RusconiItalian From Italian rusca, "splinter, sliver of wood".
GayaAfrican African spelling, surname form, and variant spelling of Gaia. It is the 18,784th most frequently used surname in the world. It is borne by approximately 1 in 246,879 people... [more]
BostockEnglish From the name of a village in Cheshire, England, meaning "Bota’s place", derived from the Old English given name Bota combined with stoc "place, dwelling".
FeuersteinGerman This name comes from the German feuer meaning fire, and stein meaning stone. This was a name commonly given to a blacksmith.
ShacklefordEnglish, Medieval English Locational surname deriving from the place called Shackleford in Surrey, near the town of Farnham. The origin of "shackle" is uncertain. It could be derived from Old English sceacan "to shake"... [more]
SpinolaItalian Italian (Liguria) diminutive of Spina. Italian topographic name for someone living by Monte Spinola in the province of Pavia.
LenauGerman Habitational name from any of several places so named or from Lienow, all in northern and eastern Germany.
ZwillingGerman, Jewish Means "a twin", as in a twin brother or twin sister. Often given to those who were twins.
VatanabeJapanese (Russified) Alternate transcription of Watanabe more commonly used by ethnic Japanese living in parts of the former Soviet Union and Sakhalin Japanese residing on Sakhalin Island in Russia.
TesoroSpanish, Italian from tesoro "treasure" (from Latin thesaurus "hoard") applied as a metonymic occupational name for a treasurer. In some cases this may be a habitational name from El Tesoro in southern Spain... [more]
D'aurevilleFrench This surname literally means "from Aureville". Aureville is a commune in southwestern France, which was established in late medieval times. It derives its name from Latin aurea villa or villa aurea which literally means "golden country-house, golden farm" but of course later came to mean "golden village".
PadleyEnglish A habitational name from a place named Padley, which was probably named with the Old English personal name Padda and lēah meaning ‘glade, woodland clearing’. Alternatively, the first element may have been padde, meaning ‘toad’.
PoseyEnglish, French Derived from the Greek word "desposyni." The Desposyni is a term referring to a group of people that are allegedly direct blood relatives to Jesus. They are mentioned in Mark 3:21 and Mark 3:31. American actress Parker Posey is a famous bearer.
QinChinese From Chinese 秦 (qín) referring to the ancient state of Qin, which existed from 221 BC to 206 BC in what is now the Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.
DuerreGerman Topographic name for a person who lived on a dry, barren land, derived from Old German durri and German dürre meaning "barren, infertile". It could also be a variant of Dürr.
PortmannGerman Occupational name for a gatekeeper, derived from Middle Low German port(e) meaning "gate" and man, or a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town.
UussaarEstonian Uussaar is an Estonian surname meaning "new island".
UlmerGerman German surname meaning "from the city of Ulm".
ŽemaitisLithuanian Derives from the Lithuanian ethnonym žemaitis "Samogitian", denoting someone who came from the Lithuanian region of Samogitia (Žemaitija). A notable bearer of this last name is Jonas Žemaitis, one of the leaders of the Lithuanian Partisans.... [more]
KovaleskiBelarusian Habitational name for someone from any of several places called Kovali in Belarus, or perhaps Kavoliai in Lithuania, named with a derivative of kavalj meaning "smith".
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]
ArborneEnglish (British) A surname found in England as well as in America. This surname has been attached to Americans of English ancestry.
MatcottAustralian Australian/UK variant of Marcotte, a surname of French origin, which means ‘vineshoot forming a layer’ or vine-grower in Old French. This surname is most commonly found in Australia and England.
FalboItalian Means "dark yellow, tawny; reddish-brown, sorrel" in archaic Italian, from medieval Latin falvus "dun (colour)", ultimately from Proto-Germanic falwaz "pale, grey, fallow".
NatesEnglish, Jewish It's probably from the given name Nate, the origin is said to be Jewish*, but the ancestors immigrated to English speaking countries.
EnjolrasLiterature From a surname which was from Occitan enjeura meaning "to terrify". This was the name of a charismatic activist in Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862).
HayamaJapanese From Japanese 葉 (ha) meaning "leaf" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
CrenshawEnglish The derivation of this surname is from the Old English pre 7th Century "Crawa", a crow, with "sceaga" a grove, thus "Crowswood". The earliest recording of this placename is in the Lancashire Inquests of 1324 and appears as "Croweshagh".
SaladinFrench nickname for a blustering or tyrannical individual from the name of the medieval Egyptian sultan who because of his success in combating the Crusaders became demonized in French and Italian folklore as a monster second only to Herod.
MacaraegFilipino, Tagalog From Tagalog makaraig meaning "one who defeats, one who overcomes".
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".
WoolgarEnglish From the medieval male personal name Wolgar (from Old English Wulfgār, literally "wolf-spear").
ReeseLow German, Dutch, German Variant of Riese or Reus, from risi meaning "giant". Alternatively, could be a patronymic form of the Germanic given name Razo, derived from rēdaz "counsel, advise", or a habitational name from places called Rees or Reese in Rhineland and Lower Saxony.
PancieraItalian from panciera denoting the piece of the armor covering the stomach (from pancia "belly paunch") perhaps used for an armorer or for someone with a large paunch.
CordascoItalian Possibly derived from a dialectical form of Italian cordesco "late-born lamb", or in Old Italian "of or pertaining to cows or sheep".
BlacksmithEnglish Occupational name for a blacksmith, a smith who work with iron. The name is rare in England and mostly found in North America, suggesting that it's a translation of a non-English name meaning "blacksmith" (see Kowalski, Raudsepp and Lefèvre for example).
HuismanDutch Literally "houseman", an occupational name for a farmer, specifically one who owned his own farm.
VeeberEstonian Veeber is an Estonian surname, an Estonianization of the German surname "Weber".
GabisonJudeo-Spanish From the name of a town located in either the province of Valladolid or near the city of Santander in Spain. It has also been connected to the Spanish word cabeza, used as a nickname for a stubborn person.
KelderEstonian Kelder is an Estonian surname meaning "cellar".
EjercitoSpanish (Philippines) From Spanish ejército meaning "army". A notable bearer was Joseph Ejercito Estrada (1937-), the 13th president of the Philippines.
SõõrumaaEstonian Sõõrumaa is an Estonian surname, possibly derived from "sõõr" ("circle") and "maa" (land").
RajasaluEstonian Rajasalu is an Estonian surname meaning "border grove".
HayamiJapanese From Japanese 速 (haya) meaning "fast", 逸 (haya) meaning "deviate" or 早 (haya) meaning "early"; combined with 水 (mi) meaning "water" or 見 (mi) meaning "see".