PallmannGerman The name Pallmann originates from the Landsuhl area of Bavaria, Germany (nor in Rhineland-Palatinate). The meaning of the name is unknown. Some Pallmanns came to America and Americanized the spelling, by dropping the second "n", while others retained the "n".
BolsonaroPortuguese (Brazilian) Brazilian Portuguese cognate of Bolzonaro; in the case of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (1955-), his Italian paternal great-grandfather had the spelling changed from Bolzonaro upon emigrating to Brazil in the late 19th century.
WimpeyEnglish Perhaps a deliberate alteration of Impey. It is borne by George Wimpey, a British construction company, founded in Hammersmith, London in 1880 by George Wimpey (1855-1913)... [more]
RheinGerman From the German name for the River Rhine, denoting somebody whom lived within close proximity to the river. The river name itself comes from a Celtic word meaning 'to flow' (Welsh redan, 'run, flow').
TsunamiJapanese From Japanese 津 (tsu) meaning "port, harbour" and 波 (nami) meaning "wave".
AwaJapanese From Japanese 阿波 (Awa) meaning "Awa", a former Japanese province in present-day Tokushima, Japan.
MulkerinIrish The Irish surname Mulkerin is an anglicied rendering of the Gaelic surname O'Maoilchiarain which means ,literally, "descendant of a follower of Saint Ciaran", the Irish saint who founded the great monastery at Clonmacnois... [more]
DrielsmaDutch, Jewish Derived from the Frisian town IJlst. IJlst in Frisian is Drylts > Dryls > Driels combined with the Frisian surname suffix -(s)ma, which is most likely derived from Old Frisian monna meaning "men". Drielsma has Frisian Jewish origins.... [more]
AnunobyNigerian (?) A famous bearer is the British basketball player O.G. Anunoby (1997-).
ZahaviHebrew, Jewish From Hebrew זהב (zahav) meaning "gold", commonly used as a replacement for Ashkenazi surnames containing the element gold, such as Goldman, Goldstein or Goldberg.
HolfordEnglish Habitational name from any of the places named Holford or similar in England, all derived from Old English hol "hole, hollow" and ford "ford".
SoomroPakistani, Sindhi From the name of the city of سامراء (Sāmarrāʾ) in present-day Iraq. This is the name of a Sindhi tribe in southeastern Pakistan, along with a historical regional dynasty in India (the Soomra).
CimarosaItalian Possibly derived from Italian cima "top, peak, summit" combined with either rossa "red" or rosa "rose (flower); pink (colour)". If the former, it may be a habitational name derived from Cima Rossa, a mountain in the Alps... [more]
BeresHungarian Occupational name for a farm laborer or casual harvest hand, béres, a derivative of bér 'wage', 'payment'.
HaguEstonian Hagu is an Estonian surname meaning "brush".
HengstGerman, Dutch metonymic occupational name for someone who worked with or bred horses or a nickname for a brave strong man from Middle High German and Middle Dutch hengest "stallion" also "gelding" derived from Old Germanic hangist "stallion"... [more]
AnnamaaEstonian Annamaa is an Estonian surname meaning "give land".
MesserScottish Occupational name for someone who kept watch over harvested crops, Middle English, Older Scots mess(i)er, from Old French messier (see Messier).
KriegerGerman Noun to kriegen, kämpfen meaning "to fight (with words)". Describes a person who likes to argue. A wrangler, a quarreler, a brawler. Literal translation "warrior", from the German noun krieg "war" and the suffix -er.
AbadJudeo-Spanish Nickname from abad ‘priest’ (from Late Latin abbas ‘priest’, genitive abbatis, from the Aramaic word meaning ‘father’). The application is uncertain: it could be a nickname, an occupational name for the servant of a priest, or denote an (illegitimate) son of a priest.
RivareuaLigurian It indicates familial origin within the eponymous frazione of the commune of Carasco.
VialEnglish, French from a personal name derived from Latin Vitalis (see Vitale). The name became common in England after the Norman Conquest both in its learned form Vitalis and in the northern French form Viel.
KlorGerman (Austrian) The Klor surname may have evolved from the feminine personal name Klara. Or it may have come from the Middle High German and Middle Low German "Klar," meaning "Pure" or "Beautiful".
