FahrenheitGerman Derived from German fahren, meaning, "to ride", and Heit, which is the equivalent to the suffix "-ness". A famous bearer was Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686- 1736), a Polish physicist who invented the Fahrenheit temperature measuring system.
MinerEnglish English occupational name for someone who built mines, either for the excavation of coal and other minerals, or as a technique in the medieval art of siege warfare. The word represents an agent derivative of Middle English, Old French mine ‘mine’ (a word of Celtic origin, cognate with Gaelic mein ‘ore’, ‘mine’).
CoventryEnglish habitational name from the city of Coventry in the West Midlands, which is probably named with the genitive case of an Old English personal name Cofa (compare Coveney) + Old English treow 'tree'.
MurtonEnglish habitational name from any of various places in northern England called Murton all named in Old English as "settlement or enclosure at the marsh or moor" from mor "marsh, fen, moor" and tun "enclosure, settlement"... [more]
BostockEnglish From the name of a village in Cheshire, England, meaning "Bota’s place", derived from the Old English given name Bota combined with stoc "place, dwelling".
BacolodFilipino, Hiligaynon, Cebuano Derived from Hiligaynon bakolod meaning "hill, mound, rise". This is also the name of a city in the Negros Occidental province in the Philippines.
HarsonoChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Hu (胡) or Zhuo (卓). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
LainevoolEstonian Lainevool is an Estonian surname meaning "flowing wave" (literally, "wave flow").
JõeäärEstonian Means "riverside", from Estonian jõe "river" and äär "edge".
SpenglerGerman Occupational surname literally meaning “metal worker” or “tin knocker”.
IretonEnglish Habitational name from either of two places in Derbyshire called Ireton, or one in North Yorkshire called Irton. All of these are named from the genitive case of Old Norse Íri ‘Irishmen’ (see Ireland) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.... [more]
LagardeFrench Habitational name from Lagarde or La Garde names of several places in various parts of France named in Old French with garde "watch protection" (see Garde).
EdgeworthEnglish From a place name: either Edgeworth in Gloucestershire or Edgworth in Lancashire. The place names themselves derive from Old English ecg "edge" and worþ "enclosure"... [more]
AkashitaJapanese From Japanese 赤 (aka) or 丹 (aka) both meaning "red" combined with 下 (shita) meaning "below, down, descend, give, low, inferior". Other kanji combinations are possible.
WillingEnglish Patronymic from the Old English personal name Willa.
PlumierFrench, Belgian Possibly an occupational name for a dealer in feathers and quills, from an agent derivative of Old French plume "feather, plume" (compare English and Dutch Plumer)... [more]
SidwellEnglish From an English surname of uncertain origin, possibly originally a habitational name from an unidentified place with a second element from Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’, but on the other hand early forms are found without prepositions... [more]
VaamondeSpanish Variant of the habitational surname Bahamonde, from one of the Galician places called Baamonde (earlier written Bahamonde) in the province of Lugo most probably Santiago de Baamonde (Begonte).
RubalcavaSpanish Habitational name for someone originally from the town of Rubalcaba in Cantabria, Spain. The name itself is derived from Arabic الربع الخالي (ar-rubʿ al-ḵālī) meaning "the Empty Quarter", referring to the Rub' al Khali desert in the Arabian Peninsula.
PendragonWelsh, Arthurian Cycle From the title used by ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs, derived from Old Welsh penn "head, chief" and dragon "dragon", used figuratively as "commander, war leader"... [more]
UrbanejaSpanish Likely derived from Urban. This surname is most common in Venezuela.
MoskowitzJewish Germanized form of a patronymic surname formed by adding the Slavic suffix "-ovic" meaning "son of" to a Yiddish transformation (Moshke) of the biblical Hebrew personal Moses ("Mosko" was a Polish pet form of the personal name Moses).
ZwaanDutch Means "swan" in Dutch. Could be a nickname for a person who resembled a swan in some way, an occupational name for a swan keeper, or a patronymic derived from a given name containing the element swan... [more]
CavillEnglish Derived from Cavil, a place located in the East Riding of Yorkshire in northern England, named from Old English ca meaning "jackdaw" and feld meaning "open country". It is borne by the British actor Henry Cavill (1983-).
