WitzelGerman The German surname is of patronymic origin, deriving from the name of the father of the original bearer.
AirdScottish Gaelic Derived from a variation of the place name "Aird". The Gaelic term "Aird" would mean "high ground" or "hill" in English.
TilsleyEnglish Derived from the place name Tyldesley, which in turn derives from Old English personal name Tīlweald with the suffix lēah “clearing, meadow”. Notable bearers of this name include Canadian salvationist and writer Bramwell Tillsley, as well as Welsh poet and Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales Gwilym Tilsley known under his bardic name of "Tilsli".... [more]
RoossaarEstonian Roossaar is an Estonian surname meaning "rose island".
BestautyOssetian Derived from Ossetian бистэ (biste) meaning "village, suburb" or from Persian به (beh) meaning "good, excellent, better". In the case of the former, it would have been used to indicate the place of residence of an ancestor.
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]
CantieniRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Antieni.
RähnEstonian Rähn is an Estonian surname meaning "woodpecker".
GaitanosGreek Derived from the Ancient Greek Καίετανος (Kaietanos) meaning "who come from the cave/port" or "who come from Gaeta", an ancient Greek port that is located in the Italian modern province of Lazio.
MondriaanDutch Meaning uncertain. It is a variant of the surname Mondriaal, which could possibly be a Dutch cognate of Monreal, meaning "royal mountain". This was the real surname of the Dutch-American painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944).
PoItalian Derived from Po the longest river in Italy (651,8 km). It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps across the regions: Piemonte, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto... [more]
BadeGerman Occupational name for a messenger, derived from an element related to Old Germanic budą "message, offer".
EmotoJapanese From 柄 (e) meaning "pattern, hilt, stalk", 恵 (e) meaning "blessing", or 江 (e) meaning "inlet bay" combined with 本 (moto) meaning "origin, root".... [more]
VaandragerDutch Means "flag-bearer, ensign" in Dutch, from vaan "banner, vane, flag" and drager "carrier, bearer".
SuwannaphumThai (Rare) From Thai สุวรรณภูมิ (Suwannaphum), from Sanskrit सुवर्णभूमि (Suvárṇabhūmi) meaning "Suvarnabhumi", referring to various places throughout Southeast Asia as "golden land; land of gold".
SelwynEnglish from the Middle English personal name Selewin (Old English Selewine perhaps from sele "manor" or sǣl "happiness prosperity" and wine "friend")... [more]
NemoEnglish A different form of Nimmo (a Scottish name of unknown origin).
UmplebyEnglish Originally given to people from the village of Anlaby in East Yorkshire, UK. Written as Umlouebi in the Domesday Book, the place name is from Old Norse given name Óláfr + býr, "farmstead" or "village".
KensleyEnglish This surname might derive from the surname Kinsley or from the locational surname Kelsey (denoting someone who is from either North or South Kelsey in Lincolnshire).
MalenkoUkrainian From Ukrainian маленький (malen'kyy), meaning "small".
SaffiotiItalian From the place name Punta Safò, a settlement in Briatico.
GerwigGerman, French Derived from the Germanic given name Gerwig, ultimately from the elements gēr meaning "spear" and wīg meaning "battle, fight". This surname is also found in France (mainly in the region of Alsace)... [more]
GrünfeldGerman, Jewish Habitational name from any of several places in northern and central Germany named Grünfeld named with elements meaning "green open country" derived from the elements gruoni "green" and feld "field"... [more]
HowdyshellAmerican, German Americanized (i.e., Anglicized) form of the Swiss German Haudenschild, which originated as a nickname for a ferocious soldier, literally meaning "hack the shield" from Middle High German houwen "to chop or hack" (imperative houw) combined with den (accusative form of the definite article) and schilt "shield".
TakaharaJapanese From Japanese 高 (taka) meaning "tall, high" and 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".
MaiGerman Derived from German der Mai meaning "May", perhaps indicating a person who was baptized in that month.
KloosterEstonian Klooster is an Estonian surname meaning "cloister" and "abbey". Borrowed from Middle Low German "klôster"; ultimately from Medieval Latin "claustrum".
NagarajanIndian From "Naga" meaning cobra and "Raja" meaning king.
MontenegroSpanish, Portuguese Habitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in Spain and Portugal named Montenegro, from Spanish and Portuguese monte meaning "mountain, hill" and negro meaning "black".
DadashiPersian Derived from Persian داداش (dadash) meaning "brother".
DeetzGerman (Americanized), German Either an Americanized form of German Dietz or a North German surname which is ultimately derived from the same source (from an old personal name formed with Old High German diota "people, nation")... [more]
MeguriJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 廻 (meguri), from 廻り (meguri) meaning "transport route, regular visit". This is the name of a former village in the district of Aira in the former Japanese province of Ōsumi in parts of present-day Kagoshima, Japan.
