SnällSwedish Possibly taken from English Snell or its German cognate Schnell, meaning "quick, fast", and having its spelling influenced by Swedish snäll "nice, kind"... [more]
FloodIrish There are some English Flood's, but the name mainly derives from the Irish O'Taicligh or Mac an Tuile and was Anglicized to Flood, Floyd, and Tully when the Gaelic language was outlawed in Ireland by the English.
HochsteinGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a high rock or a castle of that name from Middle High German hoh "high" and stein "rock stone castle".
AroraIndian, Hindi, Punjabi From the name of the ancient city of Aror in what is now the Sindh province, Pakistan. The city's name may have been derived from Hindi और (aur) meaning "more, also".
RosenwaldGerman, Jewish Means "rose forest" in German. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental.
LeverettEnglish Diminutive of Lever, from the Middle English personal name Lefred, Old English Leofræd, composed of the elements leof ‘dear’, ‘beloved’ + red ‘counsel’.
GrabensteinGerman Habitational name from Grafenstein near Wohlau, Silesia.
FrimodigSwedish Taken directly from Swedish frimodig meaning "frank, outspoken, bold, ingenuous".
SalalilaFilipino, Tagalog Derived from Sanskrit शरीर (śarīra) meaning "body". This was the name of a rajah of the historical region of Maynila (modern-day Manila).
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]
NaryOld Irish An anglicized form of the Gaelic surname O Naraigh. This surname is derived from the personal name Narach which means modest.
FischiItalian Rare central Italian surname. Means “whistler” in Italian.
ArakiJapanese From Japanese 荒 (ara) meaning "rough, sparse, wild" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".
AtlanJudeo-Spanish From an Arabic word originally meaning "noble" but later taking on the pejorative meaning of "spoiled, worthless" or "crippled, infirm".
SzołdrskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Greater Polish village of Szołdry.
GleaveEnglish Means either "sword-maker" or "sword-seller", or else from a nickname applied to a skilled swordsman (in either case from Middle English gleyve "sword").
PleasanceEnglish Either (i) from the medieval female personal name Plaisance, literally "pleasantness"; or (ii) "person from Piacenza", Italy (from Latin Placentia, literally "pleasing things").
MahlapuuEstonian Mahlapuu is an Estonian surname derived from "mahlakas"; meaning "lush", "sappy" and "malapert" "tree/wood"; "lush tree".
Vogt Von WeidaMedieval German Toponymic variant of Vogt. This noble family split into several lines to include Weida, Gera, and Plauen. The Princes of Reuss descend from the Plauen line.
PosthumusDutch, Low German From a personal name which was given to a posthumous child, i.e., one born after the death of his father, derived from Latin postumus "last, last-born" (superlative of posterus "coming after, subsequent") via Late Latin posthumus, which was altered by association with Latin humare "to bury", suggesting death (i.e., thought to consist of post "after" and humus "grave", hence "after death"); the one born after the father's death obviously being the last.
PaponFrench (Huguenot) Derived from Old French papon "grandfather", ultimately from Latin pappus.
WhitgiftEnglish Means "person from Whitgift", Yorkshire ("Hvítr's dowry"). This surname was borne by Anglican churchman John Whitgift (?1530-1604), archbishop of Canterbury 1583-1604 (in addition, Whitgift School is an independent day school for boys in South Croydon, founded in 1595 by John Whitgift; and Whitgift Centre is a complex of shops and offices in the middle of Croydon, Greater London, on a site previously occupied by Whitgift School).
OiJapanese From Japanese 大 (ō) meaning "big, great" and 井 (i) meaning "well, spring".
HausGerman Topographic and occupational name for someone who lived and worked in a great house, from Middle High German, Middle Low German hus "house" (see House).
UmonJapanese (Rare) This surname combines 右 (u, yuu, migi) meaning "right" or 宇 (u) meaning "eaves, heaven, house, roof" with 門 (mon, kado, to) meaning "gate."... [more]
LoudonScottish, English (Canadian) This surname is Scottish, although also recorded in England. It is believed to be locational from the village of Loudoun, in the district of Cunningham, in the county of Ayrshire. The placename is composed of the Northern English word "low", meaning a flame or beacon, itself from the pre 7th century Norse word "loge", plus the Gaelic "doun", meaning a hill... [more]
KarhuFinnish Means "bear" (the animal) in Finnish.
MassaItalian A habitational name from any of the various places named Massa (for example, Massa Lubrense or Massa di Somma, both in the Metropolitan City of Naples, or Massa d’Albe in the Province of L'Aquila), which were all named from the medieval Latin word massa, meaning ‘holding’ or ‘estate’.
TregurthaCornish A rare Cornish surname that derives its name from either the manor of Tregurtha in the parish of St. Hilary (located in west Cornwall) or from the hamlet of Tregurtha Barton in the parish of St. Wenn (located in central Cornwall)... [more]
DuldulaoIlocano From Ilocano duldulaw referring to a variety of early-maturing rice with a red kernel, used as an occupational name for a grower of this type of rice.
NanningaFrisian, Dutch, German Derived from the given name Nanne, a short form of Germanic names containing the element nand meaning "daring, brave, courage"... [more]
GarrighanIrish to denote 'son of Geargain' a name which originally in derived from 'gearg' which meant grouse but which was often used figuratively for warrior
MalmreEstonian Derived from "malm", meaning "cast iron".
VorwaldGerman Topographic name for someone who lived "in front of (Middle High German vor) a forest (Middle High German wald)".
SchiavoItalian Means both "Slav" and "slave" in Italian, the latter meaning deriving from the former. Was most likely given as an ethnonym to people from Eastern Europe, though in some cases it may have been a nickname, or an occupational name for a servant.
LichterGerman, Jewish Occupational name for someone who made candles or possibly for someone who tended a light, from an agent derivative of from Middle High German lieht, Yiddish likht "candle, light".
PreponJewish This is the surname of American actress Laura Prepon (born March 7, 1980).
Del RosarioSpanish Del Rosario, in Spanish and Italian languages, and do Rosário in Portuguese language (English: of the rosary) is a surname that has as its etymology, the Latin preposition, "de" meaning "of the" and the Latin noun "rosarium", meaning "rosegarden" or "garland of roses" but in this case, takes the meaning of "rosary", the Roman Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary... [more]
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').
PutxetaBasque (Rare) From the name of a neighborhood of the municipality of Abanto, Biscay, possibly derived from Basque putzu "well, hole, puddle" and -eta "place of, abundance of".
BonnevierSwedish Likely brought to Sweden by Walloon immigrants in the 16th century.
SaimuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 宰 (sai) meaning "superintend" and 務 (mu) meaning "task; duty", referring to someone who would supervise or administer others.
BonnemaisonFrench Literally means "good house", derived from French bonne "good" and French maison "house". As such, this surname is most likely a locational surname, in that it originally either referred to someone who lived in a good house (probably more like a mansion) or to someone who was born in (or lived in) the place Bonnemaison, which is nowadays located in the Calvados department of France... [more]
HammarlundSwedish Combination of Swedish hammare "hammer" and lund "grove".
DesaulniersFrench (Quebec) Topographic name denoting a property distinguished by a grove of alder trees, derived from Old French au(l)ne meaning "alder".
LeonardoItalian, Spanish, German Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese from the Germanic personal name Leonhard, formed from the elements leo ‘lion’ + hard, ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’; this was an early medieval saint’s name (see Leonard).
MoutonFrench Nickname from Old French mouton "sheep" used for a docile mild-mannered person for someone easily led or perhaps for a curly-haired man... [more]