AneddaItalian Possibly from Sardinian anedda "ring", referring to a walled ring in which animals were tied. May alternately be a diminutive form of the given name Ana.
KaifuJapanese Combination of the kanji 海 (kai, "sea, ocean") and 部 (bu, "division, section"). A famous bearer of this surname is Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu (海部 俊樹; b. 1931).
KuroshimaJapanese From Japanese 黒 (kuro) meaning "black" and 島 (shima) meaning "island".
PassepartoutLiterature Derived from French passe-partout, which literally means "goes everywhere" but is actually an idiom for "skeleton key".... [more]
SzydłoPolish Means "awl" in Polish, used as an occupational name for a cobbler.
MallerGerman An occupational name given to a painter of stained glass.
Mac Giolla MhartainIrish This name denotes a devotee of St. Martin. This saint founded the first monastery in France c. 360 and was made Bishop of Tours in 372. He is the patron saint of publicans and inn-keepers and is also a patron saint of France.
VecchioItalian Means "old, aged" in Italian, originally used as a nickname for an older or oldest son or for someone who was prematurely grey or wrinkled.
GarmendiaBasque, Spanish Garmendia is the surname of a family of the Basque Country region of Guipuzcoa, in Spain. The surname means "wheat mountain" in Basque from gar meaning "wheat" and mendi meaning "mountain"... [more]
ShevardnadzeGeorgian Means "son of the falcon", from Georgian შავარდენი (shavardeni) meaning "falcon, hawk". A famous bearer was Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014).
Van RijsbergenDutch Means "from Rijsbergen", a small town in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. It is derived from Middle Dutch rise meaning "twig, branch, brushwood" and berg meaning "mountain, hill".
KuuseEstonian Kuuse is an Estonian surname meaning "fir".
UmebayashiJapanese From 梅 (ume) meaning "Japanese apricot, plum" and 林 (hayashi) meaning "woods, grove". Other kanji combinations can be used.
PagliaroItalian Derived from Italian paglia "straw" or pagliaro "haystack, straw-rick", an occupational name for someone who gathered or used straw, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a barn or straw-loft.
DahlerGerman From a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name, possibly a cognate with Anglo-Saxon deal, the first part of which means “proud” or “famous.”
BobeckSwedish, German, Jewish, Slavic A respelling of the Swedish Bobäck, an ornamental name composed of the elements bo meaning "farm" and bäck meaning "stream".... [more]
VoborníkCzech, Slovak Příjmení Voborník vzniklo dle svého bydliště, tedy z obory. Oborníky mívali naši předkové, byli to správcové nebo strážcové obor, lesní a hajní v oborách (slovo toto žije v příjmení Oborník, Voborník)... [more]
OxendineLumbee The name is a common Lumbee surname. This name was used in the 1700s. This is the surname of Tribal councilman Delton Oxendine as well as Miss Lumbee Laura Oxendine.
ChapelFrench Occupational name for a maker of cloaks or a nickname for a person who wore a distinctive cloak, from a diminutive of Old French chape meaning "cape, cloak".
BingelGerman A topographic name derived from a diminutive of Middle High German binge, which means "depression", "ditch", or "pit". May also be derived from pingel, which is a Westphalian nickname for a pedantic person.
NamikiJapanese From Japanese 並 (nami) meaning "row, line" and 木 (ki) meaning "tree, wood".
RohmeGerman From the Germanic personal name Ruom (Old High German hruom ‘fame’), a short form of Ruombald and similar personal names containing this element.
PãoPortuguese Metonymic occupational name for a baker, from pão meaning "bread"
BachledaumPolish, Slovak From Romanian băchlit meaning "grumpy". In Poland, this surname is typically borne by Gorals, often as part of double surnames like Bachleda-Curuś or Bachleda-Księdzularz.
RivettEnglish, French English (East Anglia): metonymic occupational name for a metalworker, from Middle English, Old French rivet ‘small nail or bolt’ (from Old French river ‘to fix or secure’, of unknown origin).... [more]
GrosjeanFrench, French (Belgian) Derived from French gros "large" and the given name Jean 1. As a nickname, it is sometimes applied to a person who is perceived as stupid.
TomiyamaJapanese From Japanese 富 or 冨 (tomi) meaning "abundant, rich, wealthy" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain, hill".
ShamiArabic Means "Syrian" or "Damascene", derived from Arabic الشام (ash-Sham) referring to both Syria and the Syrian city of Damascus.
LandonFrench Either from the given name Landon the French cognate of Lando. Or a habitational name from a place so named (from a diminutive of lande "heath") in Creuse.
ShippōJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 七宝 (Shippō) meaning "Shippō", a former village in the district of Toyota in the former Japanese province of Aki in parts of present-day Hiroshima, Japan.
BoschAmerican The surname Bosch originates from the Old Norse word "buski," meaning "bush," or "woods” thus it is classed at a toponymic surname and was most likely used by a man who lived near a prominent bush... [more]
JagiełłoPolish Originally from Old Lithuanian jotis and gaili, meaning "strong rider". This was the last name of the Polish King Władysław Jagiełło, who, along with his wife, started the Jagiellonian dynasty in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
HenvilleWelsh Derived from the name of an ancestor meaning "Son of Anwyl"
De La ChaumetteFrench Name for someone from one of several places in central France named La Chaumette; or someone who lived on a chaumette, a high, arid plateau with little vegetation. The term is a diminutive of chaume "bare land", from a specialized sense of Latin calmus "calm, unruffled".
RaskEstonian Rask is an Estonian surname meaning "puttee (a cloth or leather legging)".
SukKorean Alternate transcription of Korean Hangul 석 (see Seok).
AriseJapanese Ari means "exist, have, possess" and se means "ripple".
TsukitaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 舂 (tsuki), from 舂き (tsuki), the continuative form of 舂く (tsuku) meaning "to grind with a mortar" and 田 (ta) meaning "rice paddy field", referring to a rice paddy field where they would grind grain with mortars.
JõhvikEstonian Jõhvik is an Estonian surname meaning "cranberry".
OkuJapanese From Japanese 奥 (oku) meaning "inside; inner depths". 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.... [more]
DauteriveFrench Originally denoted a person hailing from any of the various places in France called Hauterive. This surname is no longer found in France. A famous fictional bearer is the character Bill Dauterive from the American animated series King of the Hill, starting 1997.
HagenGerman, Dutch, Danish from the ancient Germanic personal name Hagen a short form of various compound names formed with hag "enclosure protected place" as the first element... [more]
BerethnetLiterature Used by Samantha Shannon in her book The Priory Of The Orange Tree as the surname of the queens of Inys, a fictional queendom in the book.... [more]
MeesterDutch, Flemish, German Occupational name for a teacher, lecturer or a master craftsman, or a nickname for someone who had a bossy demeanor, derived from Dutch meester meaning "master". A famous bearer of this surname is the American actress, singer and model Leighton Meester (1986-).
HoughtonEnglish Habitational name derived from any of several locations across England, usually derived from Old English hoh "heel, hough, point of land" and tun "town, settlement, enclosure"... [more]
PrawdaPolish From the root Praw, meaning right. Prawda means "truth."... [more]