PettisEnglish From the possessive or plural form of Middle English pytte, pitte ‘pit’, ‘hollow’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a pit, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Pett in East Sussex.
HopfGerman An occupational name for a brewer or farmer, from German Hopfen meaning "hops", a plant used in preserving and flavouring beer.
HowladerBengali From a Bengali word meaning "land owner", itself derived from Arabic حول (hawl) meaning "power, might, strength" and the Persian suffix دار (dar) indicating ownership.
VillardGerman Altered form of German Hilgard, from the female personal name Hildegard, composed of the Germanic elements hild "strife, battle" and gard "fortress, stronghold".
NasuJapanese From 奈 (na) meaning "what" and 須 (su) meaning "mandatory, moment, necessary".
BondeSwedish, Old Swedish, Danish From Old Norse bóndi "farmer". Used as both a last name and a (rare) given name in Sweden (see Bonde for the given name and Bondesson as an example of a patronymic derived from this name)... [more]
DundassScottish Variation of Dundas possibly miss spelled at imagination into Quebec (Lower Canada) late 18th Century
WindhamEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) English habitational name from Wyndham in West Sussex, near West Grinstead, probably named from an unattested Old English personal name Winda + Old English hamm ‘water meadow’; or from Wymondham in Leicestershire and Norfolk, named from the Old English personal name Wigmund (see Wyman) + Old English ham ‘homestead’... [more]
ErrolScottish Derived from a village by this name in Perthshire.
DazaiJapanese 太宰 is translated as (plump; thick; big around | superintend; manager; rule) it could be roughly translated as meaning "a plump superintend"... [more]
TsuchiyamaJapanese From Japanese 土 (tsuchi) meaning "earth, soil, ground" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill". Other Kanji combinations are possible.
MontevirgenSpanish (Philippines) From the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary, Nuestra Señora de Montevirgen, meaning "Our Lady of Mount Virgin," dedicated at the Convento de Montevirgen (Convent of Mount Virgin) in the municipality of Villalba de los Barros, located in Extremadura's Badajoz province in western Spain.
TsaritsynRussian From a former name of the Russian city of Volgograd that was used from 1589 to 1925. The name is from Царица (Tsaritsa), a small river and a tributary of the Volga, which was probably derived from Tatar сары су (sary su) meaning "yellow water".
MarableFrench, English From the feminine personal name Mirabel, equated in medieval records with Latin mirabilis "marvelous", "wonderful" (in the sense "extraordinary").
TarkowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from Tarkowo in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or Tarków in Masovian Voivodeship (of uncertain origin compare tarka ‘grater rasper’).
ShibuimaruJapanese From Japanese 渋 (''shibu'') "unripe persimmon juice", 井 (''i'') "well" and 丸 (''maru'') "circle".
BolducFrench (Quebec) Probably from an old Germanic name with the roots baldi and dux, the Italian Balducci has the same etymology
WürttembergGerman Württemberg is an historical German territory. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, it now forms the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg.
KreutzerGerman Variant of Kreutz otherwise it indicated that the bearer of the surname lived in Kreitz near Neuss in Germany
NeesonIrish (Anglicized) Reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Naois "son of Naois", usually Anglicized as Mcneese. Surname made famous by the actor Liam Neeson.
PicaItalian, Catalan Nickname for a gossipy or garrulous person, from the central-southern Italian word pica ‘magpie’. Compare Picazo.Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Pica.Catalan: from either pica ‘pointed object’ (weapon, etc.) or a derivative of picar ‘to prick’.
PöyryFinnish The Pöyry surname is connected to the ancient Scandinavian male name Biur.
ArrillagaBasque From the name of a neighborhood in the municipality of Usurbil, Spain, derived from Basque (h)arri "stone, rock" and a variant form of (h)iri "town, city" combined with -aga "place of, abundance of".
AbregoSpanish As a Spanish surname, it was from Spanish ábrego, which originally meant "African", from Latin africus. The vocabulary word in modern Spanish has lost this general sense and now means "south wind" (literally, "African (wind)").
GuertinFrench A French surname that evolved from the Old Germanic given name Warin meaning "to guard" or "protection". This surname was often given as an occupational name for a guard, or someone who served as a protector in their community.
BlandEnglish Bland is a habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire called Bland, the origin of which is uncertain. Possibly it is from Old English (ge)bland ‘storm’, ‘commotion’ (from blandan ‘to blend or mingle’), with reference to its exposed situation... [more]
MacRoyScots The ancient Dalriadan-Scottish name MacRoy is a nickname for a person with red hair. MacRoy is a nickname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Nicknames form a broad and miscellaneous class of surnames, and can refer directly or indirectly to one's personality, physical attributes, mannerisms, or even their habits of dress... [more]
TunireIrish Originates from an old folklore joke. Originates from Tuuniro
NongrumKhasi, Indian "Nongrum" is the name given for the "Title/Surname" of a persons. It is famous only in Khasi Hills, Meghalaya,shillong, the land of the "Khasis".
SalumäeEstonian Salumäe is an Estonian surname meaning "grove ridge".
GartmannGerman (Swiss) Derived from Middle High German garte "garden; yard" and German Mann "man", this was occupational name for a gardener. In some cases it may have been a status name referring to the owner of a small (enclosed or fenced) farm or an occupational name for a worker at a deer preserve.