WakitaJapanese From Japanese 脇 (waki) meaning "side" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
HatathliNavajo From Navajo hataałii meaning "medicine man, shaman", literally "singer" (from the verb hataał "he sings, he is chanting").
JürisooEstonian Jürisoo is an Estonian surname derived from the masculine given name "Jüri" and "soo" (swamp); "Jüri's swamp". "Soo" was substituted later for the Germanic "son" ("Jüri's son").
MccurdyIrish (Anglicized), Scottish Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Mhuircheartaigh, a patronymic from Muircheartach, a personal name composed of the elements muir "sea" and ceartach "ruler", hence "skilled seaman"... [more]
BrasFrench, Dutch From Old French and Middle Dutch bras "arm". This was probably a descriptive nickname for someone with some peculiarity of the arm, but the word was also used as a measure of length, and may also have denoted a surveyor.
HorneyGerman (Anglicized) German: Eastphalian or Americanized form of a personal name composed of the Germanic elements hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’ + nit ‘battle fury’, ‘eagerness to fight’, or a habitational name from a place so called in Brandenburg or in the Rhineland... [more]
MayoralSpanish Occupational name for the foreman of a gang of agricultural workers or the leader of a group of herdsmen mayoral (from Late Latin maioralis originally an adjective derivative of maior 'greater').
GalletFrench Either a nickname for a cheerful companion a noun derivative of the Old French verb galler "to enjoy oneself to have fun". Or from a pet form of the personal name Gall.
LautemannGerman From laute "lute" and man "man". This name was used by musicians who played the lute
AneyEnglish English surname of uncertain origin, though it has been suggested that this is an anglicized form of French Ané. Ané itself is said to be taken from a personal name, possibly a gallicized form of Asnar or Aznar, which may be derived from Latin asinarius meaning "keeper of asses, ass-driver", from asinus "ass".
RuleScottish, English Scottish name from the lands of Rule in the parish of Hobkirk, Roxburghshire. The derivation is from the River Rule which flows through the area, and is so called from the ancient Welsh word "rhull" meaning "hasty or rushing".... [more]
BellefleurFrench, Literature Means "beautiful flower" in French. This is the surname of the notable family in the 2001 to 2013 novel series The Southern Vampire Mysteries and the 2008-2014 TV series that inspired it, True Blood.
KleinknechtGerman A combining of the German word klein "small" and knecht "servant", originally an occupational name for a secondary hired hand. A famous historic figure who bore this surname was Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht (8 April 1722 in Ulm - 11 August 1794 in Ansbach), a German composer of many works of chamber music and symphonies, flutist and Kapellmeister (chapel master).
MertonEnglish From a place name meaning "town on a lake" in Old English.
BaygentsEnglish (American) Possibly derived from Old French bezant, a kind of silver or gold coin minted in Byzantium, ultimately derived from Latin byzantius "of Byzantium"... [more]
MarkhamEnglish English name from a place in Nottinghamshire, named in Old English as 'homestead at a (district) boundary', from mearc 'boundary' + ham 'homestead'. English surname used as an equivalent of Gaelic Ó Marcacháin 'descendant of Marcachán', a diminutive of Marcach (see Markey).
HackneyEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hackney in Greater London, named from an Old English personal name Haca (genitive Hacan) combined with ēg "island, dry ground in marshland".
VreeswijkDutch Habitational name from a former village and municipality in the province Utrecht, Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch Frieso "Frisian" and wic "village, town"... [more]
TarkusEstonian Tarkus is an Estonian surname meaning "cleverness".
MiaoChinese From Chinese 缪 (miào), another name for Duke Mu of Lu, an ancient official whose name (穆) had the same pronunciation as the character 缪. After his death, his descendants adopted 缪 as their surname.
UdomEnglish English: nickname for someone who had done well for himself by marrying the daughter of a prominent figure in the local community, from Middle English odam ‘son-in-law’ (Old English āðum).
LesińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of the places called Lesin Lesina or Leśna named with les dialect form of standard Polish las ‘forest’.