KawabataJapanese 'Side or bank of the river'; written two ways, with two different characters for kawa ‘river’. One family is descended from the northern Fujiwara through the Saionji family; the other from the Sasaki family... [more]
SpenderEnglish Occupational name for a paymaster or someone in charge of finances, from Old English spendan "to spend" and Latin expendere "to pay out".
AuricchioItalian "A nickname from a dialect variant of orecchio ‘ear’ (from Latin auricula)."
Von HammersmarkPopular Culture, German (?) Means "from Hammersmark" in German. Bridget von Hammersmark is a fictional character in Quentin Tarantino's film 'Inglourious Basterds' from 2009.
TsunemiJapanese Tsune can mean "constant" or "always" and mi means "see, outlook, viewpoint" .
StekelenburgDutch Derived from Middle Dutch stekel meaning "prickle, stickle, spine, spike" and burg meaning "fortress". A famous bearer is the retired Dutch soccer goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (1982-).
NakagiriJapanese From Japanese 中 (naka) meaning "middle" and 桐 (kiri) meaning "paulownia".
UtsugiJapanese Utsugi can be written in 15 ways, them being: 宇ツ木, 宇次, 宇津城, 宇津木, 宇都城, 宇都木, 卯都木, 卯木, 空木, 槍, 打木, 梼木, 楊盧木, 擣木, 棯. The 宇津木 and 打木 are also place names while 空木 is also a female given name... [more]
HaalandNorwegian From Old Norse Hávaland, derived from hár "high" and land "land, farm". This is the name of several farms in Norway.
HarmaFinnish, Estonian Anglicized form of either Härma or Haarma. The former is a toponymic surname referring to several places in Estonia and Finland, probably derived from the given name Herman... [more]
FleytouxFrench Surname of Léa Fleytoux, French-born dancer with the American Ballet Theater
BahamondeSpanish, Galician Derived from Baamonde (officially called Santiago de Baamonde), a town and parish in the province of Lugo, in Galicia, Spain. This surname was borne by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco Bahamonde (1892-1975).
KönigsbergJewish Associated with the Polish/Prussian/German/Russian town Königsberg, now called Kaliningrad. This surname was borne by the parents of American actor, writer, teacher, and director Walter Koenig (1936-) before they emigrated to the United States.
PeitEstonian Peit is an Estonian surname meaning "concealed" and "hidden".
OkanoJapanese From Japanese 岡 (oka) meaning "hill, ridge" and 野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
ZubeldiaBasque Derived from Basque zumel "holm oak" and the locative suffix -di.
SegarraCatalan Regional name from the district of La Segarra, or habitational name from any of the places named with Segarra or La Segarra in Catalonia and Valencia.
BouteflikaArabic (Maghrebi) Possibly means "one who makes things explode" in Algerian Arabic. A famous bearer is Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1937-), who served as president of Algeria from 1999 to 2019.
IchitomiJapanese (Rare) From either 市 (ichi) meaning "market, fair" or 一 (ichi) meaning "one" combined with 富/冨 (tomi) meaning "riches, wealth, fortune."... [more]
GreenleeEnglish habitational name from any of various minor places, for example in Staffordshire, so named from Old English grene ‘green’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
BickermanEnglish The toponym Bickerton is derived from the Old English beocere, which means bee-keeper, and tun, which originally denoted a fence or enclosure.
ThulisIrish The meaning of the name is unclear, but it seems to derive from the pre 13th century Gaelic O' Tuathalain suggesting that it was probably religious and may translate as "The male descendant of the follower of the lord".
CámaraSpanish Occupational name for a courtier or servant who could access the private quarters of a king or noble, from Spanish cámara meaning "room, chamber".
FantuzziEmilian-Romagnol, Italian A surname derived from the medieval name "Fantino", which is a diminutive of "Fante", usually meaning "infant" or "child", but it was also used to refer to a "foot soldier".
SwintonEnglish, Scottish From various place names composed of Old English swin "pig, wild boar" and tun "settlement, enclosure".
CatsDutch, Jewish Habitational name for a person from the village of Kats in Zeeland, Holland, or a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a cat, derived from Middle Dutch catte literally meaning "cat"... [more]
SuggEnglish (British) Surname of internet personalities Zoe and Joe Sugg. Zoe is known as Zoella on the website YouTube and has a book on sale called "Girl Online". Joe is also a YouTuber.
DepooterFlemish Variant of De Poorter, or alternatively, an occupational name for a farmer or gardener derived from poten "to plant, to sow seeds". Compare Potter.
PoddaItalian From Sardinian podda "flour", or pudda "chicken".
SheikhArabic, Bengali, Urdu From the Arabic title شَيْخ (šayḵ) meaning "chief, chieftain, head". It is used to denote a political or spiritual leader of a Muslim community.
MontaleItalian From Latin mons ("mountain"), this surname was originally given as a nickname to people who lived on hills and mountains. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet and writer Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975.
WeiningerGerman (Swiss), Jewish Denoted a person from Weiningen, a municipality in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. It is also a Jewish ornamental name derived from German wein meaning "wine" and the suffix -inger.
SeanEnglish The stage Surname of English singer Jay Sean (born Kamaljit Singh Jhooti)
GallScottish, Irish, English Nickname, of Celtic origin, meaning "foreigner" or "stranger". In the Scottish Highlands the Gaelic term gall was applied to people from the English-speaking lowlands and to Scandinavians; in Ireland the same term was applied to settlers who arrived from Wales and England in the wake of the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 12th century... [more]
ParkzerEnglish (American, Modern, Rare) Variant of "Parker". Adam Parkzer, better known mononymously as Parkzer, formally known as Adam Park, renamed it to Parkzer because of 'how generic his surname was'
ShulmanJewish It is a Jewish-Polish surname that first appeared around 1090. It means Rabai, Gabbai, or Shamash. These are occupations that take place in a Shul-Synagogue. Shul is the Yiddish word for Synagogue. The name litterally means 'man that goes to the Synagogue'.
ShackladyEnglish Perhaps from a medieval nickname for a man who had had sexual relations with a woman of higher social class (from shag "to copulate with" (not recorded before the late 17th century) and lady).... [more]
ParquierFrench From an Old French word meaning "Keeper of the Park". Made from the element "Parc", meaning park, and the suffix "-ier", which indicates a profession. The surname Parker is a descendant.
JäämetsEstonian Jäämets is an Estonian surname meaning "ice forest".
MacatuladTagalog From Tagalog makatulad meaning "to be able to imitate, to be able to copy".
EckGerman From Old High German ekka meaning "edge, corner".
FrostWelsh Originally spelled Ffrost (the double ff is a Welsh letter). The Welsh word ffrost refered to someone who is excessively bold or a brag, especially with regard to warrior feats. Edmund Ffrost signed his name this way on the ship's register of the boat which brought him to the Massachussett's Bay Colony in 1631... [more]
ChubbEnglish English (mainly West Country): nickname from Middle English chubbe ‘chub’ a common freshwater fish Leuciscus cephalus. The fish is notable for its short fat shape and sluggish habits and the word was used in early Modern English for a lazy spiritless person a rustic or a simpleton... [more]
HatayamaJapanese From Japanese 畑 (hata) or 畠 (hata) both meaning "field" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
HirschbergGerman, Jewish Derived from many places named Hirschberg in the states of Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, or the historic city of Jelenia Góra in southwestern Poland. It is composed of Middle High German hirz meaning "deer, stag" and berg meaning "hill, mountain"... [more]