DamasFrench French form of Damascus. Famous bearer Léon-Gontran Damas (1912-1978) was a French poet and politican from French Guiana, cofounder of the Négritude Mouvement and author of the collection "Black Label".
WesterGerman From Middle High German wëster ‘westerly’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived to the west of a settlement, or a regional name for one who had migrated from further west.
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]
ElricEnglish, Popular Culture From the medieval English givin name Elric. Notable bearers were the Fullmetal Alchemist characters Edward and Alphonse Elric, as well as their mother, Trisha Elric.
FrobisherEnglish The surname Frobisher is derived from an occupation, 'the furber' or 'furbisher.' (Middle English fourbishour, from Old French forbisseor). A furbisher was a scourer of armour and metals generally, found also as' furbearer.' Frobisher is the most prominent modern form of the surname... [more]
CádizSpanish Habitational name for a person from the city of Cádiz in southwestern Spain.
MagnesiItalian Derived from the word "magnesia," which is an ancient term for a region in present-day Greece that was known for its deposits of magnesium and other minerals. The surname may have been given to someone who originated from this region or was associated with it.
JõgisooEstonian Jõgisoo is an Estonian surname meaning "river swamp/marsh".
GranaroloItalian (Rare) Possibly a habitational name related to Italian granaio "granary, barn; region that produces grain", ultimately from Latin granum "grain, seed".
BernfieldGerman An Americanized variant of the German surname, "Bergfeld", meaning "mountain field".
ErrotabarriaBasque (Archaic) An extinct surname. Derived from Basque errota meaning "mill, factory" with the Spanish suffix -barria which refers to a "neighborhood".
BurridgeEnglish Derived from an English place name, derived from Old English burg "fortress, fortification, castle" and Old English hrycg, Old Norse hryggr "ridge" or from the name Burgric.
ToolanIrish The meaning of the name is unclear, but it seems to derive from the pre 13th century Gaelic O'Tuathalain suggesting that it was probably religious and may translate as "The male descendant of the follower of the lord".
GoedekeLow German Low German surname composed of the element gode and the diminutive suffix -ke. Gode can mean either "good", "God" or "a Goth".
KuchiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 口 (kuchi) meaning "mouth". It is a reference to an event in the Northern and Southern Courts Period, of 3 sons of Takase who became heroes for the south. The emperor of Japan awarded each of the sons a new surname; Oku for the eldest son, Naka for the middle son, and Kuchi for the youngest son.
CherrymanEnglish It is topographical or perhaps occupational and describes a person who lived or worked at a cherry orchard, or who lived by a house known by the sign of the cherry. In the days before house numbering, it was the tradition in almost all western countries to give the house a sign... [more]
IxEnglish, German Variant of Hicks. Also from a pet form of an ancient Germanic personal name formed with hild meaning "strife, battle" as the first element.
PhommasoneLao From Lao ພົມມະ (phomma) referring to the Hindu god Brahma and ສອນ (sone) meaning "arrow, weapon".
UrkiagaBasque From the name of the northernmost hill and mountain pass in Navarre, derived from Basque urki "birch tree" and -aga "place of, group of".
BolDutch From Dutch bol "ball, sphere" or "bun, roll, round piece of bread or pastry", possibly an occupational name for a baker, a habitational name for someone who lived by a sign depicting a ball or globe, or a nickname for a bald man, or perhaps a ball player.
BernerEnglish, Norman From the Norman personal name Bernier from Old English beornan ‘to burn’, hence an occupational name for a burner of lime (compare German Kalkbrenner) or charcoal... [more]
ArlingtonEnglish Location name that refers to a settlement associated with a personal name reduced to Arl- plus the Anglo-Saxon patronymic element -ing- then the element -ton denoting a "settlement"... [more]
SuryavanshiIndian, Marathi Derived from Sanskrit सूर्य (surya) meaning "sun" and वंश (vansha) meaning "lineage, clan".
CaouetteFrench (Quebec) Altered form of French Cahouet, itself a regional form of chat-huant meaning "screech owl", hence a nickname referring to the bird.
WumaChinese (Rare, Archaic) From Chinese 巫馬 (wūmǎ) meaning "horse doctor", the title of an official in the Zhou dynasty who took care of horses. After the Zhou dynasty, most bearers changed their names to Wu (巫) or Ma.
NisuEstonian Nisu is an Estonian surname meaning "wheat".
DōyuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 堂 (dō) meaning "temple, shrine, hall" and 湯 (yu) meaning "hot water, bath; hot spring".
