ValenzuelaSpanish Habitational name from places named Valenzuela in Córdoba and Ciudad Real. The place name is a diminutive of Valencia, literally "little Valencia".
SakanoJapanese From Japanese 坂 or 阪 (saka) meaning "slope, hill" and 野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness".
ChiharaJapanese From Japanese 茅 (chi) meaning "thatch" or 千 (chi) meaning "thousand" combined with 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain". A notable bearer of this surname is Minori Chihara (茅原 実里), a Japanese voice-actress who is best known for voicing Yuki Nagato from the Haruhi Suzumiya series and Aya Natsume from Tenjō Tenge.
KalhorhUrdu, Sindhi Originally a nickname for a person who belonged to the Kalhora clan in Sindh, Pakistan. The clan's name is derived from Sindhi ڪلهوڙو (kalhoro), ultimately from ڪَلھو (kalho) meaning "alone".
MatovicMontenegrin, Serbian Patronymic last name - descendants of Mato. Originally from Kotor, Montenegro.
KaltmannGerman From a nickname for a cool, unfriendly person from middle high German kalt "cold" and mann "man".
KatanabeJapanese Kata could mean "single" or "shape" and nabe could mean "pot, pan".
HaverbusYiddish, Dutch Means "blessed friend", from Hebrew חבר (haver) and ברוך (baruch) "blessed".
CalliganIrish (Rare) Before Irish names were translated into English, Calligan had a Gaelic form of O Ceallachain, possibly from "ceallach", which means "strife".... [more]
KnechtGerman, German (Swiss), Dutch Means "servant, assistant" in German and Dutch, an occupational name for a journeyman or male servant derived from Old Germanic kneht meaning "servant, knight" or "youth, boy"... [more]
PoissonFrench Poisson is the French word for fish, and was given to one who was a fishmonger, fisherman, or could be a nickname for one who had the appearance similar to a fish.
ZhytaryukUkrainian Means "child of the grain farmer". Derived from Ukrainian "житар (zhytar)", meaning "grain farmer" and the last name suffix -юк (-yuk).
SamarageSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "coming together, meeting" or "conflict, struggle" combined with the Sinhala suffix -ගේ (-ge) meaning "of, home, house".
AmsdonEnglish (Modern) Unknown. Possibly a spelling variant of Amsden. Ancestry.com suggests probably a habitational name, from a reduced form of the Oxfordshire place name Ambrosden, which is composed of an Old English personal name Ambre + Old English dun ‘hill’... [more]
GiesingerGerman Denoted a person from the town of Giesing in Germany. Or perhaps a variant spelling of Geisinger. A famous bearer of this surname is the German singer-songwriter Max Giesinger.
NarramoreEnglish Earliest progenitor is Reginald Bynorthemore, living 1318 inbetween Bovey Tracy and Moretonhampstead, in Dartmoor, Devonshire, England. By the 16th century, the surname was being used interchangeably as Narramore/Northmore within the same generation, as in the case of Walter Narramore/Northmore... [more]
PolitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Habitational name derived from any one of several places called Police (known as Pölitz in German) in the Czech Republic. Hugh David Politzer (1949-) is an American theoretical physicist who, along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek, discovered asymptotic freedom.
MoneypennyEnglish Probably from a medieval nickname for a rich person or a miser. A fictional bearer is Miss Moneypenny, secretary to M (the head of MI6) in the James Bond novels of Ian Fleming and in the films based on them.
LeibnizGerman The German surname Leibnitz emerged in the lands that form the modern state of Lower Saxony, which is presently bordered by the North Sea, the Hartz mountains and the Elbe and Ems rivers. Lower Saxony was previously a medieval dukedom... [more]
ZehnerGerman (chiefly Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland, and Württemberg): occupational name for an official responsible for collecting, on behalf of the lord of the manor, tithes of agricultural produce owed as rent.... [more]
BergenGerman, Dutch, Flemish, Jewish Originally denoted a person from any of the various places named Bergen in Germany and the Netherlands. It is also a variant of Berg. Famous bearers include the Americans Candice Bergen (1946-), an actress, and Polly Bergen (1930-2014), an actress, singer and television host.
KyawBurmese From the Native Burmese word Kyaw (ကျော်) meaning “famous,” “renowned,” or “outstanding.”
OrakzaiPashto Means "lost son" from Pashto ورک (worak) meaning "lost" and زوی (zoy) meaning "son".
