SchweinsteigerGerman Occupational name for a pig farmer, an overseer of pigs or a nickname for someone who rode a pig, derived from Middle High German swīn meaning "hog, swine" and stīger meaning "foreman, mine inspector"... [more]
DorlandEnglish A variant of Darling. It was a name for a person who was greatly loved by his friends and family. The surname was originally derived from the word deorling, which meant "darling".
ArgyllScottish, Scottish Gaelic From the regional name Argyll, a county of southwestern Scotland, named in Gaelic as Earre Ghàidheal ‘coast of the Gaels’. Argyll was the earliest part of Scotland to be settled by Gaelic speakers from Ireland from the 6th century onwards... [more]
DaruwalaIndian (Parsi) Means "wine maker" or "wine seller" from Hindi दारू (dārū) meaning "liquor, wine, alcohol" and the suffix -वाला (-vālā) denoting an occupation.
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".
MasakiJapanese Surname of Japanese origin meaning "true blossoms" which comes from combing 真 (ma) meaning "true, genuine" with 咲 (saki) meaning "blossom".
MacDowellScottish, Irish Variant of McDowell. A famous bearer is American actress Andie MacDowell (1958-). Another was the American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell (1860-1908).
McclungScottish (Anglicized) Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Luinge ‘son of Lunge’, a personal name probably meaning ‘seafarer’, although the literal meaning is ‘ship’, from Latin navis longa.
GigaJapanese It might mean 儀間 "ceremonial space" spelled as 儀 (gi) meaning "ceremony, rite, righteous, etiquette" with 間 (ga) meaning "pause, between, interval". It is found mostly in the Ryūkyū Islands.
PortmanEnglish Status name meaning "townsman, burgher, citizen" in Middle English, derived from Old English port "port, harbour" (from Latin portus) and mann "person, man".
KozharaUkrainian From Ukrainian кожа (kozha), meaning "skin, leather".
ThorsbyEnglish habitational name from North and South Thoresby (Lincolnshire) Thoresby in Carperby (North Yorkshire) or Thoresby in Perlethorpe cum Budby (Nottinghamshire). The Lincolnshire and Yorkshire placenames derive from the Old Norse personal name Thorir (genitive Thoris) + Old Norse býr "farmstead village"... [more]
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]
LeinbergGerman Habitational name for someone in Bavaria, or a topographic name from Middle High German lin meaning "flax" and berg meaning "mountain".
KashimaJapanese From Japanese 鹿 (ka) meaning "deer" and 島 (shima) meaning "island".
AziAfizere Azi is actually pronounced Azīh which means "Unending, in ended father of many generations" it is named after children believed to become the origin or source of lasting families.
KorolyovRussian Derived from Russian король (korol) meaning "king".
GrandjeanFrench, French (Swiss) Derived from French grand meaning "tall, large" and the given name Jean 1, hence possibly a nickname for a tall or large person.
NalciTurkish Occupational surname denoting a horse-shoe maker, from the Turkish word nal meaning "horse-shoe" and the particle -cı a suffix appended to words to create a noun denoting a profession or occupation.
BradfieldEnglish Habitational name for a person from any of the various places named Bradfield in England, all derived from Old English brad "broad" and feld "field".
JelavićSerbian, Bosnian derived from the place name Jelav, one of the places in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
HagerDutch, North Frisian From a Germanic personal name, either Hager, composed of hag "hedge, enclosure" and heri "army", or Hadegar, from hadu "battle, combat" and gar "spear" or garu "ready, prepared".
KillileaIrish Irish - originally MacGiolla Leith from Gallway
ChopinFrench French and English: nickname for a heavy drinker, from Old French chopine, a large liquid measure (from Middle Low German schopen "ladle"). The derived Old French verb chopiner has the sense 'to tipple’, ‘to drink to excess’... [more]
TesauroItalian metonymic occupational name for a treasurer or person in charge of financial administration from Old Italian tesauro "treasure treasury" (from Latin thesaurus "hoard"). It may also be from the personal name Tesauro with the same origin.
YoungerEnglish, American English (mainly Borders) from Middle English yonger ‘younger’, hence a distinguishing name for, for example, the younger of two bearers of the same personal name. In one case, at least, however, the name is known to have been borne by an immigrant Fleming, and was probably an Americanized form of Middle Dutch jongheer ‘young nobleman’ (see Jonker)... [more]
KashiwabaraJapanese From Japanese 柏 (kashiwa) meaning "oak" and 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".
RutterEnglish Either (i) "player of the rote (a medieval stringed instrument played by plucking)"; or (ii) from a medieval nickname for a dishonest or untrustworthy person (from Old French routier "robber, mugger")... [more]
HikeEnglish To hike or move, to walk, someone who hikes.
FesteLiterature Feste was the fool in Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare.
