MoriyaJapanese From the Japanese 守 (mori) meaning "watchman, keeper, caretaker, guard, protect, defend" or 森 (mori) meaning "forest" combined with 屋 (ya) meaning "house, dwelling" or 谷 (ya or tani) meaning "valley."
LevantEnglish Derived from the Italian word levante, meaning "rising" and the French word levant, meaning "to rise". The term entered the English language in 1497 and was used to describe the "Mediterranean lands east of Italy" by referring to the rising of the sun in the east... [more]
KhorsandiPersian Derived from Persian خرسند (khorsand) meaning "happy, content, satisfied".
AustriaSpanish (Philippines) From the name of the European country, either as an ethnic name or a reference to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, which ruled Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.
LindeSpanish From Spanish linde "boundary" or a habitational name from places called La Linde in Spain.
EbiharaJapanese From a combination of 海 (e) meaning "vastly, gathered, sea, ocean, wide, vast" and 老 (bi) meaning "old age, elderly" or 蛯 (ebi) meaning "pawn, shrimp, lobster", that is then combined with 原 (hara) meaning "plain, field".
CaballoSpanish, Spanish (Latin American) Derived from the Spanish word cabello, ultimately derived from the Latin word caballus, meaning "horse". This denoted someone who worked in a farm that took care of horses, or someone who had personality traits attributed to a horse, such as energetic behaviour.
KaiyōJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 回 (e, kai, ka.eru, mawa.shi-, -mawa.shi, mawa.su, -mawa.su, -mawa.ri, mawa.ru, -mawa.ru, motoo.ru) meaning "game, revolve, round" and 陽 (you, hi) meaning "daytime, heaven, male, positive, sunshine, yang principle."... [more]
CavillEnglish Derived from Cavil, a place located in the East Riding of Yorkshire in northern England, named from Old English ca meaning "jackdaw" and feld meaning "open country". It is borne by the British actor Henry Cavill (1983-).
DowningEnglish Topographic name derived from Middle English doun "hill, down" (see dun). Compare Downer.
RiquelmeSpanish Spanish: from a personal name composed of the ancient Germanic elements rīc 'power(ful)' + helm 'helmet protection'.
CorletoItalian Habitational name derived from the town Corleto Perticara, the first element derived from Latin coryletum "hazel tree grove, copse of hazel trees".
HumperdinckGerman (?), Literature From the German surname Humperdinck. As a surname it was born by the composer Engelbert Humperdinck. As a first name it was used for the villain Prince Humperdinck in William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride.
PotDutch From Middle Dutch pot "pot, jar", an occupational name for a potter, or perhaps a toponymic surname referring to a low-lying piece of land.
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]
PolandEnglish, German, French (Anglicized), Irish (Anglicized) English and German name is derived from the Middle High German Polan, which means "Poland". The surname originally signified a person with Polish connections.This French surname originated from an occupational name of a poultry breeder, or from a fearful person; it is derived from the Old French poule, which means "chicken".In other cases, particularly in Ireland, the English Poland is a variant of Polin,which is in turn an Anglicised form of the original Gaelic spelling of Mac Póilín, which translated from Irish means "son of little Paul"... [more]
ConnallyIrish John Connally was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. His surname may have derived from the name Conall "rule of a wolf", from Old Irish cú "hound, dog, wolf" (genitive con) and fal "rule."
CaineFrench, English Originally from a French derogatory nickname for someone with a bad temper.
FilosaItalian Southern Italian: Probably an occupational nickname for a fisherman, from Sicilian filuòsa ‘fishing net’. Also from the subphylum: Filosa. These are known as euglyphids, filose (which means stringy or thread-like), amoebae with shells of siliceous scales or plates, which are commonly found in soils, nutrient-rich waters, and on aquatic plants.
CadeEnglish Either possibly from a Middle English form of the Old English personal name Cada itself probably of Brittonic origin from any of a number of names beginning with catu "battle"... [more]
GaddamuTelugu Variant of Gaddam. This surname means "on the hill" It is derived from the Telugu words "gadda (గడ్డ)" which means hill and "meeda (మీద)/meedi (మీది)" which means on. The two words were put together and shortened to Gaddamu.
WinkworthMedieval English Locative name from Winkworth Farm in Lea (Wilts), recorded as Winkeworthe in 1248. It is also possible that the surname is from Winkworth Farm in Godalming (Surrey), considering the presence of medieval early bearers in the county, but there are no medieval forms for this place-name and so the early bearers in Surrey may be migrants from the Wilts place, who later gave their name to the place in Surrey.
De ProphetisItalian (Rare) Means "descendant of the prophetess" from Greek προφήτις (prophētis), meaning "prophetess" or "female prophet".
GalanteItalian, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Jewish Means "gallant, courteous, chivalrous; romantic" in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, both derived from French galant "gentlemanly" or "flirtatious, amorous". In the case of Mordecai Galante, a Spanish exile in 16th century Rome, his courteous manners won for him from the Roman nobles the surname Galantuomo, meaning "gentleman" in Italian, from which Galante was eventually derived.... [more]
PalmeroItalian The Palmero family lived in the territory of Palma, which is in Campania, in the province of Naples. The surname Palma was also a patronymic surname, derived from the personal name Palma, which was common in medieval times... [more]
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".
BourbonFrench Habitational name for a person mainly from the lordship of Bourbon-l'Archambault in Allier, now a spa town, derived from the Celtic god Borvo, from Proto-Celtic *borvo "froth, foam". It could be from other places containing Bourbon of the same origin.
HoriguchiJapanese From Japanese 堀 (hori) meaning "ditch, moat, canal" and 口 (kuchi) meaning "mouth, entrance".