WaldripEnglish, Scottish The name is derived from the Old Norman warderobe, a name given to an official of the wardrobe, and was most likely first borne by someone who held this distinguished
PrincipBosnian, Serbian Probably derived from Latin princeps "leader, initiator, prince", which itself was ultimately derived from primus "first" and capere "to take". The surname may thus have originated as a nickname for someone with a princely appearance, or for someone who was the illegitimate offspring of a prince... [more]
KetayEnglish (British) It was first used by the great kin Richard skinner-ketay.He ruled over his land fairly and was well respected by his subjects.
HinckleyEnglish From the name of a place in Leicestershire meaning "Hynca's wood", from the Old English byname Hynca, derivative of hún "bear cub", and leah "woodland, clearing".
PobjoyEnglish From a medieval nickname for someone thought to resemble a parrot, from Middle English papejai, popinjay "parrot". This probably denoted someone who was talkative or who dressed in bright colours, although it may have described a person who excelled at the medieval sport of pole archery, i.e. shooting at a wooden parrot on a pole.
AshfordEnglish Derived from Ashford, which is the name of several places in England. All but one of these derive the second element of their name from Old English ford meaning "ford" - for the one in North Devon, it is derived from Old English worō or worth meaning "enclosure".... [more]
SotaJapanese From Japanese 颯 (sō) meaning "sudden, sound of the wind" and 太 (ta) meaning "thick, big, great". This name can also be formed of other kanji combinations. There is a character in Danganronpa used as a surname, but it's not actually used as a surname and it's originated from a boy's name from Japanese.
SchottlanderGerman, Jewish From German Schottland "Scotland" and, in some cases, denoted an immigrant from Scotland or Ireland. As a Jewish surname, it is most often an ornamental name.
ScafataItalian Possibly denoting someone from the Italian town Scafati, from Latin scapha "skiff, light boat". Alternately, may be from Italian scafare "to husk peas", either literally referring to someone's occupation, or from the figurative meaning of "to make more confident; alert, shrewd".
SchwankeGerman From a short form of the German given name Swaneke, a pet form of Swane, ultimately derived from a Germanic compound name formed with swan meaning "swan" as the first element (see Schwenke 2).
ShakerchiTurkish Of Turkish origin, the most widely reported origin and meaning is “Sugarman” in English. The name Shakerchi is a nickname or a surname that has been adopted by individuals with Turkish heritage... [more]
WijesundaraSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit विजय (vijaya) meaning "victory" and सुन्दर (sundara) meaning "beautiful".
HayworthEnglish English: habitational name from Haywards Heath in Sussex, which was named in Old English as ‘enclosure with a hedge’, from hege ‘hedge’ + worð ‘enclosure’. The modern form, with its affix, arose much later on (Mills gives an example from 1544).
MurumaaEstonian Murumaa is an Estonian surname meaning "lawn/sod land".
SilcockEnglish From the Middle English given name Silcoc, a diminutive of Sil.
JagoCornish A patronym, Jago is the Cornish for James/Jacob but is most commonly found as a surname. It’s use as a surname dates back to the early 13th Century.... [more]
PuentesSpanish Means "bridges" in Spanish. Originated from "puente". The surname was first found in the valley of the Trucios in the Basque region of Spain.However, families with this surname have been present in Catalonia for hundreds of years... [more]
KwakKorean From Sino-Korean 郭 (gwak) meaning "outer city" (making it the Korean form of Guo) or 霍 (gwak) meaning "quickly, suddenly".
CarlyonCornish Cornish: habitational name from any of three places in Cornwall called Carlyon, in St. Minver and Kea parishes. The first element is Celtic ker ‘fort’; the second could represent the plural of Cornish legh ‘slab’.
AgüeroSpanish In Spanish, "agüero" can mean "(bad/good) omen" or "something from which omens are drawn", and it can also be a habitational name from places in Spain named Agüero.
SwantonEnglish Habitational name from Swanton Court in Sevington, Swanton in Lydden, Swanton Farm in Littlebourne (all Kent), or any of the three places in Norfolk called Swanton (Swanton Abbott, Swanton Morley, and Swanton Novers)... [more]
VilavongLao From Lao ວິລະ (vila) meaning "hero, brave, courage" and ວົງ (vong) meaning "lineage, family".
GladneyEnglish Probably means "bright island", from the Old English element glæd "bright" (cf. Glædwine) and the English element ney "island" (cf.... [more]
ImariJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 今利, 伊万里 or 伊萬里 with 今 (kon, kin, ima) meaning "now", 利 (ri, ki.ku) meaning "advantage, benefit, profit", 伊 (i, kare) meaning "Italy, that one", 万/萬 (ban, man, yorozu, ma) meaning "ten thousand/10,000" and 里 (ri, sato) meaning "league, parent's home, ri (unit of distance - equal to 3.927 km), village."... [more]
StraussGerman, Jewish From the German word strauß, meaning "ostrich." In its use as a Jewish surname, it comes from the symbol of the building or family that the bearer occupied or worked for in the Frankfurter Judengasse... [more]