AshidoJapanese From Japanese 芦 (ashi) meaning "reed" and 戸 (do) meaning "door"
RekdalNorwegian The name of people from the small town Rekdal in West-Norway. Former footballer Kjetil Rekdal (1968- ) is the most known person from there.
ThornburgEnglish The name Thornburg comes from the Old English thorn broc, because the original bearers lived near a "stream by the thorns" in Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire.
GarateBasque Habitational name from a town called Garate in Basque Country, or a topographic name, possibly from a derivative of Basque gara "height, peak" (garhaite in some dialects).
StultsGerman The Stults surname is derived from the German word "stoltz," which means "proud," and as such, it was most likely originally a nickname, which became a hereditary surname.
NedelcuRomanian (Modern) Entered Romania around the 16th century via Bulgaria as a popular female given name - Neda/Nedelea etc., attested under the form of Nedelco/Nedelcu in the historical region of Basarabia around 1560, became a surname in the following century... [more]
VeitchScottish Derived from the Latin word vacca which means "cow". This was either an occupational name for a cowherd or a nickname for a gentle person.
Van WijngaardenDutch Means "from Wijngaarden", a village in South Holland, Netherlands, meaning "vineyards" in Dutch. It’s uncertain if there was ever actually a vineyard in or near the village.
SichkarUkrainian Probably from Ukrainian Січ (Sich), the name of Zaporizhzhyan cossack group.
DangalNepali (Modern) The surname Dangal is supposed to be the shortened form of the demonym Dangali (pronounced DHAA-NGAA-LEE) for Dang (pronounced DHAA-NG), a district in Mid-Western Nepal. The surname is found to have been adopted by various communities, especially the Tiwaris (for the surname Tiwari), after they migrated to various regions of the countries and the locals in those regions referred to them as Dangalis (later shortened to Dangal) instead of their original surnames.
YonemotoJapanese Yone means "rice, America" and moto means "origin, root, source, base".
AugsburgerGerman habitational name for someone from the city of Augsburg in Bavaria named as the city (burg) of the Roman Emperor Augustus in whose reign it was founded.
ShinwariPashto Perhaps from Shinwar, the name of a Pashtun-inhabited district in Afghanistan. The Shinwari are a Pashtun tribe found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
MercedesSpanish (Caribbean) Means "mercies," from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary, María de las Mercedes, meaning "Mary of Mercies."
ManeraItalian Either a habitational name from any of two places called Manera in the Italian provinces of Cuneo and Como, a nickname and perhaps a metonymic occupational name (from the dialect word manèra meaning "executioner's axe, cleaver" or from Italian manero "well-behaved, skilled"), or derived from the given name Mainiero (ultimately from Frankish Maginhari, composed of the Ancient Germanic elements magin "strength, might" and hari, heri "army").
NishioJapanese From Japanese 西 (nishi) meaning "west" and 尾 (o) meaning "tail, end".
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.
PeltonEnglish Habitational name from Pelton, a place in County Durham, named from an unattested Old English personal name Peola + tun 'farmstead', 'settlement'.
VilpuuEstonian Vilpuu is an Estonian surname derived from "vili" ("fruit") and "puu" ("tree").
BacriJudeo-Spanish Possibly derived from Arabic بكر (bikr) meaning "firstborn, eldest". Alternately it may be an occupational name for a cowherd or cattle merchant from بقر (baqar) meaning "cattle".
HaylingEnglish Either (i) "person from Hayling", Hampshire ("settlement of Hægel's people"); or (ii) from the Old Welsh personal name Heilyn, literally "cup-bearer" (see also Palin).
Vogt Von FormbachMedieval German Toponymic variant of Vogt. Bearers of this surname descend from the Grafen von Reinhausen-Winzenburg and Grafen von Radelberg. Members of this comital family also use the surnames Vogt von Formbach und Stift and Vogt von Formbach und Göttweih.
ImadaJapanese From the Japanese 今 (ima) "now" and 田 (ta) "rice paddy" or 多 (ta) "many."
DiabateWestern African From the name of the Diabaté clan of the Mandinka and the closely related Soninke peoples, usually interpreted as “the irresistible.”
HommikEstonian Hommik is an Estonian surname meaning "morning".
HuhKorean Variant transcription of Korean Hangul 허 (see Heo).
FukutaJapanese Fuku means "lucky, fortunate" and ta means "field, rice paddy".
HuitemaDutch Possibly a patronymic form of Hoite, a pet form of names containing the element hugu "mind, thought, spirit", using the Frisian suffix -ma "man of".
IshimaJapanese I means "well, pit, mineshaft" and shims means "island", or it could be spelled with ishi meaning "rock, stone" and ma meaning "pause".
TinsleyEnglish From a place name in England composed of the unattested name Tynni and Old English hlaw "hill, mound, barrow".