PaudelNepali From Nepali पौडी (paudi) possibly referring to the town of Pauri in Uttarakhand, India, combined with आलय (alaya) meaning "house, dwelling".
KakitaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 柿 (kaki) meaning "persimmon" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
KaldmetsEstonian Kaldmets is an Estonian surname meaning "sloping/incline forest".
UrreyaAragonese This indicates familial origin within either of 2 municipalities: Urreya de Gayén or Urreya de Xalón.
BedfordEnglish From the English county Bedfordshire and its principal city or from a small community in Lancashire with the same name. The name comes from the Old English personal name Beda, a form of the name Bede and the location element -ford meaning "a crossing at a waterway." Therefore the name indicates a water crossing once associated with a bearer of the medieval name.
GouweleeuwDutch Means "golden lion", from an inflected form of goud "gold" and leeuw "lion". Probably given to someone who worked by or lived near a sign depicting a lion.
UppadathilMalayalam From Old Malayalam uppadam (sea), lit. "from over the Arabian sea," referring to the descendants of a group of Arab traders who settled in Kerala. Predominantly Muslim, although sizeable sections have branched away and practice Hinduism... [more]
NwudeIgbo The surname Nwude is likely of Igbo origin, a major ethnic group in Nigeria. In the Igbo language, Nwude (or Nwodi) can be a combination of two elements:... [more]
QuếVietnamese Vietnamese form of Gui, from Sino-Vietnamese 桂 (quế).
AhearnaIrish (Anglicized, Rare) Either from an Irish surname which was derived from Ó Eachthighearna meaning "descendant of Eachthighearna", or else an anglicized form of Eachthighearna.
BowserEnglish Nickname from the Norman term of address beu sire ‘fine sir’, given either to a fine gentleman or to someone who made frequent use of this term of address.
SeddaItalian From a place name in Sardinia, meaning "top of a mountain". May alternately derive from Sardinian sedda "saddle", indicating the bearer's occupation.
ShrapnelEnglish A different form of Carbonell. Shrapnel (i.e. metal balls or fragments that are scattered when a bomb, shell or bullet explodes) is named after General Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), a British artillery officer who during the Peninsular War invented a shell that produced that effect.
HavelockEnglish From the Middle English male personal name Havelok, from Old Norse Hafleikr, literally "sea sport". It was borne by the British general Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857).
KarmanJewish From Russian карман (karman) meaning "pocket, bag pocket", probably an occupational name for someone who made such items. Alternatively, could derive from Hungarian Kármán.
ViscontiItalian From the Italian noble title visconte "viscount", itself from medieval Latin vice comes, a title of rank meaning "deputy of a count; sheriff". In most cases it was a nickname for a servant or soldier employed by a viscount, or for someone who acted like a viscount, but unusually, in some cases it was used as a literal occupational name for someone with the title of viscount, with at least two Italian noble families bearing the name during the Middle Ages... [more]
ArsenaultFrench (Acadian) From French arsenal meaning "workshop". This is the occupational surname for someone who worked at an arsenal.
OrdEnglish, English (American) Ord is an English descent surname that also has Gaelic roots. It's also short for many English surnames that end with "Ord". people include US Army general Edward Ord who practiced in California and had many street names after him.
RantzauGerman, Theatre This is the surname used in 'I Rantzau' (The Rantzau Family), an opera in four acts by Pietro Mascagni (1892), based on a libretto by Guido Menasci and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, based on the play Les Rantzau (1873) by French writers Erckmann and Chatrian, after their novel (1882) Les Deux Frères (The Two Brothers).
ViirpuuEstonian Viirpuu is an Estonian surname meaning "hawthorn" (Crataegus).
MatsunoJapanese From Japanese 松 (matsu) meaning "pine tree, fir tree" and 野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
MarreroSpanish Occupational name for a stonecutter, derived from Spanish marrear "to hit with a sledgehammer", ultimately from Latin marra "hoe, hook, spade".
DuerreGerman Topographic name for a person who lived on a dry, barren land, derived from Old German durri and German dürre meaning "barren, infertile". It could also be a variant of Dürr.
TarabayArabic History of this surname is unknown. A famous bearer with this last name is Nick E. Tarabay, a Lebanese-American actor.
HagenGerman, Dutch, Danish from the ancient Germanic personal name Hagen a short form of various compound names formed with hag "enclosure protected place" as the first element... [more]
PennymanEnglish (British) This name refers to a person who worked as the servant for Penn. Additionally, it may derive from their work as local treasurers or pennymasters who were in charge of the Mint. Its etymology is comprised of the words "penny" and "man" (from Old English Penning "penny" meaning "half penny")... [more]
KerslakeEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a stream where cress grew, derived from Old English cærse meaning "watercress" and lacu meaning "stream".