BalajczaPolish, Hungarian May be related to the Hungarian place name Balaj or it may be a derivation of a personal name. The -cza suffix can suggest "of" or "from", indicating origin or descent.
WycherleyEnglish Derived from a place name apparently meaning "elm-wood clearing" from Old English wice and leah. A famous bearer was the dramatist William Wycherley (1640-1715).
PrestwoodEnglish habitational name from any of several places called from Middle English prestpriest "priest" and wode "wood" (Old English preostwudu) meaning "dweller by the priest's wood"
WalleeGerman Of French origin, denoting a person who lives in or is from a valley.
FooteEnglish Nickname for someone with a peculiarity or deformity of the foot, from Middle English fot (Old English fot), or in some cases from the cognate Old Norse byname Fótr.
RadleyEnglish From rēadlēah meaning "red clearing". Radley is a village and civil parish in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England.
GuitryFrench Derived from the given name Witeric. A famous bearer of this name was Sacha Guitry (1885-1957), a French actor, playwright, screenwriter and director.
TakebeJapanese From Japanese 武 (take) meaning "military, martial", 竹 (take) meaning "bamboo", or 建 (take) meaning "build, construct", and 部 (be) meaning "part, section".
KhalifeLebanese (Gallicized) French version of the Arabic name Khalifa which means “successor of Mohammed” used by Lebanese Christians ever since the French occupation of Lebanon.
DaidoujiJapanese From 大 (dai, tai, o) meaning "big, large, great", combined with 道 (michi, do) meaning "road, way, trail, path", and 寺 (ji, tera) meaning "temple".
ChuVietnamese Vietnamese form of Zhu, from Sino-Vietnamese 朱 (chu).
StemleEnglish FROM KUPPENHEIM, BADEN, GERMANY, WHERE IT WAS (AND IS TODAY) SPELLED WITH 2 Ms: STEMMLE.... [more]
SomsanithLao From Lao ສົມ (som) meaning "worthy, suitable, proper" and ສະນິດ (sanith) meaning "type, kind".
IngogliaItalian Means "belonging to the family of Goglia" in Italian, derived from the prefix in- meaning "belonging to the family of" combined with the name Goglia... [more]
RyallEnglish From any of several places in England named from Old English ryge "rye" + hyll "hill".
WennerströmSwedish Combination of the place name element wenner, which is probably derived from the name of Lake Vänern, and Swedish ström "stream".
LouChinese From Chinese 娄 (lóu) referring to the 16th constellation of the Twenty-Eight Mansions in traditional Chinese astronomy. It may also refer to the ancient state of Zhu Lou, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province, or the ancient fief of Lou, which existed in the ancient state of Chu in present-day Shandong province.
SarrazinFrench Means "Saracen" in Old French, a name used to refer to Arab Muslims in the Middle Ages. It was probably used as a nickname for an unruly person, a person with a dark complexion, or for someone who had taken part in a Crusade.
BarónSpanish nickname from the title barón "baron" applied as a nickname or as an occupational name for a member of the household of a baron; or from an old personal name of the same origin in the sense "free man"... [more]
LehismetsEstonian Lehismets is an Estonian surname meaning "larch forest".
HaudEstonian Haud is an Estonian surname meaning "grave" and "tomb".
BahlIndian, Punjabi, Hindi Derived from Sanskrit बहल (bahala) meaning "strong, solid, firm".
ArgaoVisayan Named after Argao, a municipality in southern Cebu. Argao, in turn is said to have derived from "sali-argaw", a tree that flourished in the coastal areas of the town.
BuermeisterGerman North German: status name for the mayor or chief magistrate of a town, from Middle Low German bur ‘inhabitant, dweller’, ‘neighbor’, ‘peasant’, ‘citizen’ + mester ‘master’.
CruikshankScottish From a medieval Scottish nickname for someone with a crooked leg (from Scots cruik "bent" + shank "leg"). This was the surname of British caricaturist George Cruikshank (1792-1872) and British actor Andrew Cruikshank (1907-1988).
KamolnawinThai It is a surname bestowed upon the reign of King Rama VI of the Thai Chakri Dynasty.
WhitbyEnglish English surname which was from either of two place names, that of a port in North Yorkshire (which comes from the Old Norse elements hvítr "white" (or Hvíti, a byname derived from it) combined with býr "farm") or a place in Cheshire (from Old English hwit "white" (i.e., "stone-built") and burh "fortress").
LiwoszPolish It comes from the name "liswoze" which means to be a all around "good person". Even though it is a nickname, It may have been derived from occupation because of the name's meaning to be a "Funny man".
TrevathanEnglish, Cornish Habitational name from one or more places in Cornwall named Trevethan, from Middle Cornish tre "estate farmstead" with a second element of uncertain meaning. It could be an unrecorded Old Cornish personal name Buthen.
HirowatariJapanese Hiro means "wide, broad, spacious" and watari means "ferry, cross, import, deliver".
ColombFrench from Old French colomb "pigeon" (from Latin columbus) applied as a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of pigeons or doves... [more]
BakalinskyRussian From Russian Бакали (bakaly) which is derived from Turkish bakkal (Slavicized form bakal) "grocer". Possibly given to someone who dwells in Bakaly or Bakalinsky.