Ben-hurJewish, Literature Means "son of Hur" in Hebrew. This was also the name of the protagonist of both the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and the 1959 film adaptation Ben-Hur, named Judah Ben-Hur.
KiryuinJapanese (?), Popular Culture (?) Either from 桐生 (Kiryu), a place name, combined with 院 (in) meaning "college" or 鬼 (ki, oni) meaning "demon" and 龍 (ryu) meaning "dragon, imperial" combined with 院 (in) meaning "college".
SagorskyPolish, Russian It means literally "of the city/town Sagorsk". Sagorsk is a city near the Russian capital of Moskva. The ending of "sky" means "of". The "Sagor" part of the surname sounds to me like "za gor" which is "za gorod"... [more]
AhlinSwedish Combination of Swedish al "alder" and the common Swedish surname suffix -in (ultimately derived from Latin -inus, -inius "descendant of").
LuxtonEnglish English habitational name from a minor place, probably one of two in Devon, so called from the possessive form of the Middle English personal name or surname Lugg (from Old English Lugga) + Middle English tune, tone ‘settlement’ (Old English tun).
NeumeyerGerman German: distinguishing name for a newly appointed steward or tenant farmer, or one who was a newcomer to an area, from Middle High German niuwe ‘new’ + meier ‘steward’, ‘tenant farmer’ ( see Meyer 1)... [more]
SardinaItalian, Spanish, Galician, Mexican From sardina Galician sardiña "sardine" used for someone as a catcher or seller of the fish or a nickname for a thin person.
BaumfreeDutch, American, African American This name is clearly derived from Sojourner Truth, a former African-American slave who was born as Isabella Bomefree (but at some point the surname was changed to the more German-looking Baumfree). Although Sojourner's original owners - James and Elizabeth Bomefree/Baumfree - were apparently of Dutch descent, it is questionable whether the surname is really of Dutch origin... [more]
De HartDutch Can mean "the hart", "the heart", or "the hard", derived from Middle Dutch hart "male deer, stag" (see Hart), harte "heart" (see Hertz), or hart "hard, solid, sturdy; harsh, cruel"... [more]
DeshmukhIndian, Marathi From the historical title देशमुख (deśmukh) meaning "district head", derived from Sanskrit देश (deśá) meaning "country, district" combined with मुख (múkha) meaning "face".
AdeleyeYoruba From Yoruba meaning "the crown, royal one has dignity, honor" with "crown" understood as a metaphor for "child".
PinkusJewish Derived from the given name Pinkus, which in turn comes from the Biblical Hebrew name Phinehas.
RockEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a notable crag or outcrop, from Middle English rokke "rock" (see Roach), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Rock in Northumberland.
PridonovRussian The surname Pridonov is derived from a nickname. It contains an indication of the place of residence of the ancestor: "at the Don, i.e. on the Don River". The river named Don flows not only in the European part of Russia, but also in Scotland (the city of Aberdon is located on it) and in France (a tributary of the Vilena).
AlbeizBasque (Rare) From the name of a village (also called Albéniz) in Álava, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Possibly derived from Basque albeni, which could mean "strand of thread", "thin, twisted", or "edge, bank, margin" combined with the toponymic suffix -iz, or perhaps (h)aitz "rock, stone"... [more]
KatanJewish From Hebrew קָטָן (katan) meaning "small, little, young".
TerraccianoItalian Derived from Italian terrazzano "inhabitant of a walled city or castle; fellow countryman, villager, peasant", ultimately derived from Latin terra "land, earth, country".
ZamlochGerman (Austrian) Altered, likely Americanized or Germanized, version of the Czech surname Zemlicka. Zemlicka derives from žemle, meaning "bread roll," and was a name given to bakers.... [more]
BaruaIndian, Assamese From a military title historically used in Assam, derived from an Ahom word meaning "ten thousand" (referring to the number of soldiers under the command of such an officer).
KirimaJapanese (Rare) Kiri (桐 or 霧) means "paulownia/foxglove tree" or "mist" respectively, ma (間), means "space".
HuckEnglish From the medieval personal name Hucke, which was probably descended from the Old English personal name Ucca or Hucca, perhaps a shortened form of Uhtræd influenced by a medieval form of Hugh... [more]
VenizelosGreek From the baptismal name Benizelos, which is already in existence since the 16th century in Athens. Uncertain etymology, most likely to be of Italian origin, (Bene + angelo, the good angel, ie Evangelos)... [more]
WilbrahamEnglish Denoted a person hailing from Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire, England. The place name itself means "Wilburg's homestead or estate" in Old English, Wilburg or Wilburga allegedly referring to a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon princess who was given the lands later called Wilbraham by her father, King Penda of Mercia.
