Von WestphalenGerman Denoted a person from Westphalia, a region of northwestern Germany, borrowed from Medieval Latin Westphalia, derived from Middle Low German Westvâlen "west field".
ReiszHungarian, German (Archaic), Jewish Variant form of Reis, or else a patronymic from a pet form of one of the Germanic compound names formed with raginą "counsel, advice" as the first element.
HospodPolish (Rare) From the Proto-Slavic gospodь, meaning "lord" or "host." Variant of the Old Polish gospodzin, meaning "landlord."... [more]
MakabeJapanese From 真 (ma, shin) meaning "real, genuine, true" and 壁 (kabe, heki) meaning "wall, barrier".
BarreiroGalician, Portuguese Barreiro is a habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal named with a derivative of barro 'clay loam'.
SilhouetteFrench (Rare) Famous bearers include Étienne de Silhouette (1709–67), French author and politician. He was a French Ancien Régime Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV.
UshidaJapanese From Japanese 牛 (ushi) meaning "cow" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
GrammerGerman, English Variant of Krämer or a habitational name for someone possibly from German places called Gram or Grammen. It can also be an English occupational name for a scholar or an astrologer, derived from Old French gramaire meaning "grammarian, scholar, astrologer"... [more]
BateyEnglish (?) Originates from mostly northern England. Is the presumed given name to fishers. (With it meaning "Small fishing boat" in old English.)
FroudEnglish From the Old English personal name Frōda or Old Norse Fróði, both meaning literally "wise" or "prudent". A variant spelling was borne by British historian James Anthony Froude (1818-1894).
CableEnglish English: metonymic occupational name for a maker of rope, especially the type of stout rope used in maritime applications, from Anglo-Norman French cable ‘cable’ (Late Latin capulum ‘halter’, of Arabic origin, but associated by folk etymology with Latin capere ‘to seize’).... [more]
PfundGerman metonymic occupational name for a sealer of weights, or for a wholesale merchant, from Middle High German pfunt ‘pound’ (as a measure of weight and a unit of currency).
GatenbyEnglish (British) Derives from the place of Gatenby in North Yorkshire, which comes from an Old Norse personal name "Gaithen", likely from Old Norse geitin "goats" (later influenced by Old English gāt "goat") and the suffix býr "farm, settlement", referring to a settlement with goats... [more]
AmetxazurraBasque (Rare) From the name of a neighborhood in the municipality of Gordexola, Spain, possibly derived from an element related to Basque ametz "Pyrenean oak" and zur "wood, timber".
BrissendenEnglish Derived from either of two places in Kent, England called Brissenden (one near Frittenden and the other near Tenterden), both named with the Old English given name Breosa (a byname derived from bresa meaning "gadfly") and Old English denn meaning "woodland pasture (for swine)".
BeekmanDutch, German (Americanized) Means "creek man" in Dutch, a topographic name for a person who lived by a creek, or an Americanized form of the German cognate Beekmann.
YukimoriJapanese Means 'snow forest' from 'yuki' meaning 'snow' and 'mori' meaning 'forest'.
BleulerGerman (Swiss) From an agent derivative of Middle High German bliuwen meaning "to pound". Hence an occupational name for the owner of a pounding mill.
RajalaEstonian Rajala is an Estonian surname meaning "boundary area/field".
SchwingGerman Occupational name for someone whose job was to swingle flax, i.e. to beat the flax with a swingle in order to remove the woody parts of the plant prior to spinning, from Middle German swingen meaning "to swing" or swing meaning "swingle".
ProvodnikovRussian From Russian проводник (provodnik) meaning "conductor". Means "son of a conductor".
VaaksEstonian Vaaks is an Estonian surname meaning "elecampane" ("Inula helenium", also called "horse-heal" or "elfdock").
LockhartScottish, German Scottish: of uncertain origin, probably from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements loc ‘lock’, ‘bolt’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. English: occupational name for a herdsman in charge of a sheep or cattlefold, from Old English loc ‘enclosure’, ‘fold’ + hierde ‘herd(er)’.
AjemianArmenian Patronymic from Turkish acem meaning ‘Persian’, ‘foreigner’, from Arabic a’jam meaning ‘one who speaks Arabic incorrectly’.
DaughtryEnglish, Norman English (of Norman origin) habitational name, with fused French preposition d(e), for someone from Hauterive in Orne, France, named from Old French haute rive ‘high bank’ (Latin alta ripa).
RajasaarEstonian Rajasaar is an Estonian surname meaning "border island" or "storm island".
BroderickIrish, Welsh, English Surname which comes from two distinct sources. As a Welsh surname it is derived from ap Rhydderch meaning "son of Rhydderch". As an Irish surname it is an Anglicized form of Ó Bruadair meaning "descendent of Bruadar"... [more]
BehringerGerman Habitational name for someone from either of two places called Behringen, near Soltau and in Thuringia, or from Böhringen in Württemberg.