PrytulyakUkrainian From Ukrainian притуляк (prytulyak), meaning "refugee" in Ukrainian, literally "shelter person, person who seeks shelter". It is not the common term for a refugee (біженець, bizhenets').
DelafoyFrench From Old French de la foy meaning "of the faith". This is probably a name given to a cleric or a very pious person among the French Catholics.
CawasIndian (Parsi), Persian, Indian, Arabic Cawas is an Indian (Parsi) surname which means “Arch” in Persian and ultimately Arabic. John Cawas of Toofani Tarzan fame was a notable person with that surname.
NishiyasuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 西 (nishi) meaning "west" and 安 (yasu) meaning "peaceful, tranquil, safe, simple, ammonium". The fact that it is homographic as Japanese 西安 (Shīan) meaning "Xi'an", a city in Shaanxi, China, is coincidental.
TeramotoJapanese From Japanese 寺 (tera) meaning "Buddhist temple" and 本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin".
BeresHungarian Occupational name for a farm laborer or casual harvest hand, béres, a derivative of bér 'wage', 'payment'.
CarrellEnglish English: from Old French carrel, ‘pillow’, ‘bolster’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of these. In some cases perhaps an altered spelling of Irish Carroll... [more]
HoltzmannUpper German, German Derived from the Upper German word "holz," which means "forest." Thus many of the names that evolved from this root work have to do with living in the woods
OrgeriiJewish, Judeo-Provençal Aaron Orgerii is listed in the index of names of Jews in France in the late middle ages in Heinrich Gross' book Judaia Gallica. There is also an extent copy of a deed between "the Jew Nathan Orgerii and Johannes Raynaud", written in Arles in Provence in 1366... [more]
KislyRussian, Belarusian Derived from Russian кислый (kisly) meaning "acid, acidic, sour".
BruntonEnglish (Rare) From Old English burna meaning "stream" and tun, settlement; hence, "settlement by a stream".
PrantsEstonian Prants is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "prantsuse" meaning French, or "prantsti/prantsatus" meaning to "slam" and "bang". Could also derived from "prints" meaning "prince".
ArcidiaconoItalian Means "archdeacon" in Italian, denoting someone who worked for an archdeacon or acted like an archdeacon.
PeiperGerman (Austrian) Occupational name for a piper, from Middle High German piper. In some cases it may be derived from Sorbian pipar "pepper", thus being an occupational name for a spicer or a nickname for one with a fiery temper.
DharmawansaSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit धर्म (dharma) meaning "that which is established, law, duty, virtue" and वंश (vansa) meaning "lineage, clan, family".
QuestelFrench, Medieval French (?) The surname Questel was first found in Normandy. Currently, Questel is the most commonly occurring last name in Saint-Barthélemy, a French island in the Caribbean Sea.... [more]
McCartneyScottish Gaelic Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Artaine, (meaning ‘son of Artan’) which is a diminutive of the personal name Art, meaning ‘bear’ or ‘hero’. Compare Irish Mac Artáin (see McCartan), of which this surname is a variant.
DahlerLow German From Old Norse dalr meaning "valley," hence a topographical name for someone who lived in a valley or a habitational name for someone from a place called with this word.
SymereEnglish (American, Rare) Name of unknown origin, typically used in the United States. It is best known as the real first name of American rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
KotwicaPolish Comes from the Polish word kotwica meaning 'anchor'.
YuleMedieval English Nickname for someone who was born on Christmas Day or had some other connection with this time of year, from Middle English yule ‘Christmastide’ (Old English geol, reinforced by the cognate Old Norse term jól).
KiyomigawaJapanese A notable user of this surname is Kiyomigawa Umeyuki, a sumo wrestler from Yokota, Akita Prefecture.
AusterlitzGerman (Austrian), Jewish Derived from Slavkov u Brna (historically known as Austerlitz in German), a town located in Vyškov District, in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. This was real surname of the American actor and dancer Fred Astaire (1899-1987), as well as his sister Adele Astaire (1896-1981), an actress, singer and dancer.
DoreEnglish Possibly denoting a hardworking person, derived from Old English dora "bumblebee".
De TalleyrandFrench A French noble surname. A cadet branch of the family of sovereign counts of Périgord, they took their name from the estate of Périgord owned by these counts, and date back to Boso I, count of la Marche... [more]
EscatelSpanish Derived from the Latin word “scatellum,” which means “small coin”. It is likely that the surname originally referred to someone who was involved in the production or circulation of small coins, or who had a reputation for being particularly frugal or economical... [more]