AlfyorovRussian Derived from the Russian monastic name Yelevfery, derived from Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleutheros) meaning "free".
ÁlamoSpanish, Portuguese Either a topographic name from álamo "poplar" or a habitational name from any of several places in Spain and Portugal named with this word.
O'LonainIrish Derived from lon ("blackbird") and a diminutive combined with O ("grandson; male descendant").
HitchinsEnglish Can be either a patronymic derived from the medieval given name Hitch, or a habitational name denoting someone from the town Hitchin, itself from Old English Hicce, the name of the Celtic tribe who originally resided in the area.
StauchGerman From Middle High German stuche, a term used to denote both a type of wide sleeve and a headcovering. Also a habitational name from a place called Staucha, near Dresden.
BoettcherGerman Occupational name for a cooper, from Middle High German botecher, bötticher, bütticher, an agent derivative of botech(e), bottich, bütte "vat", "barrel".
CyganPolish Ethnic name or nickname from a word meaning ‘gypsy’, ‘Romany’.Altered spelling of eastern German Zigan, from Hungarian cigány ‘gypsy’.
KantakouzenosGreek One of the noble Byzantine families, the surname is connected to the locality of Kouzenas, a name for the southern part of Mount Sipylus near Smyrna (Izmir).
AllamArabic originally an arabic name but has been used by english speakers. the name means "recognized" or "famous". in other languages it means "one who represents us" and in some languages translates as "flag"
BreyetteEnglish (American) Of uncertain origin and meaning. First found in the United States around 1880. Self-taught artist Michael Breyette is a bearer of this surname
EklandSwedish (Rare) Combination of Swedish ek "oak" and land "land". A famous bearer is Swedish actress Britt Ekland (b. 1942), but in her case, the name is a variant of Eklund.
BruecknerGerman, German (Silesian) German (Brückner): from Middle Low German brugge, Middle High German brugge, brücke, brügge ‘bridge’ + the agent suffix -ner, hence a topographic name for someone living by a bridge, an occupational name for a bridge toll collector, or in the southeast (Silesia for example) a bridge keeper or repairer... [more]
CosterEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of costards (Anglo-Norman French, from coste 'rib'), a variety of large apples, so called for their prominent ribs.
DicksGerman, Dutch Refers to the descendant of someone with the given name Dick.
SchalkGerman, Dutch From Old High German scalc "servant, retainer, jester", which eventually evolved to mean "joker, rogue, knave". Could be an occupational name for an attendant or jester, a nickname for someone mischievous, or derived from a given name containing scalc as an element, such as Godschalk.
ChapinFrench, Spanish From a reduced form of French eschapin or Spanish chapín, a term for a light (woman's) shoe; perhaps a nickname for someone who habitually wore this type of footwear or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a shoemaker.
BenícioPortuguese (Brazilian) Spanish form of Benedict, from the Late Latin name Benedictus, which meant "blessed". A notable bearer is Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro (born 1967).
MindanaoTagalog From the name of the second largest island in the Philippines, which was derived from the name of the Maguindanao people (see Mindanao).
ManvilleFrench A locational surname deriving from any of the various places in France called "Manneville or Magneville", named, from the Old Germanic personal name "Manno" or the Old French adjective "magne", great, with the word "ville", meaning a town or settlement.
OsakoJapanese From Japanese 大 (o) meaning "big, large" combined with 迫 (sako) meaning "imperative".... [more]
IvesEnglish Means "son of Ive", a medieval male personal name, brought into England by the Normans but ultimately of Germanic origin, a shortened form of any of a range of compound names beginning with īv "yew" (cf... [more]
DonScottish Don derives from the Old Gaelic "donn", brown, or the Old English pre 7th Century "dunn", brown, or the Old English pre 7th Century "dunn", dull brown or dark, and was originally given as a distinguishing nickname to someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion.
AurichGerman Habitational name from a place in East Frisia or Baden-Württemberg named Aurich.
AnouilhFrench From Catalan anull, meaning "slow worm". It is originally a nickname given to a spineless and slow person. The French author Jean Anouilh is a famous bearer of this surname.
McSorleyScottish, Irish Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Somhairle meaning "son of Somhairle", a given name borrowed from Old Norse Sumarliði "summer traveller".
DworkinJewish From a pet-form of the Yiddish female personal name Dvoyre, from Hebrew Devorah (source of English Deborah), literally "bee"... [more]
BingelGerman A topographic name derived from a diminutive of Middle High German binge, which means "depression", "ditch", or "pit". May also be derived from pingel, which is a Westphalian nickname for a pedantic person.