RugbyEnglish From Rugby, Warwickshire. Originally named *Rocheberie, from Old English *Hrocaburg, 'Hroca's fort', the name was altered due to influence fort Danish settlers, with the second element being replaced with Old Norse byr, 'farm'.... [more]
NergerGerman (Silesian) My family name, Nerger, is listed in the "Deutsches Namenlexicon" by Hans Bahlow. The meaning, given in the lexicon, is "ernahrer" or provider.
JoonEstonian Joon is an Estonian surname meaning "line" and "stripe".
ScarcellaItalian From Italian "scarcella", a dessert enjoyed during Easter from the Italian region of Apulia, possibly referring to a baker who would make them.
EichhornGerman, Jewish, Belgian German topographic name for someone who lived on or near an oak-covered promontory, from Middle High German eich(e) ‘oak’ + horn ‘horn’, ‘promontory’. German from Middle High German eichhorn ‘squirrel’ (from Old High German eihhurno, a compound of eih ‘oak’ + urno, from the ancient Germanic and Indo-European name of the animal, which was later wrongly associated with hurno ‘horn’); probably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal, or alternatively a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a squirrel... [more]
FellerEnglish, German, Jewish Occupational name for a furrier, from an agent derivative of Middle English fell, Middle Low German, Middle High German vel, or German Fell or Yiddish fel "hide, pelt". See also Fell.
KutluTurkish Means "auspicious, blessed, happy, holy, lucky" in Turkish.
TamrakarNewar, Indian Means "copper maker; craftsman" in Sanskrit. This is used by the Tamrakar caste of Nepal and India, and mainly of Newar ethnicity in Nepal.
TiitEstonian Tiit is an Estonian surname as well as a masculine given name.
SwigertGerman (Americanized) Americanized form of German Schweigert or Zweigert, an occupational name for a gardener or tender of plants, from an agent derivative of Middle High German zwigen, meaning "to graft" or "to plant".
FrettEnglish English from Middle English frette, Old French frete ‘interlaced work (in metal and precious stones)’ such as was used for hair ornaments and the like, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such pieces.
BraileyEnglish Habitational name for a person from Brayley Barton in Devon, which is derived from the name of the Bray river (a back formation from High Bray which is from Celtic bre meaning "hill" or Old English brǣg "brow") combined with Old English leah "woodland, clearing".
PontzEnglish The name Pontz likely came from Germanic origin, probably originating from the German Pflanzen.
TedsungnoenIsan From Thai สูงเนิน (Sung Noen) meaning "Sung Noen", a district in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
RuutikainenFinnish A rare Finnish surname combining the word for gunpowder, "ruuti", and the common surname ending -nen. The 2017 Finnish population register indicates there are 106 Ruutikainens alive in Finland, and some sites estimate there are another ten abroad... [more]
McAllenScottish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic McAllen or MacAllen is a Scottish and Irish surname, originating from Scottish Gaelic. Historically, the name has migrated to Ireland, where the prefix of the name has been commonly transposed with "Mc".
MasudaJapanese From Japanese 増 (masu) meaning "increase", 益 (masu) meaning "benefit", 舛 (masu) meaning "oppose, to go against" (kun reading), 桝 (masu) meaning "box seat, measure" or 升 (masu) meaning "box" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
HeddleEnglish From the name of a location in Orkney, derived from Old Norse meaning either "high valley" or "hay valley".
MazakiJapanese A surname of Japanese origin meaning "cape of truth" which comes from combing 真 (ma) meaning "true, genuine" with 崎 (zaki) meaning "cape, peninsula". A notable bearer of this surname is Anzu Mazaki/Téa Gardner from Yu-Gi-Oh!
De BoisArthurian Cycle Possible form of the French surname Dubois. This is the last name of Prince Arthur's mother Ygraine de Bois in the series Merlin.
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.
HaneyIrish Derived from the Gaelic name Ó hEighnigh
CasesCatalan Catalan family name. Plural of 'casa' meaning 'house', possibly given to people who were given or built a manor or town house or had a slightly better than normal dwelling for their location/village etc..... [more]
KilvertEnglish Probably from an Old Norse personal name Ketilfrith, literally "cauldron peace". The surname was borne by British clergyman and diarist Francis Kilvert (1840-1879).
FinkleaEnglish Variant form of Finkley. A famous bearer was the American actress and dancer Cyd Charisse (1922-2008), whose birth name was Tula Ellice Finklea.
MazzamauroItalian Italian cognate of Matamoros. A famous bearer of the name is Italian actress Anna Mazzamauro (1938-).
CostabileItalian Occupational name for a chamberlain, cognate to Constable. In some cases, it’s instead taken from the Italian given name derived from Late Latin Constabilis.
HeisenbergGerman Made up of German words heis and berg, ultimately meaning “hot mountain.” This was the name of theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg and the alias of Walter White in Breaking Bad.
NevalaFinnish From Finnish word 'neva', which is a marsh type and '-la', a suffix used for places.
YamadaevChechen Means "son of Yamad", possibly from a form of the given name Ahmad.
RallisGreek A surname held by the descendants of a Frankish-Byzantine noble named Raoul. The Rallis family (also spelled Ralli, Ralles or Rallet in Romanian) is the name of an old Greek Phanariote family, whose members played important political role in the history of modern Greece, Danubian Principalities and later in the United Kingdom... [more]
KennerEnglish Possibly derived from Middle English kenner "teacher", derived from kennen "to make known, to teach".
