AbeggGerman, German (Swiss) Topographic name for someone who lived near the corner of a mountain, from German ab meaning "off" and Egg, dialect form of Eck(e) meaning "promontory", "corner".
AberdeenScottish, English Habitational name denoting someone from the Scottish city Aberdeen, derived from Scottish Gaelic aber "river mouth" and the name of the river Don.
AbplanalpGerman, German (Swiss) Topographic name for someone living high on a mountainside, from German ab- "below", "off" + Planalp "high, flat mountain-meadow".
AbshireEnglish (American), German (Americanized) Probably an altered form of Upsher. In some cases, it could instead be an Americanized form of German Ibscher, a nickname for someone living on unallotted land derived from Middle High German überscher "surplus"... [more]
AceEnglish, Norman, Medieval French The surname Ace's origin is from a Norman and Old French personal name, Ace, Asse, from Germanic Frankish origin Azzo, Atso, a pet form of personal names containing adal ‘noble’ as a first element.
AchGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a spring or stream, from Old High German aha meaning "running water".
AchenbachGerman Habitational name from places in Hesse and Westphalia named Achenbach, from the obsolete word Ach or Ache (from Middle High German ahe meaning "water", "stream") + Bach meaning "brook".
AckaryEnglish Possibly derived from the Middle English given name Achary or Acharias, a variant of Zacharias.
ActonEnglish, Northern Irish "Oak Town" in Old English. Parishes in Cheshire, Suffolk, Middlesex. There is also a place that bears this name in Ulster.
AdamthwaiteEnglish Habitational name for a person from a place in Ravenstonedale, derived from the personal name Adam and Old Norse þveit "clearing, pasture".
AdderleyEnglish Habitational name from places called Adderley. (Mostly dominant in the Bahamas)
AddingtonEnglish Habitational name from any of various places named in Old English as Eaddingtun 'settlement associated with Eadda' or Æddingtun 'settlement associated with Æddi'.
AdelsteinGerman, Jewish Variant of Edelstein. Paul Adelstein (1969-) is an American actor known for his role as Paul Kellerman in the 2005-2017 television series Prison Break.
AdersGerman (Silesian) Variation of Eders, a topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of bare, uncultivated land, from Middle High German (o)ed(e) 'wasteland'. It may also be a habitational name from any of the numerous places named with this element.
AdneyEnglish Habitational name from Adeney in Shropshire, named in Old English as Eadwynna ey "island of a woman called Eadwynn". English: from a Middle English pet form of Adam... [more]
AdrienneMedieval English The surname dervies from the Latin male given name "(H)adrianus", originally an ethnic name for someone from the seaport of Adria - which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea - who settled in Rome and became known as "the man from Adria" (in Latin, "Adrianus")... [more]
AgincourtMedieval English Surname Agincourt was first found in Lincolnshire where "Walter de Aincourt, who came from Aincourt, a lordship between Mantes and Magny Normandy, where the remains of the ancient family castle still exists... [more]
AglerEnglish From one or more Middle English personal names variously written Alger, Algar, Alcher, Aucher, etc. These represent a falling together of at least three different Continental Germanic and Old English names: Adalgar "noble spear" (Old English Æ{dh}elgār), Albgar "elf spear" (Old English Ælfgār), and Aldgar "old spear" (Old English (E)aldgār)... [more]
AhlschlägerGerman The Ahlschlager family name was found in the USA, the UK, and Canada between 1880 and 1920. The most Ahlschlager families were found in the USA in 1920. In 1880 there were 6 Ahlschlager families living in Iowa... [more]
AignerGerman (Austrian) German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German aigen ‘own’ a status name originally denoting a landowner who held his land outright rather than by rent or feudal obligation. In the Middle Ages this was sufficiently rare to be worthy of remark and was normally a special privilege granted in recognition of some exceptional service... [more]
AikmanEnglish, Scottish Either a modified form of Akerman or Agemund (see Agmundr), or derived from a coven name composed of Old English ac "oak" and man "person, man".
