AllisterScottish The name Allister is derived from the given name Alexander, which in turn was originally derived from the Greek name, which means defender of men. In the late 11th century, Queen Margaret introduced the name, which she had heard in the Hungarian Court where she was raised, into Scotland by naming one of her sons Alexander... [more]
MakiguchiJapanese From Japanese 牧 (maki) meaning "shepard" and 口 (guchi) meaning "mouth, opening".
ErrotabarriaBasque (Archaic) An extinct surname. Derived from Basque errota meaning "mill, factory" with the Spanish suffix -barria which refers to a "neighborhood".
DangerEnglish (Rare), Popular Culture This has been seen in records of the most uncommon American surnames. It has also been used in popular culture, in the show Henry Danger. Although, it's not the character's actual last name.
RacineFrench Means "(tree) root" in French, used as an occupational name for a grower or seller of root vegetables or as a nickname for a stubborn person.
KhatriIndian, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali Name for a member of the Kshatriya caste, derived from Sanskrit क्षत्रिय (kshatriya) referring to the Hindu caste consisting of kings, warriors and soldiers, ultimately from क्षत्र (kshatra) meaning "power, might, dominion".
KwiatPolish Means "flower" in Polish, from the Old Slavic root květŭ.
KuromushaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 黒武者 (Kuromusha) meaning "Kuromusha", a division in the division of Urano in the area of Iriki in the city of Satsumasendai in the prefecture of Kagoshima in Japan or a name of a group of several households in the Kadowari System that took place in the Edo Period in the former Japanese province of Satsuma in parts of present-day Kagoshima, Japan.
NoviItalian Derived from Italian novello and ultimately derived from Latin novellus meaning "new". "Novi" also means "new" in several Slavic languages.
SalussoliaItalian, Piedmontese Originally denoted a person from Salussola, a comune (municipality) in the province of Biella in Piedmont, Italy.
KlempnerGerman, Jewish Means "plumber, tinsmith" in German, derived from Middle Low German klampe "clamp".
MahavongLao From Lao ມະຫາ (maha) meaning "great, grand, excellent" and ວົງ (vong) meaning "lineage, family".
BrasseurFrench French and English (of both Norman and Huguenot origin): occupational name for a brewer, from Old French brasser ‘to brew’. See also Brasher.
NewbroughEnglish (British) Newbrough surname is thought to be a habitational, taken on from a place name such as from Newbrough in Northumberland, which is derived from the Old English words niwe, meaning "new," and burh, meaning "fortification."
DerricottEnglish Habitational name, possibly a variant of Darracott, from Darracott in Devon. However, the present-day concentration of the form Derricott in the West Midlands and Shropshire suggests that this may be a distinct name, from a different source, now lost.
EichenbergGerman Derived from Middle High German eih "oak" and berg "mountain hill" meaning "oak hill, oak mountain"; a topographic name for someone who lived on an oak-covered hillside or a habitational name from any of the places so named... [more]
KochiyamaJapanese From 河 (ko) meaning "river, stream", 内 (chi) meaning "inside" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
MonrealSpanish Habitational name from any of the places called Monreal for example in Cuenca Teruel and Zaragoza provinces.
ToroSpanish, Italian Either a habitational name from Toro in Zamora province. Compare De Toro . Or a nickname for a lusty person or for someone who owned a bull or a metonymic occupational name for a tender of bulls or possibly for a bull fighter from toro "bull" (from Latin taurus).
GrafJewish, Yiddish Ornamental name selected, like Herzog and other words denoting titles, because of their aristocratic connotations.
Cabeza De VacaSpanish Literally translates to "cow's head" or "head of a cow". It is likely an occupational name for someone who was associated with cows or cattle, perhaps as a rancher or butcher. Alternatively, it could also have been used to describe someone with a thick-headed or stubborn personality.
BroccoliItalian, Sicilian From the Italian plural for “The flowering crest of a cabbage”. Best known as the surname of the (Calabrian-originated) Sicilian American family who made James Bond internationally famous, by making movies (loosely) based on the books where the titular antihero himself appeared.
KanamotoJapanese Kana means "gold, metal, money" and moto means "origin, root, source".
DandanUyghur A family name originates from the Hotan area
RagsdaleEnglish Apparently an English habitational name from Ragdale in Leicestershire, which is probably named from Old English hraca "gully", "narrow pass" + dæl "valley", "dale".
CatesEnglish English patronymic from the Old Norse byname Káti (from káti ‘boy’).
LitwakJewish From Yiddish ליטוואַק (litvak) meaning "Litvak (a Lithuanian Jew)", ultimately from the archaic Polish word Litwak meaning "Lithuanian".
DriverEnglish Occupational name for a driver of horses or oxen attached to a cart or plow, or of loose cattle, from a Middle English agent derivative of Old English drīfan ‘to drive’.
