CavaItalian, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese From cava ‘cave’, ‘cellar’ (from Latin cavea), hence a metonymic occupational name for someone employed in the wine cellars of a great house, a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a cave, or a habitational name from any of numerous places named with this word.
CavadentiItalian From Italian cava ("to extract, to pull out") and denti ("teeth"), an occupational name for a dentist.
CaveNorman, French, English A name of various possible origins. As a Norman French name Cave can mean "bald" from cauf or it can mean "worker in a wine cellar" or "one who dwelt in or near a cave". As an English name Cave refers to a Yorkshire river whose fast current inspired the name meaning "swift".
CavegnRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Vivengius, itself a variant of Viventius.
CaveltiRomansh The first element is derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family". The second element is of debated origin and meaning; theories include an adoption of Swiss German Welti.
CaverlyEnglish English surname, a variant of the English surname Calverley, itself derived from the Old English calf "calf" and leag "field, clearing".
CaviedesCantabrian (Hispanicized) Castilianized form of a surname that indicates familial origin within an eponymous locality in the municipality of Valdáliga.
CaviezelRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Viezel, a Romansh form of Wetzel.
CavigelliRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Vigelli (see Vigeli).
CavillEnglish Derived from Cavil, a place located in the East Riding of Yorkshire in northern England, named from Old English ca meaning "jackdaw" and feld meaning "open country". It is borne by the British actor Henry Cavill (1983-).
ÇavuşoğluTurkish Means "son of the sergeant" or "son of the messenger", from Turkish çavuş meaning "sergeant, messenger, herald, pursuivant" combined with the patronymic suffix -oğlu.
CawasIndian (Parsi), Persian, Indian, Arabic Cawas is an Indian (Parsi) surname which means “Arch” in Persian and ultimately Arabic. John Cawas of Toofani Tarzan fame was a notable person with that surname.
CawoodEnglish Traditional English habitational surname meaning "jackdaw wood" from the Old English ca referring to 'jackdaw' (a member of the crow family), and wudu 'wood'.
CaylusFrench Of debated origin and meaning; theories include a Southern French corruption of Latin castellum "castle, fort, citadel, fortress, stronghold".
CazacuRomanian From the name of the Cazacu River which flows through Romania.
CazalyEnglish (Australian) The meaning of this surname is unknown. This is a very important name in Australian Football culture, as it was the surname of a very prestigious Australian rules football player, Roy Cazaly. Mike Brady, from The Two Man Band, published a song called "Up There Cazaly", which is played every year at the AFL grand finals, thus making this surname is well-known by Australian Football fans.
CeaușescuRomanian (Rare) Derived from Romanian ceauș "doorman, courier, usher" (ultimately derived from Ottoman Turkish çavuş "messenger, sergeant"). A notable bearer of the surname is the infamous Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
CeesayWestern African, Manding Gambian surname of Mandinka origin, which originally indicated a descendant of a marabout, i.e. a West African Muslim teacher and religious leader.... [more]
ÇehreTurkish Means "face" in Turkish, possibly denoting a person with a notable face, from Persian چهره (čehre) "face, visage".
CehuanocatlNahuatl Meaning uncertain, possibly derived from Nahuatl cehua "to be cold, cold weather" or cehualli "shadow, shade cast by something", combined with the suffix -catl indicating affiliation.
ČelikCroatian, Serbian Derived from Serbo-Croatian "čelik", ultimately from Turkish çelik, meaning "steel".
ČelikovićCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian Derived from Serbo-Croatian "čelik", ultimately from Turkish çelik, meaning "steel". The -ović suffix is a patronym.
CelsiusSwedish (Archaic), History Latinized form of Högen "the mound" (Latin: celsus), the name of a vicarage in Ovanåker parish, Sweden. Celsius is a unit of measurement for temperature named for Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744).
CeludrusPersian Mythology (Rare, Archaic, ?) It is a mystical name of a fiction book by an author named Giselle Viatcheslav, meaning "DRAGON DIAMOND GUARDIAN OF EVIL". It emerged shortly after a millennium dragon gives birth to a child with vampire blood on the sacred celestial moon... [more]
CembrolaItalian My family is from St. Angelo, de Oliva, Naples, Italy
CenChinese From Chinese 岑 (cén) referring to the ancient fief of Cen, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shaanxi province.
CenaEnglish (American), English Cena is a prominently used English name. It is derived from the word "see", however it rather than referring to the ability to see it, what it actually refers to is the inability to see as the other half of the name ("-na") means "naw" a synonym for "no"... [more]
CenaItalian Derived from Latin meaning "dinner, meal, supper". Possibly an occupational name for a cook or a waiter. In an alternative representation, it could be given to someone who's known for hosting or being involved in meals or dinners, or may have given this surname to an illegitimate child who was not welcomed at the dinner table.
CenaPolish From Polish meaning "price". Possibly an occupational name for a trader or dealer.
CentofantiItalian Means "a hundred soldiers on foot" in Italian, derived from Italian cento meaning "(a) hundred" and Italian fanti, which is the plural form of fante meaning "soldier, infantryman"... [more]
CentoreItalian from cento ore "hundred gold pieces" hence probably a nickname for a wealthy person.