AinscoughEnglish Habitational name for a person from Aiskew, a village in the civil parish of Aiskew and Leeming Bar, in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England.
AiyukAfrican American (Rare), English (American, Rare) Aiyuk is not a common surname.Most Commonly known as the Surname of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers WR,Brandon Aiyuk.There is not much information of ethnicity or background to the name but we know at least a little.
AizlewoodEnglish (Rare) Believed to be a South Yorkshire variant of the popular Hazelwood, of which there are several villages in the region. Also known as a development of Olde English 'Ashlac' found in the Yorkshire village of Aislaby, which translates as The farm (bi) of Ashlac... [more]
AkridgeEnglish Possibly English, a habitational name from a place with a name meaning ‘oak ridge’, as for example Aikrigg in Cumbria (from Old Norse eik ‘oak’ + hryggr ‘ridge’), or any of the many places called Oakridge (from Old English āc + hrycg)... [more]
AlabasterEnglish From the name of a whitish kind of gypsum used for vases, ornaments and busts, ultimately deriving from Greek alabastros, itself perhaps from Egyptian 'a-labaste "vessel of the goddess Bast"... [more]
AlbanyScottish, English (American) From the title of the Dukes of Albany (House of Stuart), hence a name borne by their retainers. It is an infrequent surname in England and Scotland. The city of Albany, NY (formerly the Dutch settlement of Beverwijck or Fort Orange) was named for James Stuart, Duke of York and Albany; he was the brother of King Charles II and later king in his own right as James II... [more]
AlberGerman Alber family name was first found in Alsace. The nickname given to someone fair in complexion or blond haired is derived from Latin word Albanus, which means white.
AlblasDutch From the name of a river in the Netherlands, or a nearby town.
AlcockEnglish From a diminutive of given names starting with Al-.
AlcottEnglish English: ostensibly a topographic name containing Middle English cott, cote ‘cottage’ (see Coates). In fact, however, it is generally if not always an alteration of Alcock, in part at least for euphemistic reasons.
AldaneEnglish (Rare) Possibly derived from the place name Aldham, composed of either Okd English eald "old" or the Anglo-Saxon personal name Ealda combined with ham "farmstead, settlement".
AldermanEnglish Status name from Middle English alderman, Old English ealdorman, "elder". In medieval England an alderman was a member of the governing body of a city or borough; also the head of a guild.
AldousEnglish Aldous is one of the thousands of new names that the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought to England. It comes from the Old English female given name Aldus. Ald, the first part of the name, means old.
AldridgeEnglish habitational name from a place in the West Midlands called Aldridge; it is recorded in Domesday Book as Alrewic, from Old English alor ‘alder’ + wīc ‘dwelling’, ‘farmstead’.
AldworthEnglish From the parish of the same name in Berkshire, England.
AlerEnglish (Rare), German From the alder tree, a tree found in the Americas, Europe and parts of Asia. The much less common given name Aler is possibly derived from it.
AlfordEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from any of several places in England, derived from Old English ford "ford, river crossing" and an uncertain first element, possibly eald "old", or the given name Ealdgyð.
AllemanFrench (Cajun), Spanish (Canarian), German From the French and Spanish word for "German". Believed to have originated in the Alsace-Lorraine region. Some holders of the name migrated to the Canary Islands and are part of the larger Isleños population that settled throughout the Americas... [more]
AllemannGerman (Swiss) Derived from German Alemanne, originally "member of the Alemanni tribe", this word came to denote "of Germanic descent". It was used to refer to members of the German-speaking population of Switzerland (as opposed to those who spoke one of the Romance languages; compare Welsch).
AllenEnglish Possibly derived from the feminine given name Aline, a medieval diminutive of Adeline.