HuffEnglish (Rare) Short form of Humphrey. It is almost exclusively used as short for the surname, not for the first name.
ProctorEnglish Occupational name for a legal practitioner in an ecclesiastical court or a person appointed to collect alms for those who could not go out to beg for themselves (i.e., lepers and the bedridden), from Middle English proctour "steward", ultimately a contracted form derived from Latin procurator "agent, manager"... [more]
YousafzaiPashto Alternate transcription of Pashto يوسفزی (see Yusufzai). A notable bearer is Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (1997-).
BeakleyEnglish The surname Beakley is a nickname for a person with a prominent nose. Looking back further, we find the name Beakley was originally from the Old English word beke or the Old French word bec, each of which referred to the beak of a bird.
BaslerGerman Habitational name denoting someone from the city of Basel, Switzerland.
HatterEnglish This name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century "haet" meaning a hat and was originally given either as an occupational name to a maker or seller of hats
WittGerman Either from the given name Wittigo or from Middle Low German witte "white", a nickname for a pale person or someone with white hair.
GoedekeLow German Low German surname composed of the element gode and the diminutive suffix -ke. Gode can mean either "good", "God" or "a Goth".
MinervinoItalian a habitational name from either of two places, Minervino di Lecce or Minervino Murge, in the provinces of Lecce and Bari, which take their names from ancient temples dedicated to the Roman goddess Minerva.
PorssEstonian Porss is an Estonian surname meaning "bog myrtle" and "bayberry".
PitaSpanish Spanish and Portuguese: from Spanish, Portuguese pita ‘chicken’ or in some cases possibly from the plant pita ‘pita’, ‘American aloe’, presumably a topographic name.
LamborghiniItalian Probably from Germanic landa "land" and burg "fortress, castle".
RollsEnglish Possibly derived from the Latin word rotus, meaning "wheel". It would indicate one who built wheels as a living. A famous bearer was American inventor and entrepreneur Charles Rolls (1877-1910), founder of the Rolls-Royce Ltd along with Henry Royce (1863-1933).
QuakerEnglish, Scottish This surname was used to indicate someone who worked as a son of a vicar, who was a priest in charge of a parish in which most or all of the tithes were paid to another recipient, while the vicar received a stipend.
MüschGerman Either a habitational name from a place named Müsch in Germany, or a topographic name meaning "bog", perhaps given to someone living near a bog.
SakamataJapanese Perhaps from surname of Naoya Sakamata, who was a composer of dark music.
StultsGerman The Stults surname is derived from the German word "stoltz," which means "proud," and as such, it was most likely originally a nickname, which became a hereditary surname.
SampedroSpanish, Galician, Portuguese habitational name from any of several places especially in Galicia so named for a local church or shrine dedicated to Saint Peter; variant of San Pedro.
GayenBengali Occupational name for a singer or bard of traditional Bengali music, ultimately derived from Sanskrit गै (gai) meaning "to sing".
SmoutDutch, Flemish Means "oil, lard, melted animal fat" in Dutch, an occupational name for someone who sold fat or lard, or a nickname for someone who ate – or who could afford to eat – large amounts of food containing it.
WatneyEnglish Probably means "person from Watney", an unidentified place in England (the second syllable means "island, area of dry land in a marsh"; cf. Rodney, Whitney)... [more]
ŌkawaraJapanese From Japanese 大 (o) meaning "big, great", 河 (ka) meaning "river, stream" and 原 (wara) meaning "field, plain".
HitchcockEnglish Derived from a diminutive of the medieval name Hitch. A famous bearer of the name was English film director Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (1899-1980).
MulcasterEnglish (Modern) The surname Mulcaster was first found in Cumberland where they trace their lineage back to the place name Muncaster, home of Muncaster Castle, a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, near the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria which dates back at least 800 years.
HousemanEnglish Referred to a man who lived or worked in a house, as opposed to a smaller hut (see House). Famous bearers of this name include Romanian-British-American actor John Houseman (1902-1988; real name Jacques Haussmann), Argentine soccer player René Houseman (1953-2018) and Canadian actor Tyson Houseman (1990-).