OrtolanoItalian, Spanish occupational name for a cultivator or seller of fruit and vegetables ortolano "gardener" from a derivative of orto "vegetable garden" (from Latin hortus "garden"). The term was also used in the medieval period to denote both a cleric with a fervant devotion to pastoral work and a rough or uncouth person and in some instances may have been applied as a nickname in either sense... [more]
DurwardEnglish, Scottish Occupational name meaning "doorkeeper, porter", derived from Old English duru "door" and weard "guard, guardian". In Medieval Scotland, this was a hereditary title for the warden of the king’s door.
TiriliomisGreek Tirilomis is the masc variation, Tiriliomi the fem.
DoakScots A Scots Gaelic name said to be either an Anglicized version of Dabhóc that is a pet form of the given name David or a pet form of the given name Caradoc.
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.
MatsukazeJapanese From Japanese 松 (matsu) meaning "pine" and 風 (kaze) meaning "wind". A notable bearer of this surname is Japanese actor Masaya Matsukaze (松風 雅也).
NalisCroatian (Rare) Meaning unknown. A famous bearer of this surname is Antun Nalis, aka Tonči Nalis, a post-World War 2 actor in Croatian and Yugoslav cinema in the 1950s and 1960s.
EisenhowerEnglish (American) American form of German Eisenhauer. A notable bearer was Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), president of the United States between 1953 and 1961. His ancestors immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany in the 1740s and at some point the spelling changed from Eisenhauer to Eisenhower.
BleulerGerman (Swiss) From an agent derivative of Middle High German bliuwen meaning "to pound". Hence an occupational name for the owner of a pounding mill.
DadPunjabi A name found in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. The meaning of this name is 'the one who gives'. Similar to Ditta or Dutt.
WeintraubGerman, Jewish from Middle High German wintrub "grape" derived from wein "wine" and traub "grape" hence either a metonymic occupational name for a vintner or a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by a sign depicting a bunch of grapes.
Vogt Von HeselholtMedieval German Toponymic variant of Vogt meaning Lord Protector of Hazelwood. Bearers of this surname descend from the Edelherren Vögte von Heselholt.
ShishimaJapanese I don't know the history of this last name. I saw it in a magazine somewhere...
ForgieScottish Possibly a variant of Fergie or a shortened form of Ferguson. It could also be a habitational name from a place so named in Scotland.
ShandyEnglish (Rare) Shandy appears as a rare surname, mostly found in English-speaking countries going back to the 1600s. This name may originate from the English dialect adjective meaning "boisterous" or "empty headed; half crazy", of which the earliest record dates to 1691, though any further explanation for its origins are unknown... [more]
EvertonEnglish Habitational name from any of various places, in Bedfordshire, Merseyside, and Nottinghamshire, so named from Old English eofor ‘wild boar’ + tun ‘settlement’.
ŠojkaCroatian Derived from šojka meaning ''jay'' (the bird).
RengelSpanish Habitational name from a place called Rengel in Málaga province.
GhermezianIranian, Jewish, Persian The surname’s most notable bearers are the Ghermezian Family, Iranian Canadians of Jewish descent.
KatsumaruJapanese From 勝 (shou, ka.tsu, katsu, -ga.chi, sugu.reru, masa.ru) meaning "excel, prevail, victory, win" and combined with 丸 (maru) "round, circle".
NegreteSpanish Possibly from negrete denoting a member of a 15th-century faction based in the mountainous area of Cantabria.
BilderbackGerman (Modern, Archaic) German: habitational name from any of the three places in northern Germany named Billderbeck, formerly Bilderbeck.... [more]
PridonovRussian The surname Pridonov is derived from a nickname. It contains an indication of the place of residence of the ancestor: "at the Don, i.e. on the Don River". The river named Don flows not only in the European part of Russia, but also in Scotland (the city of Aberdon is located on it) and in France (a tributary of the Vilena).