MetelRussian Probably derives from Russian метель (metél’), which comes from Proto-Slavic *metělь. Метель (Metél’) means "snowstorm, blizzard" which probably indicates someone who lived in an extremely snowy area.
ShockleyEnglish (i) perhaps "person from Shocklach", Cheshire ("boggy stream infested with evil spirits"); (ii) perhaps an anglicization of Swiss German Schoechli, literally "person who lives by the little barn"
LaflècheFrench (Quebec) A French-Canadian secondary surname from "Richer dit Laflèche," used independently since 1746. Laflèche is derived from the French town of La Flèche, in the former province of Anjou.
KriebelGerman Nickname from Middle High German kribeln "to tickle, tingle, itch". Can also be a variant form of Kreul.
HovdaNorwegian Habitational name from the many farmsteads in Norway named Hovda. Derived from Old Norse hófði "rounded peak", itself derived from Old Norse hofuð "head".
ElorriagaBasque It indicates familial origin within either of 5 eponymous neighborhoods: the one in Gasteiz, the one in Deba, the one in Kortezubi, the one in Barakaldo, or the one in Lemoa.
AbeynayakeSinhalese From Sanskrit अभय (abhaya) meaning "fearless" and नायक (nāyaka) meaning "hero, leader".
BrophyIrish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bróithe ‘descendant of Bróth’, a personal name or byname of unknown origin. Also Anglicized as Broy.
MalpassEnglish, Scottish, French Habitational name from any of various places named Malpas, because of the difficulty of the terrain, from Old French mal pas "bad passage" (Latin malus passus). It is a common French minor place name, and places in Cheshire, Cornwall, Gwent, and elsewhere in England were given this name by Norman settlers... [more]
RubinoItalian The surname Rubino derives from the name Rubino, in turn originated from the Latin term "Rubeus" (red) with evident reference to the well-known precious stone. It is thought that originally the surname was attributed to the physical characteristics of having red hair, however, the origin of the surname Rubino from the Hebrew term "Ruben" which meant "son of providence", or even from the apheresis of the name "Cherubino".
DamaskosGreek Greek term for دمشق (Dimašq) known in English as Damascus, the capital of Syria and one of the oldest capitals in the world.
Van RuisdaelDutch Means "from Ruisdael", the name of a lost castle, also called Ruisschendaal, near the village of Blaricum in North Holland, the Netherlands. It means "noisy valley" in Dutch. This name was borne by members of the Van Ruisdael family of artists during the Dutch Golden Age, notably the landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael (c... [more]
KurimotoJapanese From Japanese 栗 (kuri) meaning "chestnut" and 本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".
ShōamiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 正阿弥 (shōami), a sect of kettle brim making, hat brim making, or weapon-end guard making.
BrambleEnglish This surname is taken from the word which refers to a common blackberry (British) or any of several closely related thorny plants in the Rubus genus (US). It also refers to any thorny shrub. The word is derived from Old English bræmbel with a euphonic -b- inserted from the earlier bræmel or brémel, which is then derived from Proto-Germanic *bræmaz meaning "thorny bush."
MacalusoItalian Possibly from Arabic مخلوص (maklus) "freed, liberated", indicating a freedman or slave who had been liberated, which may be related to Sicilian macaluscio, "cleaned and prepared cotton".
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.
ElamEnglish English habitational name for someone from a place called Elham, in Kent, or a lost place of this name in Crayford, Kent. The first is derived from Old English el ‘eel’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘enclosure hemmed in by water’... [more]
FukuchiJapanese From Japanese 福 (fuku) meaning "happiness, good fortune, blessing" and 地 (chi) meaning "earth, soil, ground".
SenriJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 千里 with 千 (sen, chi) meaning "thousand" and 里 (ri, sato) meaning "league, parent's home, ri (type of measurement), village."... [more]
TennantEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for a farmer who holds a feudal tenure in a property, ultimately derived from Latin teneo "to hold, to keep".
NuteEnglish Possibly derived from the given name Cnute, or be a variant of Newitt. Alternatively, it may be from Old English hnutu "brown", a nickname for someone with a brown complexion or hair.
ZatarainBasque From any of several place names in Basque Country, Spain, probably derived from the toponymic suffix -ain and an uncertain first element possibly meaning "thicket, underbrush". Alternatively, could derive from an altered form of Basque talaia "watchtower, lookout, vantage point", which is ultimately from Arabic طليعة (ṭalīʕa) "forefront, vanguard".
EbiharaJapanese From a combination of 海 (e) meaning "vastly, gathered, sea, ocean, wide, vast" and 老 (bi) meaning "old age, elderly" or 蛯 (ebi) meaning "pawn, shrimp, lobster", that is then combined with 原 (hara) meaning "plain, field".