DulcamaraItalian given to my great great grandfather who was left on the doorstep of a church in Chiavari Italy. The priest took inspiration from names of plants in the garden. This one came from the plant in English would mean 'bitter sweet nightshade'
WalliserGerman Denoting somebody from Valais (German form Wallis), a canton in Switzerland, or someone who immigrated from Valais, ultimately from Latin vallis "valley, vale".
FurmanPolish, Czech, Slovak, Jewish, Slovene, English, German (Anglicized) Polish, Czech, Slovak, Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic), and Slovenian: occupational name for a carter or drayman, the driver of a horse-drawn delivery vehicle, from Polish, Yiddish, and Slovenian furman, a loanword from German (see Fuhrmann)... [more]
UysalTurkish Means "docile, easygoing, peaceful" in Turkish.
KarunawardanaSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit करुणा (karuna) meaning "compassion, mercy" and वर्धन (vardhana) meaning "increasing, strengthening, growing".
FalcesSpanish (Philippines) Falces is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. In Basque the town is called Faltzes. It has a population of around 2500 inhabitants. It is well known for the famous "encierro del pilon", which is a running of the bulls made even more dangerous due to it being run down a narrow road of a steep hill... [more]
QuinlivanIrish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Caoindealbháin meaning "descendant of Caoindealbhán", a personal name composed of caoin "comely, fair" and dealbh "form" with the diminutive suffix -án (compare Quinlan).
UhlířCzech Uhlíř is a originally craftsman dedicated to the production of charcoal. It is also called a person involved in the distribution of coal.... [more]
SilbermannGerman, Jewish Variant of Silber. from Middle High German silber German silber "silver" and Middle High German Yiddish man "man" an occupation for a man who worked with silver.
HaljasEstonian Haljas is an Estonian surname meaning "verdant".
DiotalleviItalian Means "god raise you", from Italian dio "god, deity" and allevi "to raise (children)". Often given to abandoned or orphaned children.
PolitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Habitational name derived from any one of several places called Police (known as Pölitz in German) in the Czech Republic. Hugh David Politzer (1949-) is an American theoretical physicist who, along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek, discovered asymptotic freedom.
SinijärvEstonian Sinijärv is an Estonian surname meaning "blue lake".
SchoenwetterGerman German (Schönwetter): nickname for someone with a happy disposition, from Middle High German schœn ‘beautiful’, ‘fine’, ‘nice’ + wetter ‘weather’.
BrushScottish (Rare) Quite literally means "brush". Might derive from the Scottish Gaelic word bhrus which means "brush", or the Latin root br which means "explained". Was a nickname for those described to 'look like a brush'(i.e. hair that sticks up, thin with a big head, etc.)
TortoraItalian From a given name derived from Italian tortora meaning "turtle dove", ultimately from Latin turtur (genitive turturis). It could also derive from a town and comune with the same name, located in the province of Cosenza in Calabria, Italy.
ZwackPolish Comes from the Polish name "Czwak." Possible German roots as well.
HasadoJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 挟土 (hasado), a sound-changed clipping from 国之狭土神 (Kuninosadzuchinokami) meaning "Kuninosadzuchinokami" or 天之狭土神 (Amenosadzuchinokami) meaning "Amenosadzuchinokami", both names of gods of soil.... [more]
OpstadNorwegian Norwegian: habitational name from any of ten farmsteads in southeastern Norway named Olstad, from a contracted form of Old Norse Ólafsstaðir, from the personal name Ólaf + staðir, plural of staðr ‘farmstead’, ‘dwelling’.
WiemannLow German Variant of Weinmann, from Middle Low German, Middle High German winman ‘viticulturalist’, ‘wine merchant’. Variant of Wiedemann... [more]
KulawansaSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit कुल (kula) meaning "family" and वंश (vansa) meaning "lineage, clan, family".
StentEnglish (Archaic) Derived from the Old Norse name Steinn meaning "stone". Recorded in several forms including Stein, Steen, Stone and Ston, this surname is english. It is perhaps not surprisingly one of the first recorded surnames anywhere in the world.... [more]
KangChinese, Korean From Chinese 康 (kāng), derived from Kangju (康居), the Chinese name for an ancient kingdom in Central Asia (now known as Sogdiana). It may also refer to the city of Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, which was called 康 in Chinese.
PabelicoFilipino From the word Pabel which means, "Humble". Pabelico means "Humblest".
ItoJapanese Variant transcription of Japanese Kanji 井筒 (see Itō).
TsukiokaJapanese From Japanese 月 (tsuki) meaning "moon" and 岡 (oka) meaning "hill, ridge". A notable bearer of this surname was Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡 芳年, 1839–1892), a Japanese artist who is widely recognized as the last great master of the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock printing and painting.