CloreEnglish (American) Americanized spelling of German Klor (from a short form of the medieval personal name Hilarius (see Hillary) or Klar).
BhatnagarIndian, Hindi, Marathi, Odia Derived from the name of a subgroup of the Kayasth community, denoting association with Hanumangarh (formerly named Bhatner), a city in Rajasthan, India.
EenpaluEstonian Eenpalu is an Estonian name, possibly derived from "eend" (meaning "ledge") and "palu" ("sandy heath").
StureOld Swedish, Swedish (Rare) Derived from Old Norse stura "to be contrary". This was the surname of two important families in the 15th and 16th century Sweden. Members of these families served as regents of Sweden during this time... [more]
XavierEnglish, French Derived from the Basque place name Etxaberri meaning "the new house". This was the surname of the Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552). He was a missionary to India, Japan, China, and other areas in East Asia, and he is the patron saint of the Orient and missionaries.
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.
MiyaresAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous parish of the municipality of Piloña.
AvenaItalian, Spanish Means "oats" in Spanish and Italian, an occupational surname for a grain grower or merchant. It can also be a toponymic surname derived from Avena, Calabria.
DeMilleFrench (Belgian) Denoted a person from Hamme-Mille, a section of the municipality of Beauvechain, in the province of Walloon Brabant in Wallonia, Belgium. This surname was borne by the American filmmaker and producer Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959).
AdvaniIndian, Sindhi Means "descendant of Adu" in Sindhi, Adu probably being the name of a past ancestor.
FrickerGerman, German (Swiss) Habitational name for someone from the Frick valley in Baden, Germany, or from Frick in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland.
ClefItalian At the end of the 10th century, Gregorian musical scribes increased the precision of early notation by introducing a horizontal line to indicate a base pitch. The pitch of this line was indicated by a letter at its start... [more]
SaxonEnglish Derived from the tribe of the Saxons from the Anglo-Saxon element seaxa "a Saxon" derived Germanic elements sahso and sahsaz derived from sahsą "knife"... [more]
WiKorean (Rare) From Sino-Korean 魏 (Wi) meaning "Wei", a former Chinese state.
ZanussiFriulian, Italian Zanussi is best known as the surname of an influential Italian inventor from Brugnera in Friulia. The name likely comes from zanuso meaning ‘sedge’ in Italian.
TatlonghariTagalog From Tagalog Tatlong Hari referring to the three kings (also known as the Magi or wise men) who were said to have visited the newborn Jesus.
SawtellEnglish (British) A dialectal variant of Sewell, which was first recorded in early 13th-century England. The later addition of the 't' was for easier pronunciation.... [more]
FowlEnglish, Popular Culture This name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Old English pre 7th Century word fugol, "fowl", "bird", which was used as a byname and as a personal name. The medieval form of the word was the Middle English development foul, fowl(e), used as a continuation of the Old English personal name and also as a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a bird.
FfordeEnglish (British) Notably the last name of English novelist Jasper Fforde. The spelling suggests it is Welsh. Possibly a form of Ford? The source is unknown to me.
SeeEnglish, German Topographic name for someone who lived by the sea-shore or beside a lake, from Middle English see meaning "sea", "lake" (Old English sǣ), Middle High German sē. Alternatively, the English name may denote someone who lived by a watercourse, from an Old English sēoh meaning "watercourse", "drain".
MetteGerman Matronymic surname derived from the given name Mette, a Low German short form of Mechthild.
SagawaJapanese From Japanese 佐 (sa) meaning "help, aid" and 川 (kawa) meaning "river, stream".
WurnigGerman German origin from the place name am Virgen originally meaning a person from the town of Virgen in Tyrol. Construed as a family name in 1501.
WollmannGerman Occupational name for a wool worker or wool trader Middle High German Middle Low German wollman derived from German wolle "wool" and man "man".
FennoyAmerican Fennoy is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Fennoy family once lived near a marsh or swamp. Another name for wetlands is fen, in the Old English fenn, from which this name is derived.
SambaSpanish Spanish surname of unknown origin maybe from the same origin as the name for the dance. Omar Samba has this surname.
SirelEstonian Sirel is an Estonian surname meaning "lilac".
MickiewiczPolish Polish form of Mitskevich. A notable bearer is Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), the Polish poet of Belarusian origin.
KandhalIndian, Gujarati People with the last name of "Kandhal" are commonly descendants of Rao Kandhal who belonged to the "Rathore" clan of Rajputs (warrior class) in India. "Rao" is a royal title. Rao Kandhal was younger brother of Rao Jodha who founded the princely state of Jodhpur in western Rajasthan, India... [more]
al-DosariArabic Means "the Dosari" in Arabic, referring to a person from the Dawasir (الدواسر) Bedouin tribe of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The tribe was formed in the town of Wadi Al Dawasir, in the Riyadh Province of Saudi Arabia.
HutagaolBatak From Batak huta meaning "village, area" and gaol meaning "banana".
BumrapBosnian (Rare) Of Slavic origin, possibly originating near the city of Tuzla.
SalvacionSpanish (Philippines) Derived from Spanish salvación meaning "salvation," referring to the saving of human beings from death and separation from God by Christ's death and resurrection.
KōJapanese Variant reading of Japanese Kanji 神 (see Jin).
TardáguilaSpanish Tardáguila is a Spanish surname that is believed to have originated from the Basque region of Spain. The surname is a combination of the words "tarda", which means late, and "aguila", which means eagle... [more]
LappGerman From Middle High German lap(pe) ‘cloth’, ‘patch’, ‘rag’; a metonymic occupational name for a mender of clothes or shoes, or a nickname for a simple-minded person.... [more]
TartuEstonian Tartu is an Estonian surname derived from the city of the same name in Tartu County.
