortanovaItalian, Portuguese, Galician Habitational name from a place or locality called Portanova "new gate" from the elements neos "new" and porta "door".
PorteFrench from Old French porte "gateway entrance" (from Latin porta) hence a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town (typically the man in charge of them).
PorteousScottish A topographic surname for someone who lived in the lodge at the entrance to a manor house, derived from Middle English port, meaning "gateway" or "entrance", and hous meaning "house". It can also be an occupational name with similar meaning, derived from Latin portarius meaning "porter"... [more]
PorteraItalian Occupational name for a female servant, from Spanish portera.
PortisEnglish (American) A famous bearer is the American basketball player Bobby Portis (1995-).
PortmanEnglish Status name meaning "townsman, burgher, citizen" in Middle English, derived from Old English port "port, harbour" (from Latin portus) and mann "person, man".
PortmannGerman Occupational name for a gatekeeper, derived from Middle Low German port(e) meaning "gate" and man, or a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town.
PortnoyJewish, Belarusian, Ukrainian Occupational name for a tailor from Russian portnoj (an adjective derivative of port "uncut cloth").
PortnyaginRussian Derived from Russian портняга (portnyaga), a colloquial nickname derived from портной (portnoy) meaning "tailor, clothier".
PortokalosGreek From the Greek word πορτοκάλι (portokáli), which means "orange." The name could refer either to farmers who maintained an orange orchard / grove or someone who had an orange aspect to their appearance or demeanor.
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.
PortreyJewish Origin uncertain. Perhaps an altered form of Jewish Portnoy of North German Portner.
PortugalSpanish, Portuguese, English, Catalan, French, Jewish Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, English, French, and Jewish surname meaning ethnic name or regional name for someone from Portugal or who had connections with Portugal. The name of the country derives from Late Latin Portucale, originally denoting the district around Oporto (Portus Cales, named with Latin portus ‘port’, ‘harbor’ + Cales, the ancient name of the city)... [more]
PoseyEnglish, French Derived from the Greek word "desposyni." The Desposyni is a term referring to a group of people that are allegedly direct blood relatives to Jesus. They are mentioned in Mark 3:21 and Mark 3:31. American actress Parker Posey is a famous bearer.
PostgateEnglish From Postgate in Danby (NR Yorks) which is recorded as Postgate in the 12th century. The place-name derives from Old English post "post pillar" and Old Scandinavian gata ‘way path road" or Old English gæt "gate".
PosthumusDutch, Low German From a personal name which was given to a posthumous child, i.e., one born after the death of his father, derived from Latin postumus "last, last-born" (superlative of posterus "coming after, subsequent") via Late Latin posthumus, which was altered by association with Latin humare "to bury", suggesting death (i.e., thought to consist of post "after" and humus "grave", hence "after death"); the one born after the father's death obviously being the last.
PotemkinRussian A Russian surname which derives from the word "Потёмка" (Potyomka) meaning "dark". People bearing the name Potemkin rose to prominence in Muscovy from the 16th century onwards.
PóvedaSpanish 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.
PoverelliItalian Means "poor (person)" in Italian, given to foundlings and orphans.
PoznanskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name from the city of Poznan in west-central Poland, or possibly from other places of this name, in Katowice and Siedlce voivodeships.
PrannoEstonian Pranno is an Estonian surname derived from the masculine nickname/given name "Pranno".
PrantsEstonian Prants is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "prantsuse" meaning French, or "prantsti/prantsatus" meaning to "slam" and "bang". Could also derived from "prints" meaning "prince".
PremasiriSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit प्रेम (prema) meaning "love, affection" and श्री (shri) meaning "diffusing light, radiance, splendour, beauty".
PremathilakaSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit प्रेम (prema) meaning "love, affection" and तिलक (tilaka) meaning "mark, dot, ornament".
PreshawEnglish (British, Rare) This surname is a habitational name from a locality near Upham on the slopes of the South Downs. It is entirely within a private estate and has its own chapel.