ŌshitaJapanese From Japanese 大 (ō) meaning "big, great" and 下 (shita) meaning "under, below".
SchildJewish From German Schild "shield" or "(house) sign", applied either as an ornamental name or as a habitational name for someone who lived in a house distinguished by a sign.
UnwinEnglish From the Old English male personal name Hūnwine, literally "bearcub-friend" (later confused with Old English unwine "enemy"). Bearers include British publisher Sir Stanley Unwin (1885-1968) and "Professor" Stanley Unwin (1911-2002), South African-born British purveyor of comical nonsense language.
PierpontEnglish English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places, for example in Aisne and Calvados, so called from Old French pierre ‘stone’ + pont ‘bridge’.
OxendineEnglish From an English place name meaning "valley of the oxen", which was derived from Old English oxa "ox" (genitive plural oxena) and denu "valley".
HaswellEnglish From the names of three towns in Durham, Somerset, or Devon, all derived from Old English hæsel "hazel" and wille "well, spring, stream".
ReizigerDutch, Dutch (Surinamese) Derived from Middle Dutch reisiger meaning "traveller, voyager", ultimately from Middle High German meaning "soldier on horseback". It is notably borne by the Dutch former soccer player Michael Reiziger (1973-).
MuxikaBasque From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Coincides with, or possibly derives from, the Basque word muxika meaning "peach".
HirayamaJapanese From Japanese 平 (hira 2) meaning "level, even, peaceful" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
BridgwaterEnglish Habitational name from a town named Bridgwater in Somerset, derived from Old English brycg "bridge" and the given name Walter, after Norman knight Walter of Douai (1046-1107).
AkarregiBasque Derived from Akerregi, the name of a place in Basque Country composed of aker "goat, billy goat" combined with either hegi "side, slope, bank; edge, border" or -egi "place".
Al-ShamiArabic Means "the Levantine" or "the Syrian", derived from Arabic شَامِيّ (šāmiyy) meaning "Levantine, Syrian, Damascene".
AndronikashviliGeorgian Means "son of Andronikos". This was the name of a Georgian family of nobility that claimed descent from Andronikos I, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1183-1185.
PetsBelarusian Means "to sing" in Belarusian. Occupational name for singer.
ElzeaHebrew (Gallicized, Rare), American (South, Gallicized, Rare) The name means G-d’s help It is a French transition of the Hebrew name Eleazar applied to Jews that came to France by way of Egypt. Later it was carried over to the French Caribbean mainly St. Martinique which was the first major Jewish settlement in the Caribbean, but the name also spread to other Latin American Islands including Mexico... [more]
PorteFrench, German, English from Old French porte "gateway entrance" (from Latin porta) hence a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town (typically the man in charge of them)... [more]
FrasureFrench The surname Frasure is of French origin and is derived from the Old French word "frasor," meaning "breaker" or "smasher." It is believed to have been a nickname given to someone who was strong or forceful.
UntzagaBasque (Rare) From the name of a hamlet in Álava, Spain, derived from Basque (h)untz "ivy" and -aga "place of, abundance of".
KozamuraiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 小侍 (Kozamurai) meaning "Kozamurai", a division in the area of Kitataku in the city of Taku in the prefecture of Saga in Japan.
DuvillardFrench French surname, pronounced /dyvilaʁ/, whose bearers mainly live in Haute-Savoie. It means "from Le Villard", a village in the Rhône-Alpes region, whose name comes from the Latin 'villare' which means 'hamlet'... [more]
RaineyIrish, Scottish An Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Raighne, Ó Ráighne meaning "descendent of Raonull", the given name Raonull being derived from Old Norse Rögnvaldr, Røgnvaldr, Rǫgnvaldr (compare Ronald).
ThirringUpper German (Rare) The name Thirring has many different forms/variant spellings. These include Thiering, Thiring, Thuring,Thuringer, Turinger, Duringer, Diringer, Diring and During. One of the reasons for all the variant spellings is that the church scribes in Hungary originally all recorded the name differently... [more]
AraldiItalian Means “heralds” in Italian. Famous bearers include Italian painters Alessandro Araldi (c. 1460 – c. 1529) and Paolo Araldi (18th century – after 1820).
BirchEnglish, German, Danish, Swedish (Rare) From Middle High German birche, Old English birce, Old Danish birk, all meaning "birch". This was likely a topographic name for someone living by a birch tree or a birch forest... [more]
WannScottish WANN. Surname or Family name. Origin Scottish and English: nickname from Middle English wann ‘wan’, ‘pale’ (the meaning of the word in Old English was, conversely, ‘dark’).
ByDutch Variant form of De Bie. Alternatively, could derive from a place name.
CarstairsEnglish (British) From the manor or barony of the same name in the parish of Carstairs (= 1170 Casteltarres, 'Castle of Tarres').
HumboldtGerman (?) Derived from the Germanic given name Hunibald. Notable bearers of this surname were Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a Prussian naturalist, geographer, explorer and polymath, and his brother Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), a linguist, philosopher and diplomat.
TeeäärEstonian Teeäär is an Estonia surname meaning "roadside" and "wayside".
WillsGerman Patronymic from any of the Germanic personal names beginning with wil "will, desire".
HulbertEnglish 1 English and German: from a Germanic personal name, Holbert, Hulbert, composed of the elements hold, huld ‘friendly’, ‘gracious’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’.... [more]
NievoItalian From nievo "grandchild, grandson; nephew", probably used to differentiate between relatives of the same name.
BranaghIrish Anglicisation of Irish Ó Branduibh meaning "descendant of Breathnach", a given name meaning "Welshman". A famous bearer is British actor and filmmaker Sir Kenneth Branagh (1960-).