AllgeierGerman The harried officials at Ellis Island began to assign surnames based upon the pronunciation of the name by the immigrant, rather than attempting to ferret out the actual spelling. ... [more]
AllinghamEnglish Habitational name from places called Allingham.
AllisEnglish From the Middle English and Old French female personal name Alis (Alice), which, together with its diminutive Alison, was extremely popular in England in the Middle Ages. The personal name is of Germanic origin, brought to England from France by the Normans; it is a contracted form of Germanic Adalhaid(is), which is composed of the elements adal "noble" and haid "brilliance, beauty".
AllowayEnglish Means (i) "person from Alloway, Alloa or Alva", the name of various places in Scotland ("rocky plain"); or (ii) from the medieval male personal name Ailwi (from Old English Æthelwīg, literally "noble battle").
AllredEnglish From the Middle English personal name Alured, a form of Alfred, which was sometimes written Alvred, especially in Old French texts.
AlmendingerUpper German, German (Swiss) Habitational name for someone from a place called Allmendingen, of which there are two examples in Switzerland, in the canton of Bern, and one in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
AlmondEnglish From the Middle English personal name Almund, from Old English Æthelmund, "noble protection" and variant of Allman, assimilated by folk etymology to the vocabulary word denoting the tree.
AlnemyFlemish Only know relation claims birth in East Flanders. Arabic speakers believe it may be of Syrian or Saudi Arabian origin.
AlsopEnglish Habitational name, now chiefly found in the Midlands, for a person from Alsop-en-le-Dale, a chapelry in the parish of Ashborne, Derbyshire. The place name itself meant "Ælle's valley" from the genitive of the Old English personal name Ælle and Old English hōp meaning "enclosed valley" (compare Hope).
AlstonEnglish A locational surname, derived from the many townships in England of the same name, meaning 'of the old manor or of the hillside'
AltdorferGerman Denoted a person who lived in the capital of Uri canton in Switzerland or the municipality in Landshut, Bavaria, both derived from German alt "old" and Dorf "village" or Yiddish דאָרף (dorf) "village, countryside"... [more]
AlthoffGerman A surname predominantly found in Westphalia and the Rhineland region of Germany which is derived from German alt "old" and Hof (Hoff in the local dialects) "farmstead; farm; manor".
AltmeyerGerman Status name for an older steward, headman, or tenant farmer, as distinguished from a younger one, from Middle High German alt ‘old’ + meier ‘steward’, ‘headman’, ‘tenant farmer’
AmberEnglish This surname may be derived from the River Amber, located in Derbyshire in England.... [more]
AmbergGerman, Jewish German and possibly Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name from any of several settlements called Amberg (literally ‘by the mountain’), including a city in Bavaria. It could also be a topographic name of identical etymology... [more]
AmesEnglish Derived from the Old French and Middle English personal name Amys, Amice, which is either directly from Latin amicus ‘friend’, used as a personal name, or via a Late Latin derivative of this, Amicius.
AmherstEnglish It comes from when the family lived in the locality of Amherst, in the parish of Pembury in Kent.
AmisEnglish (British) Kingsley and Martin Amis, father and son novelists from England.
AmmannUpper German, German (Swiss) Alemannic form of Amtmann "official". Ultimately derived from Middle High German ambet man "retinue man; retainer", this word came to denote various kinds of administrator including a tax farmer.
AmmerGerman, English (Rare) This surname may be derived from Middle High German amer which means "bunting (as in the bird)." As such, it is used as a nickname for someone with a fine voice or someone who is a flamboyant dresser.... [more]
AmsdonEnglish (Modern) Unknown. Possibly a spelling variant of Amsden. Ancestry.com suggests probably a habitational name, from a reduced form of the Oxfordshire place name Ambrosden, which is composed of an Old English personal name Ambre + Old English dun ‘hill’... [more]
AmslerGerman (Swiss) Derived from German Amsel "(European) blackbird", this was an occupational name for a fowler (bird catcher).