NairIndian, Malayalam From Nair, the name of a group of Hindu castes concentrated in the Indian state of Kerala. The origin of the word itself is somewhat disputed. Some believe it is derived from nayaka, an honorific meaning "leader of the people", while another theory suggests that is is derived from the Sanskrit नाग (nāgá) "snake, serpent" (a reference to the practice of snake worship)... [more]
MatharuIndian (Sikh, Modern) Matharus were fierce warriors especially during, the time when the Matharu tribe, had converted to Sikhism; they fought numbers of wars for Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia.... [more]
Van TilburgDutch Means "from Tilburg" in Dutch, the name of a city in North Brabant, Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch tilli "newly cultivated land" and burg "fortress, fortified settlement, citadel".
LapčevićSerbian Serbo-Croatian surname meaning "river" or "white". Likely from the river Elbe in Germany, which is called Labe and Laba in Slavic languages. Lab also having the meaning "white" in archaic Slavic (like the bird labud - swan).
Van LaarhovenDutch Means "from Laarhoven", the name of towns in the Netherlands. The place names derive from Dutch laar meaning "open spot in the forest" and hoven meaning "farmstead".
MandatoItalian Derived from an uncertain given name, possibly Old Tuscan Mandatus, an omen or well-wishing name taken from Italian mandato da Dio "sent by God", or perhaps from an Old Germanic name.
ShinaJapanese Shina can mean "family, department, section".
EisnerGerman, Jewish Occupational name for an ironworker, smith, or ironmonger, from an agent derivative of Middle High German īsen and German Eisen, meaning ‘iron’ (see Eisen).
HaytonEnglish habitational name from any of various places called Hayton such as those in Cumberland East Yorkshire Nottinghamshire and Shropshire named with Old English heg "hay" and tun "farmstead estate".
DesautelsFrench (Quebec), French A habitational name from the French des meaning "from the" and various places in France called Les Autels, a name which is a derivative of the Latin altare meaning "altar" in the sense of a small chapel.
BoomgaardenEast Frisian, Dutch From Dutch boomgaard "orchard", literally "tree garden", an occupational name for an orchard worker or a topographic name for someone who lived in or by an orchard.
LantaronBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
Van Der PolDutch Habitational name probably derived from Dutch pol "tussock, grassy hill" (see Pol).
AmayoNahuatl Possibly from Nahuatl amaitl "inlet, estuary; an arm or branch of a body of water", or from atl "water" and -mayo "branches of a tree, foliage".
BontempsFrench Derived from Old French bon temps meaning "good time". One popular bearer of the name is the American poet and novelist Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902-1973).
ZahnerGerman Name given to people who lived in Zahna, near Wittenberg.
SamarawickramaSinhalese Means "conqueror of battles" from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "conflict, struggle" and विक्रम (vikrama) meaning "valour, power, strength".
StormoNorwegian Habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads, notably in northern Norway, so named from stor meaning "big" + mo meaning "moor", "heath".
MariEstonian Mari is an Estonian surname (and feminine given name), meaning "berry".
KnapkeGerman A relative of mine has said this surname means “over the hill” and that it is of German origin.... [more]
HamelGerman, Jewish Habitational name from the town of Hamelin, which sits on the Hamel river.
PudiwitrCzech Originally Pudivitr, or Pudivitrova(female only). V was switched to W when the family came to the U.S., though there are both names in the U.S.
WhitfieldEnglish It is locational from any or all of the places called Whitfield in the counties of Derbyshire, Kent, Northamptonshire and Northumberland, or from the villages called Whitefield in Lancashire, the Isle of Wight and Gloucestershire.
HeidenreichGerman From the medieval personal name Heidenrich, ostensibly composed of the elements heiden 'heathen', 'infidel' (see Heiden 2) + ric 'power', 'rule', but probably in fact a variant by folk etymology of Heidrich.
JezavitBelarusian Derived from dialectal Belarusian езавіт (jezavit), an equivalent to standard езуіт (jezuit) meaning "jesuit".
HolteyGerman Old German name meaning "Wood Island". Holt means wood and ey means island. Family can be traced back to around 650 A.D. and is located in the Ruhr and Essen area of Germany.
CatsDutch, Jewish Habitational name for a person from the village of Kats in Zeeland, Holland, or a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a cat, derived from Middle Dutch catte literally meaning "cat"... [more]
TanoseJapanese From 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy", 野 (no) meaning "field, plain, wilderness", and 瀬 (se) meaning "ripple, rapids, current".
OrganEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a player of a musical instrument (any musical instrument, not necessarily what is now known as an organ), from Middle English organ (Old French organe, Late Latin organum ‘device’, ‘(musical) instrument’, Greek organon ‘tool’, from ergein ‘to work or do’).
NightshadeLiterature Meaning unknown. Possibly derived from the English word night or just a combination of night and shade. A notable fictional bearer is Enid Nightshade from Jill Murphy's books, The Worst Witch, as well as the television adaptations.