LannisterLiterature Created by author George R. R. Martin for his series A Song of Ice and Fire, published beginning 1996, and the television adaptation Game of Thrones (2011-2019). The Lannisters are the wealthiest family in Westeros... [more]
GooseEnglish, Norman Occupational name for a goose-herd (a person who tends to geese) or a medieval nickname for a person who resembled a goose in some way. It could also be a English (of Norman French origins) cognate of Gosse.
HäberliGerman (Swiss) Derived from Alemannic and Upper German Haber, a variant of Standard High German Hafer "oats" in combination with the diminutive suffix -li. This name denoted a young farmer of oats.
NaqviUrdu Derived from Arabic نقي (naqi) meaning "pure, clean". This is the name of a Shi'ite clan found primarily in Iran, Iraq and South Asia, named after 9th-century imam Ali al-Hadi (also known as al-Naqi).
CorbettEnglish, Scottish, Welsh Nickname from Norman French corbet meaning 'little crow, raven'. This surname is thought to have originated in Shropshire. The surname was taken by bearers to Scotland in the 12th Century, and to Northern Ireland in the 17th Century.... [more]
IshidoriJapanese Ishi means "stone" and dori comes from tori, meaning "bird".
SamarawickramaSinhalese Means "conqueror of battles" from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "conflict, struggle" and विक्रम (vikrama) meaning "valour, power, strength".
LepsySlavic (Rare), Turkish (Rare) Possibly dating back to the Ottoman Empire's invasion of Europe, the original Turkic meaning is veiled in mystery, and possibly meant "one who comes from the edge of the lake." ... [more]
SidwellEnglish From an English surname of uncertain origin, possibly originally a habitational name from an unidentified place with a second element from Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’, but on the other hand early forms are found without prepositions... [more]
MiodownikPolish, Jewish The literal translation is "honey cake", from the Polish word/root surname miod, meaning "honey." An occupational surname to those in the honey business, mainly beekeepers and bakers.... [more]
HardacreEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of poor, stony land, from Middle English hard "hard, difficult" (derived from Old English heard) and aker "field" (derived from Old English æcer), or a habitational name from a place called Hardacre in West Yorkshire, of the same origin.
RaabGerman Derived from German rabe "raven". As a surname, it was given to a person with black hair.
HeilandGerman South German: from Middle High German heilant ‘savior’, ‘Christ’, presumably either a name given to someone who had played the part of Christ in a mystery play or an occupational name for a healer, from Middle High German heilen ‘to heal’, ‘save’.
WataseJapanese Wata means "boat, ferry" and se means "ripple".
SilvergrassEnglish From English "Silver" and "Grass". Probably given from the plant called "Silvergrass", a Miscanthus type growing in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands, or a field shining with the sun.
IizukaJapanese From Japanese 飯 (ii) meaning "cooked grains" and 塚 (tsuka) meaning "mound, hillock".
MallahiPersian From Persian ملاح (mallah) meaning "sailor", ultimately of Arabic origin.
KatzenJewish (Ashkenazi) Katzen is a variant of Kotzen, or a shortened version of Katzenellenbogen. Its origins can also be traced back to a habitational form of Katzenelnbogen. There is no clear answer of where this surname exactly came from... [more]
MapleEnglish Name for a person who lived near a maple tree, from Middle English mapel, and Old English mapul.
RumfeltGerman, Dutch Altered spelling of German Romfeld, derived from Middle Low German rüm- meaning "to clear (land)" and feld meaning "open country, field", hence a topographic name or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a person engaged in clearing woodland, or in some cases a habitational name for someone from Romfelt in the Ardennes... [more]
AuväärtEstonian Auväärt is an Estonian surname meaning "honor worthy".
NiideraJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 新 (nii-) meaning "temple" and 寺 (dera), the joining form of 寺 (tera) meaning "temple".
VreeswijkDutch Habitational name from a former village and municipality in the province Utrecht, Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch Frieso "Frisian" and wic "village, town"... [more]
CatsDutch, Jewish Habitational name for a person from the village of Kats in Zeeland, Holland, or a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a cat, derived from Middle Dutch catte literally meaning "cat"... [more]
TodorokiJapanese Means "thundering sound" or "equal power" in Japanese. A famous bearer is Shoto Todoroki, a character in the anime series 'My Hero Academia'.
HerlevDanish Derived from the suburb of Herlev in Denmark.
ZaleEnglish (American), Polish (Anglicized) Possibly a habitational name derived from the Polish toponym Żale meaning "on the other side of the wood", from za "beyond" and las "forest".