KooijDutch From Dutch kooi meaning "cage", often referring to a pen or duck decoy (a plot of land with a pond set aside to lure in ducks). Occupational name for someone who raised or hunted ducks, or who made cages.
OkumuEastern African In the Luo language, Okumu (for males) and Akumu (for females) are traditionally given to children conceived under unusual circumstances. Specifically, these names are associated with "mysterious births," such as conception occurring shortly after a previous birth but before the mother's menstrual cycle has resumed... [more]
FischioneItalian Means "widgeon" (a kind of dabbling duck) in Italian, or literally "whistler", derived from fischio "whistle".
MendizabalBasque Means "wide mountain", derived from Basque mendi "mountain" and zabal "wide, broad, ample". This was also the name of a neighborhood of Arratzua-Ubarrundia that the falangists demolished in 1959 to make way for a reservoir.
KalevRussian Russian, from the elements Kal and -ev ("of"), therefore meaning "of Kal." Kal may be a shortened element of a Russian given name or place name.
TạVietnamese Vietnamese form of Xie, from Sino-Vietnamese 謝 (tạ).
SchmidlkoferGerman, German (Austrian) Occupational name for a farmer who was also a blacksmith, derived from a diminutive of Middle High German smit meaning "smith" and the suffix -kofer (a variant of -hofer).
DiasamidzeGeorgian Means "son of Diasami", from a Georgian given name of unknown meaning, perhaps meaning "master" or derived from Abkhaz дәаӡа (dwaʒa) meaning "uncultivated land, virgin soil" (thus used to refer to someone who plowed land)... [more]
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.
BanikIndian Hindi word for "farmer, merchant" & Bengali word for "the merchant"
ValleraFrench French: habitational name from Vallery in Yonne, once a Romano-Gallic estate, recorded in 1218 as Valerianus. The surname is also found in the British Isles and may be of Norman origin, from the same place.
ObuchMedieval Polish (Rare) Obuch is a surname found in Poland and specifically areas that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. It was the name of a long handled battle hammer and may have denoted someone handy with the weapon or who produced the weapon... [more]
BerglingSwedish Combination of Swedish berg "mountain" and the common surname suffix -ing "belonging to, coming from". It has also been found as a spelling variant of similarly spelled names, such as Berlin... [more]
CannavaroItalian Probably from a nickname used to refer to rope makers or hemp growers. This surname is most famously borne by brothers Fabio (1973–) and Paolo Cannavaro (1981–), former football players.
RīwaiMaori This name is a translation of the name Levi. The name also means potato as a general word for potatoes when its spelled without the letter "ī". This was the surname of founding mother Kiti Karaka Rīwai (1870-1927)... [more]
BehnGerman From the German male personal name Behn, a shortened form of Bernhard. A famous bearer was the English novelist and dramatist Aphra Behn (1640-1689).
JewettEnglish A mainly Northern English surname, derived from a pet form of Julian.
TsarnaevChechen (Rare) Meaning uncertain, possibly from Chechen царна (tsarna) meaning "them, they" or from an unknown given name or nickname. This is the surname of brothers Tamerlan (1986-2013) and Dzhokhar (1993-) Tsarnaev, the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing.
AnandteerthKannada Madhvacharya (1199-1278 or 1238–1317), sometimes anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Purna Prajna and Ānanda Tīrtha, was a Hindu philosopher and the chief proponent of the Dvaita (dualism) school of Vedanta.
MesipuuEstonian Mesipuu is an Estonian surname meaning "beehive" (literally, "honey tree").
NarisakiJapanese Narisaki is a japanese surname that denotes to noblewomen whom were exceptional and unique, as well as embodying the quality of novelty. It is believed to be a lost surname from an ancient Japanese reigning dynasty that was rediscovered and is now used by a sorority founded by Yuumi and Jovani.
SahabiIranian Possibly from Arabic صَحَابِيّ (ṣaḥābiyy) meaning "companion", from the verb صَحِبَ (ṣaḥiba) "to accompany, to be one's companion".
CaligiuriItalian Comes from the Greek words "kalos" meaning "beautiful" and "gheros" meaning "elderly," and was often given to children in the hopes that they would retain their beauty in their old age.
MoredockEnglish From the fact that boats get moored at a dock.