BasraIndian, Punjabi From the name of a city in present-day Iraq, Basra (البصرة).
MontesquieuFrench From French montagne, meaning "mountain" and possibly also from queue, meaning "line". Charles Montesquieu was a 17th-century French aristocrat, philosopher and politician.
MerridewEnglish A different form of Meredith (from the Welsh personal name Meredydd, perhaps literally "lord of splendour"). It occurs in Wilkie Collins' 'The Moonstone' (1868) belonging to Mrs Merridew, widowed sister to Sir John Verinder.
YoldaşTurkish Means "traveling companion" in Turkish.
BoucharebArabic (Maghrebi) Means "father of the moustache" or "father of the drinker" from Arabic أَبُو (ʾabū) meaning "father" and شَارِب (šārib) meaning "moustache" or "drinker".
ShallcrossEnglish Means "person from Shallcross", Derbyshire ("place by the Shacklecross", an ancient stone cross in the High Peak, its name perhaps denoting a cross to which people could be shackled as a penance).
HalldénSwedish Combination of the dialectal Swedish word hall (Standard Swedish häll, Old Norse hallr), a type of flat rock, and the common surname suffix -én. The first element may be taken from a place named with this element (e.g. Halland, Hallsberg, or Hallstavik).
DeshapriyaSinhalese From Sanskrit देश (deśa) meaning "region, place, country" and प्रिय (priya) meaning "beloved, dear".
ŌhiraJapanese From Japanese 大 (ō) meaning "big, great" and 平 (hira 2) meaning "level, even, peaceful".
BarnewallAnglo-Norman, Irish A locational surname given to those who lived by a stream in either Cambridgeshire, which derives its name from the Olde English beorna meaning "warrior" and wella meaning "stream", or from one in Northamptonshire, which got its name from the Olde English byrge meaning "burial mound" and well, which also means "stream." a burial mound and 'well(a)'... [more]
CainEnglish Habitational name from the city of Caen in France, or a variant form of Cane.
MuirheadScottish Derived from many places in southern Scotland with the same name, from northern Middle English muir meaning "moor" and heid meaning "head, end".
HopDutch Variant form of Hopp. Alternatively, an occupational name derived from Dutch hop referring to the common hop (Humulus lupus), a kind of plant traditionally used to preserve and flavour beer.
RoñoSpanish masculine form of roña which means dirt
EessaarEstonian Eessaar is an Estonian surname meaning "fore island".
LinklaterScottish From a place name: either Linklater in South Ronaldsay and North Sandwick, or Linklet in North Ronaldsay, all derived from Old Norse lyng "heather" and klettr "hill, crag, cliff".
KidateJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 木 (ki) meaning "tree" and 建 (date), the joining continuative form of 建てる (tateru) meaning "to build; to construct".
TayamaJapanese From Japanese 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
CaprioItalian from Latin caprae ‘goats’ or possibly from Greek kapros "(wild) boar" and so a metonymic occupational name for a goatherd or swineherd or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a goat or boar.
ButtafuocoItalian Means "linstock (staff for lighting a cannon)" in Italian, composed of butta "to throw, toss" and fuoco "fire", perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a gunner, or a figurative nickname for someone with a hot temper... [more]
FoxworthEnglish Variant of Foxworthy, a habitational name derived from the unattested Old English given name Færoc and worþig "estate, enclosure, homestead".
ZhongChinese From Chinese 钟 (zhōng) referring to the ancient fief of Zhong Li that existed in the state of Chu in what is now Anhui or Hubei province.
GuardiolaCatalan Habitational name from any of the numerous places named Guardiola, from guardiola, a diminutive of guàrdia meaning "guard".
SchevingIcelandic, Danish (Rare) From the name of the Danish town Skævinge whose name might be derived from Old Danish skap "something excavated".
MakebaAfrican American Meaning unknown. famous bearer is South African singer songwriter, Miriam Makeba (1936-2008).
QuezonFilipino Meaning uncertain, possibly a variant of Quizon or from Hokkien 郭孫 (keh-sun) derived from 郭 (keh) meaning "outer city" and 孫 (sun) meaning "grandchild"... [more]
NibbeGerman Nickname meaning ‘beak’, or from a short form of a Germanic personal name Nippo, composed of Old High German nit ‘hostility’, ‘eagerness’ + boto ‘messenger’.
LaurelSpanish, Portuguese, Filipino, Tagalog, Cebuano Topographic name for someone who lived by a laurel tree, Spanish laurel (Latin laurus), or a habitational name from Laurel in the Canary Islands.
ClericoItalian Occupational or status name for a member of a minor religious order or for a scholar from Late Latin clericus (see Clerc ). Italian cognitive of Clark.
van NiekerkAfrikaans Topographic name for any of the various locations named Nieuwerkerk in The Netherlands or Nieuwerkerken in Belgium. The name itself means "of the new church" from Dutch van meaning "of" combined with nieuw meaning "new" and kerk meaning "church".
HorigomeJapanese 掘 (Hori) means "moat" and 米 (gome) means "rice, America". ... [more]
LøvlandNorwegian Habitational name derived from Norwegian løv "leaf" (Old Norse lauf) and land "land", probably referring to areas where deciduous trees grew.