PresleyScottish From Persley, a small Scottish hamlet on the River Don, Aberdeenshire, now a suburb of the much larger city of Aberdeen, named perhaps with the Pictish word *pres-, meaning 'bushes' or 'undergrowth'.... [more]
PressEnglish, Jewish A nickname for a pious individual from the Middle English form of "priest" or possibly someone employed by a priest. In the Jewish sense, one whose occupation was to iron clothes.
PrestwoodEnglish habitational name from any of several places called from Middle English prestpriest "priest" and wode "wood" (Old English preostwudu) meaning "dweller by the priest's wood"
PretoPortuguese comes from the Portuguese word preto meaning "black" or "dark". referring to someone with dark skin and/or hair. possibly a cognate of the spanish surname Prieto
PrevedorosGreek From the Italian rank of provveditore "he who sees to things" (overseer) was the style of various local district governors in the extensive, mainly maritime empire of the Republic of Venice.
PrevotFrench A prevot was a govenment position during the Ancient Régime
PrewettEnglish The surname Prewett is derived from the Middle English word prou, meaning "brave," or "valiant," with the addition of either of two common diminutive suffixes: -et or -ot. As such, this name is thought to have originally been a nickname for someone small but brave.
PrideauxCornish Means "person from Prideaux, earlier Pridias", Cornwall (perhaps based on Cornish prȳ "clay"). The modern Frenchified spelling is based on the idea that the name comes from French près d'eaux "near waters" or pré d'eaux "meadow of waters".
PridmoreEnglish unexplained; perhaps a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place. Pridmore has long been a Leicestershire name.
PrieurFrench from prieur Old French prior "prior" a monastic official immediately subordinate to an abbot (from Latin prior "superior") hence an occupational name for a servant of a prior or an ironic nickname... [more]
PriiEstonian Prii is an Estonian surname meaning "free".
PriidelEstonian Priidel is an Estonian surname derived from "prii" meaning "free".
PrikkEstonian Prikk is an Estonian surname meaning "(ship's) brig".
PrimroseScottish From the name of Primrose in Fife, Scotland, a place originally named Prenrhos, literally "tree-moor" in Welsh. This is the family name of the Earls of Rosebery.
PrinceEnglish, French Nickname from Middle English, Old French prince (Latin princeps), presumably denoting someone who behaved in a regal manner or who had won the title in some contest of skill.
PrincipBosnian, Serbian Probably derived from Latin princeps "leader, initiator, prince", which itself was ultimately derived from primus "first" and capere "to take". The surname may thus have originated as a nickname for someone with a princely appearance, or for someone who was the illegitimate offspring of a prince... [more]
PríncipeItalian, Spanish From principe "prince, heir" (Latin princeps, genitive principis, from primus "first" and capere "to take"), applied probably as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces or for someone in the service of a prince.
PrinsDutch, Jewish Means "prince" in Dutch, but almost never a surname for a prince. Instead, it's an occupational surname for someone in the service of a prince or a nickname for someone who acted in a regal manner. The surname is also Jewish Dutch and is used as an ornamental adoption of Dutch prins still meaning "prince".
PrinslooAfrikaans Prinsloo is an Afrikaans surname. The name is derived from the dutch word Prins (meaning prince), and a loo suffix meaning clearing in the forest. Variant spellings include Prinzloo and Prinslo.
PriorEnglish Occupational surname for a prior (a high-ranking official in a monastery), ultimately from Latin prior meaning "superior, first".
PriorIrish Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Mac an Phríora meaning "son of the prior".
PrioreItalian from Italian priore "prior" either a nickname or occupational name which probably most often originated as a metonymic occupational name for a servant of a prior or some important lay dignitary... [more]
PrivettFrench, English, Welsh (?) French, from the given name Privat (see Privatus). Also an English habitational name from a place so named in Hampshire, derived from Old English pryfet "privet".