HietamaaFinnish Finnish. (hieta) meaning, “fine-sand” combined with (maa) meaning, “country.”
HollidayScottish An ancient Scottish name that was first used by the Strathclyde-Briton people of the Scottish/English Borderlands. It is a name for someone who lived near the mountain called Holy Day in the country of Annandale.
CastellanetaItalian Originated in an area of Italy, known as the Papal States.
ShinglerEnglish An occupational name for someone who laid wooden tiles, or shingles on roofs, from an agent derivative of Middle English schingle ‘shingle’. ... [more]
HanedaJapanese From Japanese 羽 (hane) meaning "feather, plume" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy". It can also be formed from 羽 (ha) meaning "feather, plume" combined with 根 (ne) meaning "root" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
TempestaItalian Originally a nickname for a person with a blustery temperament, from Italian tempesta meaning "storm, tempest" (compare Tempest).... [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]
HoffGerman Means "yard, court, farmyard", from Germanic hof.
ByresScottish Byres was first used as a surname by the descendants of the ancient Boernician clans of Scotland. The first Byres family lived in or near the place named Byers in Scotland. The place-name, Byers, derives from the Old English word byre, which means cattle shed... [more]
PatemanEnglish The name Pateman is rooted in the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. It is a name for someone who worked as a boatman. The surname Pateman is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word bat, which means a boat.
AnsteyEnglish From various places derived from Old English an "one, a" and stig "path", denoting a narrow path. A famous bearer of the name was English suffragist Rhoda Anstey (1865-1936).
Van ReenenDutch, South African Means "from Rhenen", the name of a city in Utrecht, Netherlands. Possibly derived from Proto-Germanic *hraini "clean, pure", or from Rijn "the Rhine (river)" combined with Old Dutch hem "home, settlement".
RugeGerman Nickname from Middle High German ruowe, ruge ‘quiet’, ‘calm’ or Low German rug ‘rough’, ‘crude’.... [more]
BerlinerblauGerman, Jewish Means “Prussian blue” in German. A notable bearer of this surname is Jacques Berlinerblau, a professor of Jewish civilization, and Stefania Berlinerblau, an American anatomist and physician.
AvilovRussian derives from old Russian male given name Vavila or Vavilo
HazlehurstEnglish Habitational name for a person from the places in Lancashire, Surrey, or Sussex, or somebody who lives in a hazel grove, all derived from Old English hæsl "hazel" (Archaic form hazle) and hyrst "wood, grove".
JäätmaEstonian Jäätma is an Estonian surname derived from "jäätmaa" meaning "undeveloped land".
JuniperEnglish From the tree name juniper which comes from Latin iūniperus meaning "juniper-tree". This surnames denotes someone who lived near junipers.
KnightleyEnglish English surname meaning knight. The book Emma by Jane Austen has a character named George Knightley.
DangerEnglish (Rare), Popular Culture This has been seen in records of the most uncommon American surnames. It has also been used in popular culture, in the show Henry Danger. Although, it's not the character's actual last name.
VillaniItalian Derives from Latin villa "village, farm, settlement", related to Italian villano "peasant" or "rude, bad-mannered".
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]
LiebermannGerman, Jewish Derived from German lieb or Yiddish lib meaning "dear, beloved". Many Liebermann families originally spelled the name in Hebrew or Cyrillic characters, so variations in the spelling occurred during transliteration to the Latin alphabet.
CallardCornish Might be from Calartha in Morvah / from cala-arth, the hard or difficult height.
AmaralPortuguese Unknown origin. It may come from the name of a country estate near Viseu, Portugal (quinta do Amaral) or from an old word meaning "place full of clary sages". This is also the name of a variety of red wine grape in northern Portugal whose name comes directly from the surname.
TrevithickCornish Means "person from Trevithick", the name of various places in Cornwall ("farmstead" with a range of personal names). It was borne by British engineer Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), developer of the steam engine.
SpoorsEnglish From Middle English spoor "spur", an occupational name for someone who made spurs, or perhaps a nickname for someone known for wearing them.
SpannEnglish Derived from Old English spann meaning "span (of a hand)", a unit of measurement equaling about nine inches, possibly used to refer to someone who lived on a strip of land or by a narrow footbridge.