DempsterEnglish, Manx, Scottish Occupational name for a judge or arbiter, derived from Middle English demster "judge, one who pronounces sentence or doom".
CartagenaSpanish From the name of the city of Cartagena in southeastern Spain, derived from Latin Carthāgō Nova meaning "New Carthage" (ultimately derived from Phonecian qrt-ḥdšt meaning "new city").
GamacheFrench, Walloon From French meaning "glove" or "mitten". Possibly an occupational name for a glover, someone who makes gloves or mittens, or had a connection to the glove-making industry.
LamshedEnglish Surname common in Australia & the UK. A variation of Lambshead which was originally a mis-spelling of Lambside which was the area from which the family originated in Pommyland. Other variations include Lambshed, Lamshead, Lammyside and Lamesta... [more]
RequesensCatalan This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the municipality of La Jonquera.
BajnaiHungarian Originally denoted a person from Bajna, a village in the region of Central Transdanubia in Hungary. A notable bearer is the former Hungarian prime minister Gordon Bajnai (1968-).
SootammEstonian Sootamm is an Estonian surname meaning "pin oak" (Quercus palustris). Literally, "swamp oak".
HenceGerman, English, Welsh An American spelling variant of Hentz derived from a German nickname for Hans or Heinrich or from an English habitation name found in Staffordshire or Shropshire and meaning "road or path" in Welsh.
ThorbeckeGerman Possibly from an unknown place name meaning either "at the brook" or "Thor's stream" in German. A noteworthy bearer was the Dutch liberal statesman and prime minister Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (1798-1872), whose family was of German origin; he is best known for almost single-handedly drafting the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, which turned the country from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy, during the Revolutions of 1848.
EspadaPortuguese, Spanish metonymic occupational name for an armorer or a swordsman from espada "sword" (from Latin spata from Greek spathe originally denoting a broad two-edged sword without a point)... [more]
HeureauxFrench (Caribbean) Possibly from French heureux "happy, lucky, good". Ulises Heureaux (1845-1899) was the 22nd, 26th, and 27th president of the Dominican Republic
RockfordEnglish An altered spelling of English Rochford; alternatively it may be an Americanized form of French Rochefort or Italian Roccaforte.
LatinoItalian From the medieval personal name Latino, originally an ethnic name for someone of Latin as opposed to Germanic, Byzantine or Slavic descent.
SorlieNorwegian From any of several places in Norway called Sørli, derived from Norwegian sør "south" and li "slope, hillside" (see Old Norse suðr and hlíð).
BardellEnglish Originally meant "person from Bardwell", Suffolk ("Bearda's spring"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mrs Bardell, Mr Pickwick's widowed landlady in Charles Dickens's 'Pickwick Papers' (1837), who misconstrues an innocent remark about having a companion as a marriage proposal, which leads to her suing Pickwick for breach of promise.
ClydeScottish A river in the south-west of Scotland, running through Inverclyde, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and the city of Glasgow. The second longest in Scotland; and the eighth longest in the United Kingdom... [more]
NahksepEstonian A surname drived from an occupational name meaning, "leatherworker".
DesaulniersFrench (Quebec) Topographic name denoting a property distinguished by a grove of alder trees, derived from Old French au(l)ne meaning "alder".
VagaEstonian Vaga is an Estonian surname meaning "devout" and "pious".
RathgeberGerman From Middle High German ratgebe or Middle Low German ratgever "giver of advice, counselor", an occupational name for an adviser or wise man.
PilchEnglish From Middle English pilch, a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of pilches or a nickname for a habitual wearer of these. A pilch (from Late Latin pellicia, a derivative of pellis "skin, hide") was a kind of coarse leather garment with the hair or fur still on it.
KilroyEnglish "Kilroy was here" was a phrase widely written up on walls by American service personnel in the UK during World War II. The identity of the probably mythical Kilroy has been much debated (one theory is that he was a shipyard inspector of Quincy, Massachusetts, who chalked the phrase on material he had checked).