AllemannGerman (Swiss) Derived from German Alemanne, originally "member of the Alemanni tribe", this word came to denote "of Germanic descent". It was used to refer to members of the German-speaking population of Switzerland (as opposed to those who spoke one of the Romance languages; compare Welsch).
BarajasSpanish Habitational name from any of several places in Spain, of uncertain etymology. Coincides with Spanish barajas meaning "playing cards" or "quarrels".
HosodakiJapanese (Rare) Hoso (細) means "fine/thin", Daki (滝) means "waterfall". Daki is a variant of Taki and it changed the T to D due to rendaku. See also Hosotaki
PeeblesScottish, Spanish (?) Habitational name from places so named in Scotland. The place names are cognate with Welsh pebyll "tent, pavilion".
Du LacArthurian Cycle In the series Merlin, this was the surname of Sir Lancelot: Lancelot du Lac. du Lac possibly means "of the lake."
BirkinEnglish The surname "Birkin" comes from a village in Yorkshire of the same name, first recorded as "Byrcene" in the Yorkshire charters of 1030, and as "Berchine" and "Berchinge" in the Domesday Book. The first known person with the surname "Birkin" was Jon de Birkin, a baron who lived in the late-11th century.
ProrokPolish The meaning of prorok is prophet. It was the maiden name of my maternal grandmother. It is not a common name. Her family was from the southeastern part of Poland.
SiebernGerman German. People known with this name are: Emelia Siebern, Hannah Siebern, Caleb Siebern.
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’.
CorkeryIrish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Corcra "descendant of Corcra", a personal name derived from corcair "purple" (ultimately cognate with Latin purpur).
BesançonFrench Habitational name for a person from the eponymous capital city of Doubs in France, ultimately from Latin Vesontiō, derived from Proto-Celtic *ves "mountain". Folk etymology states that it is associated with the place name with Old French bison "wisent".
GuastiItalian Meaning uncertain, may denote someone from the town of Guasto. Alternately, it may be an occupational name from gastaldo "chamberlain", from Latin gastaldus "manager, bailiff, steward", or be a nickname from guasto "broken, crippled".
SterleyEnglish This is an English locational surname. Recorded as Starley, Stearley, Sterley, Sturley, and others, it originates from a place called 'ster-leah', meaning "steer" or "cattle farm". However no such place in any of the known surname spellings is to be found in England, although there is place called Starleyburn in Fifeshire in Scotland... [more]
KotaniJapanese Ko means "Small" and Tani means "Valley".
ManteuffelGerman The Manteuffel family is the name of an old and influential German Pomeranian noble family. Manteuffel family was first mentioned in 1256, but the family history officially begins with Henricus Manduvel who is first mentioned on 14... [more]
ToupinFrench, Breton, Norman nickname from Old French toupin "spinning-top". in rare instances in the south probably from Old Occitan toupin "small earthenware pot" used as a metonymic occupational name for a potter.
PiirimaaEstonian Piirimaa is an Estonian surname meaning "border land".
HeinapuuEstonian Heinapuu is an Estonian surname meaning "hay wood".
PartingtonEnglish Habitational name from a place in Greater Manchester (formerly in Cheshire) called Partington, from Old English Peartingtun "Pearta's town".
AodaJapanese So means "green, blue" and da is a form of ta meaning "field, rice paddy".
CrnkovićCroatian Derived from crn "black". The name refers to a person who was dark-skinned, or a person from the region Crna Gora "Black Mountain" (modern-day Montenegro).
KleisUpper German, Romansh Derived from the given name Kleis, a South German variant of Klaus. The Kleis settled in Romansh-speaking areas after the Napoleonic Wars.
BelgraveEnglish Aristocratic surname from French, meaning "beautiful grove"; comes from a place name in Leicestershire. A famous namesake is British polar explorer Belgrave Ninnis, who perished in Antarctica on a 1912 expedition.
YoneyamaJapanese From Japanese 米 (yone) meaning "rice" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".
WhitsonScottish (Gallicized) This surname originated in Lanarkshire in Scotland. The family held a seat from King Malcolm IV in 1153 in Wicestun.
EenmaaEstonian Eenmaa is an Estonian name, possibly derived from "eend" (meaning "ledge") and "salu" ("grove").
TakeishiJapanese From Japanese 竹 (take) meaning "bamboo" or 武 (take) meaning "military, martial" and 石 (ishi) meaning "stone".
RichersEnglish, German From a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + hari, heri ‘army’. The name was introduced into England by the Normans in the form Richier, but was largely absorbed by the much more common Richard... [more]
HoneyballEnglish From Honeyball, a medieval personal name of uncertain origin: perhaps an alteration of Annabel, or alternatively from a Germanic compound name meaning literally "bear-cub brave" (i.e. deriving from the elements hun "warrior, bear cub" and bald "bold, brave").
ZhangChinese From Chinese 章 (zhāng) referring to the ancient fiefdom of Zhang (spelled as 鄣), which existed in what is now Shandong province.
VikanderSwedish Swedish vik ”bay” combined with the common surname suffix -ander.
BagatsingFilipino Filipinized form of Bhagat Singh, a combination of Sanskrit भगत (bhagat) meaning "devotee, follower" combined with सिंह (siṃhá) meaning "lion". A notable bearer was Ramon Bagatsing (1916-2006), the 19th Mayor of Manila who was of Indian descent.