GorenJewish Jewish (Ashkenazic) altered form of Horn (5), under Russian influence; since Russian has no h and alters h in borrowed words to g. In Israel the name has been reinterpreted by folk etymology as being from Hebrew goren 'threshing floor', which is in fact etymologically and semantically unrelated.
AlmondEnglish From the Middle English personal name Almund, from Old English Æthelmund, "noble protection" and variant of Allman, assimilated by folk etymology to the vocabulary word denoting the tree.
GuroalimFilipino, Maranao From Maranao goro meaning "teacher, instructor" and alim meaning "sage, philosopher".
TorrentSpanish A topographical name for someone who lived by a flood stream, deriving from the Spanish torrente. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguish names in the small communities of the Middle Ages... [more]
TutumluTurkish From the Turkish word tutumlu meaning "frugal, thrifty".
ShevardnadzeGeorgian Means "son of the falcon", from Georgian შავარდენი (shavardeni) meaning "falcon, hawk". A famous bearer was Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014).
RiinaSicilian Derived from Sicilian rijina meaning "queen".
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).
ChiassonFrench, English French surname originally denoting someone from the the municipality of Chiasso in Ticino, Switzerland, located along the Swiss/Italian border.... [more]
LattanzioItalian From the given name derived from Latin Lactantius, which could derive from the minor Roman agricultural deity Lactans, or directly from the Latin word lactans "suckling, milking".
TuulikEstonian Tuulik is an Estonian surname meaning "windmill".
Del FrateItalian Derived from Italian del "of the" and frate meaning "monk, friar" or "brother", the latter used as an appellation for close friends or peers as opposed to a literal sense.
BigelowEnglish Habitational name from a place in England called Big Low meaning "big mound".
SaracenoItalian A nickname from saraceno "Saracen" (from Late Latin Saracenus) denoting someone of swarthy appearance an unruly person or someone who had taken part in a Crusade... [more]
MontenegroSpanish, Portuguese Habitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in Spain and Portugal named Montenegro, from Spanish and Portuguese monte meaning "mountain, hill" and negro meaning "black".
CabanissFrench Variant spelling of Cabanis, a habitational name from any of various places in Gard named Cabanis, from Late Latin capannis ‘at the huts’, ablative plural of capanna 'hut'... [more]
TurcoItalian Means "Turkish" in Italian, an ethnic name for someone from Turkey, or a nickname from the same word in the sense of a non-Christian or, following the medieval ethnic stereotype, a cruel, ferocious, or short-tempered person.
TorvaldssonSwedish Swedish patronymic meaning "son of Torvald". It was the surname name of Erik the Red (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, anglicized as Erik Thorvaldsson or Erik Torvaldsson), father of Viking explorer Leif Erikson.
KoniecznyPolish Originally meant "final, last" in Polish, used to refer to a person who lived at the end of a village.
SoovereEstonian Soovere is an Estonian surname meaning "swamp blood".
DimondsteinGerman This is a German name which translates into English as diamond stone. It most likely belongs to a miner who mined diamonds or perhaps a jeweler.
KeurlisGerman Unknown origin. This surname is no longer found in Germany.
BlakewayEnglish Literally means "black way", thus referring to a black road near which the original bearer must have lived. A famous bearer of this surname was Jacob Blakeway (b. 1583-?), the biological father of Mayflower passenger Richard More (1614-1696).
DiskinIrish (Anglicized) Reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Díscín "descendant of Díscín", which may be derived from díosc "barren". The place name Ballyeeskeen, now Ballydiscin, in County Sligo, is derived from the surname.
Van Der WaalDutch Toponymic or habitational name derived from Middle Dutch wael "dike breach pool, eddy, vortex, mud flat" or "reservoir, well".
ModénSwedish Combination of Swedish mo "sandy heath" and the common surname suffix -én, a derivative of Latin -enius "descendant of". It could also be a variant of Modig.
MatcottAustralian Australian/UK variant of Marcotte, a surname of French origin, which means ‘vineshoot forming a layer’ or vine-grower in Old French. This surname is most commonly found in Australia and England.