MatsooEstonian Matsoo is an Estonian surname possibly derived from the Danish/Germanic surname "Madsen" or "Matsen".
Tôn NữVietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 孫女 (tôn nữ) meaning "granddaughter", originally used as a title for various royal women belonging to the Nguyễn dynasty.
FlamelFrench Meaning unknown. Proposals include french flamme meaning "flame" or a description of origin, such as "Flemish", or the French term for the same word, Flamand.... [more]
FicoItalian from fico "fig" (from Latin ficus) applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or sold figs a topographic name for someone who lived in an area where figs grew or a habitational name from a place called with this word such as the district so named in Valderice Trapani province Sicily.
KungChinese Alternate transcription of Chinese 龚 (see Gong).
PointeFrench Derivation of the name is from the pre 10th century Old French "pointe" meaning a sharp or pointed end, and ultimately from the Latin "puncta", to pierce.
ZaluskyUkrainian Derives from the Slavic word zalew, meaning "bay" or "flooded area". Given to families who lived near water or areas that flooded often.
MavromichalisGreek Means "black Michalis (Michael)" in Greek. In Mani, it is said to derive from an orphan named Μιχάλης (Michalis). Because of the dark clothing worn during times of mourning, orphans were often called μαύρος (mavros) meaning "black".
UseltonEnglish Perhaps a variant of Osselton, a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place, probably in northeastern England, where this name is most common.
KõuEstonian Kõu is an Estonian surname meaning "thunder".
CabaleiroGalician From a nickname derived from Galician cabaleiro meaning "knight", a cognate of Portuguese Cavaleiro.
ZemmosaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 善 (zen) meaning "virtue, goodness", 茂 (mo) meaning "overgrown; luxuriant", and 砂 (sa) meaning "sand", referring to a place with lots of sand.
FrascatoreItalian (Rare) Meaning uncertain. It is possibly derived from (or related to) Italian frasca meaning "bough, branch", which might possibly indicate that the surname had first started out as a nickname for someone who worked as a woodcutter or as a forester... [more]
GrajalesSpanish Topographic name from the plural of Spanish grajal ‘place inhabited with rooks’ a derivative of the bird name graja feminine of grajo ‘rook (Corvus frugilegus)’.
MesipuuEstonian Mesipuu is an Estonian surname meaning "beehive" (literally, "honey tree").
TuulikEstonian Tuulik is an Estonian surname meaning "windmill".
CimpoieruRomanian Occupation surname originating from bagpipe players; Romanian version of Piper
De WinterDutch Means "the winter" in Dutch, a nickname for a cold or gloomy man, or perhaps for someone born in the winter. It could also be a habitational name referring to a house or tavern named for the season.
CenaItalian Derived from Latin meaning "dinner, meal, supper". Possibly an occupational name for a cook or a waiter. In an alternative representation, it could be given to someone who's known for hosting or being involved in meals or dinners, or may have given this surname to an illegitimate child who was not welcomed at the dinner table.
KontrafourisGreek A surname of Italian origin, from the Italian words 'contra' meaning against, and 'furo' meaning thief. Common in Greece and among the Greek diaspora.
BainbridgeEnglish Habitational name for a village called Bainbridge in North Yorkshire, derived from the River Bain of North Yorkshire (itself derived from Old Norse beinn meaning "straight") and Old English brycg "bridge".
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]
PõimEstonian Põim is an Estonian surname derived from "põimima" ("enlace" or "entwine")' loosely meaning "weaver".
MatareseItalian habitational name for someone from Matera (see Matera ) from materräisë a local adjectival form of the placename (in standard Italian materano).
WeareEnglish (British) Derived from the Old English wer, meaning a "weir, dam, fishing-trap". This was used as an occupational surname for fishermen. Originated in Devon, England.... [more]