CenturiónSpanish Originally a nickname derived from Spanish centurión (ultimately from Late Latin centum) literally meaning "centurion". Historically, a centurion is a military officer who commanded one hundred men in an Ancient Roman army during the classical period.
CeraSpanish, Italian, Catalan, Sicilian Metonymic occupational name for a wax seller, derived from Latin cera meaning "wax". A famous bearer of this surname is Canadian actor and musician Michael Cera (1988-).
CerasuoloItalian Means "cherry-colored." Appears as a word in many Italian dictionaries, but may have origins in the Greek period of Naples, where it seems to have originated. There are at least two villages found with the name, the most notable being near Monte Cassino, where many Japanese-American soldiers won Medals of Honor or other awards for heroism during WW II... [more]
CerdaSpanish, Portuguese Nickname for a person with a prominent tuft of hair, derived from Spanish and Portuguese cerda meaning "bristle, stiff, coarse, short, thick hair", ultimately from Late Latin cirra.
CerdàCatalan Denoted someone from Cerdanya (also called La Cerdanya), a natural and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain.
CerettiItalian (Tuscan), Medieval Italian (Tuscan) The surname Cerri is derived from the Italian word cerro, which means bitter or Turkey oak. Often Italian local surnames bore the prefix "di", which signifies emigration from one place to another.... [more]
CerezoSpanish (European) Surname, in general, of toponymic origin, frequent and distributed throughout Spain, from the noun -cerezo-, "fruit tree whose fruit is the cherry". The surname was derived from nicknames or through the many toponyms in Cerezo existing in Spain, names of populations such as Cerezo (Cáceres), Cerezo de Mohernando (Guadalajara), etc., whose name was taken by some individuals for be native from one of them, as was the custom in the Middle Ages.There were, therefore, different houses of the surname Cerezo unrelated to each other, the Castilian and Extremaduran being very old, whose branches passed to La Rioja, Andalusia, Valencia and Murcia.
CeriseFrench, Italian Italian habitational name from La Cerise or Torrent-La Cerise placenames in Valle d'Aosta from French cerise "cherry"; and French occupational name from cerise "cherry" (from Latin cerasus) applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or sold cherries.
ÇerkezTurkish Means "Circassian" or "Adyghe" in Turkish, referring to an ethnic group native to the Caucasus.
CerqueiraPortuguese Habitational name from any of various places named Cerquerira, in most cases from a Latin derivative of quercus "oak". The family name also occurs in Sicily, probably of the same origin.
CerritoItalian Variant of Cerri, or directly from Sicilian cirritu "Turkey oak grove".
CerticHungarian (Modern) this is my father's family name. I did not grow up with him but have been told his family came here from Hungary. He was born in Marianna Pennsylvania.
CespedesSpanish From the plural of cesped "peat", "turf" (Latin caespes, genitive caespitis), applied as a habitational name from a place named Céspedes (for example in Burgos province) or named with this word, or a topographic name for someone who lived by an area of peat, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for someone who cut and sold turf.
CestareEnglish (American, Modern) There is a similar name, Sastre, which is the Spanish form of the surname Sarto, meaning "tailor." The name CESTARE is phonetically similar to Sastre and could be a derivative of that name.... [more]
CestaroItalian From cesta "basket" and the suffix -aro, an occupational name for a basket maker.
CesurTurkish Means "bold, brave, courageous" in Turkish.
ChửVietnamese Vietnamese form of Chu, from Sino-Vietnamese 褚 (chử).
ChaKorean Cha is a relatively uncommon family name in Korea. The Yeonan Cha clan is the only clan. The founding ancestor was Cha Hyo-jeon, son of Ryoo Cha-dal (류차달) (10th century AD). Most of the clan's members live in Gyeongsang, Hwanghae, and P'yŏngan provinces... [more]
ChaHmong From the clan name Tsab or Tsaab associated with the Chinese character 張 (zhāng) (see Zhang).
ChabanaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 茶 (cha) meaning "tea" and 花 (bana), the joining form of 花 (hana) meaning "flower".
ChabashiraJapanese (Rare) From 茶 (cha) literally meaning "green tea" and 柱 (hashira) meaning "pillar". A tea pillar is considered good luck in Japanese culture.
ChabataJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 茶 (cha) meaning "tea" and 幡 (bata), the joining form of 幡 (hata), a clipping of 八幡 (Yahata), the name of a Shintō shrine in possibly Hiroshima, Japan.
ChaemchamratThai From Thai แจ่ม (chaem) meaning "bright, clear, shining" and จำรัส (chamrat) meaning "brilliant, radiant, prosperous".
ChaemsaiThai Means "clear, without clouds" in Thai.
ChaffeyEnglish Possibly, Chaffcombe in Somerset or Chaffhay in Devon
ChaffinEnglish A diminutive that originated from the Old French word chauf, which itself is derived from Latin calvus, both meaning "bald". Originally used as an Anglo-Norman nickname for a bald man.