LorimerEnglish Means "maker or seller of metal items of a horse's harness and associated equipment (e.g. bits and spurs)" (from Anglo-Norman loremier, a derivative of Old French lorain "harness").
LorraineFrench, English, Scottish Habitational name from Lorraine a region in the northeastern part of France. Its name derives from the name of the medieval kingdom of Lothari Regnum which in turn was named for its sovereign Lothar (a personal name composed of the elements hlud "famous renowned" and hari/heri "army").
LortonEnglish habitational name from any of the places so named in Cumbria probably so named from an Old English river name Hlóra meaning "the roaring one" and Old English tun "settlement".
LöschLow German, Upper German North German metonymic occupational name for a maker of fine leather, from Middle Low German losche ‘fine leather’. South German variant of Lesch (see Loesch).
LothropEnglish Habitational name from Lowthorpe in East Yorkshire named with the Old Norse personal name Logi and þrop "outlying farmstead".
LotsijDutch Apparently a Dutchified form of the Polish surname Illotzki.
LotspeichEnglish possibly from Bavarian lott ‘mud’ + speich ‘spittle’, ‘moist dirt’, either a topographic name for someone who lived on land in a muddy area or a nickname for someone who had a dirty appearance... [more]
LottEnglish from a medieval personal name brought to England by the Normans, of uncertain origin. It may be the Hebrew personal name Lot ‘covering’, which was relatively popular in northern France, or a reduced form of various names formed with the diminutive suffix -lot (originally a combination of -el + -ot), commonly used with women’s names.
LoudEnglish from the English word "loud", given to a loud or, in jest, quiet person
LoudermilkGerman In German the word “lauter” translates into English as “pure” and the German word “milch” translates into English as “milk”. This surname belonged to those who worked in the dairy industry.
LoudonScottish, English (Canadian) This surname is Scottish, although also recorded in England. It is believed to be locational from the village of Loudoun, in the district of Cunningham, in the county of Ayrshire. The placename is composed of the Northern English word "low", meaning a flame or beacon, itself from the pre 7th century Norse word "loge", plus the Gaelic "doun", meaning a hill... [more]
LouisvilleEnglish From the name of the largest city of Louisville in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The city was named for the 18th-century King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were then aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War.
LouwAfrikaans Louw is a surname that has pre 7th century Germanic origins. It is a Dutch/Flemish variant on the word Lowe, meaning Lion.
LouwersDutch Either a patronymic from a short form of Laurentius, or an occupational name for a tanner from Dutch looien "to tan (leather)".
LovecraftEnglish An English surname coming from the Old English lufu, meaning "love, desire", and cæft, meaning "strength, skill".... [more]
LovedayEnglish Means either (i) "person particularly associated with a 'loveday'" (a day when, by custom, old differences were settled and reconciliations were made); or (ii) from the medieval female personal name Loveday, a descendant of Old English Leofdæg, literally "beloved day"... [more]
LovelandEnglish From the name of a farmstead in Devon, England, possibly derived from the Old English given name Leofa (or Lufa) combined with land "land, cultivated land, estate".
LovelockEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandy or a man conceited about his appearance (from lovelock, a term for an elaborately curled lock of hair). This surname is borne by British scientist James Lovelock (1919-), formulator of the "Gaia" concept.
LoxleyEnglish English: habitational name from any of various minor places named Loxley, as for example one in Warwickshire, which is named with the Old English personal name Locc + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
LuddEnglish Etymology uncertain. Possibly derived from Middle English ladde "male servant, commoner, boy", or from Old English lade "bearing, carrying; way, passage, watercourse". In the case of Ned Ludd, legendary founder of the Luddite movement, it may have originated in the surname Ludlam.
LudlamEnglish Derived from the old English word hlud "loud, roaring" (compare germanic hlud), which gave the name to the river Hlude and ham "water meadow"
LudlowEnglish Habitational name from a place in Shropshire, so named from the Old English river name Hlude (from hlud 'loud', 'roaring') referring to the Teme river + hlaw 'hill'.
LudwellEnglish From the Old English elements hlud meaning "famous, loud" and well meaning "well, spring, water hole"
LuggEnglish English (Devon) probably from a local vernacular derivative of Lucas. However, Reaney posits an Old English personal name, Lugga, from which this name could be derived.
LuijtenDutch From the given name Luit or Luitje, a diminutive form of names beginning with the element liud "people".
LukeEnglish From a derivative of Lucas. This was (and is) the common vernacular form of the name, being the one by which the author of the fourth Gospel is known in English.
LundyEnglish Either (i) "person from Lundie", the name of various places in Scotland (meaning "place by a marsh"); or (ii) a different form of Mcalinden.
LunnNorwegian, English Derived from Lund, which in turn comes from the Old Norse lundr, meaning "grove of trees".
LunzGerman Nickname for a careless or slovenly person, from Middle High German lunzen 'to doze'. Can also be a habitational name for someone from Lunz in Tyrol.
LustigSwedish, German, Jewish, Dutch A nickname for a cheerful person, derived from Swedish and German lustig "humorous, funny, enjoyable" or Middle High German lustig "merry, carefree". Usually ornamental as a Jewish surname.
LuterEnglish From Middle English leuter "lute player", or else from Old French lutre "otter", either a nickname or a metonymic name for someone who hunted otters.
LuttrellEnglish From a diminutive of Old French loutre, meaning "otter" (from Latin lutra), applied as a nickname for someone thought to resemble an otter or a metonymic occupational name for someone who hunted otters (for their pelts).
LuxtonEnglish English habitational name from a minor place, probably one of two in Devon, so called from the possessive form of the Middle English personal name or surname Lugg (from Old English Lugga) + Middle English tune, tone ‘settlement’ (Old English tun).
LyleEnglish Derived from Norman French l'isle "island".
LymanEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow or a patch of arable land (see Layman).
LymanGerman Americanized form of German Leimann, Americanized form of Leinemann, habitational name for someone from Leine in Pomerania, or for someone who lived by either of two rivers called Leine, near Hannover and in Saxony.
MabbettEnglish From a pet-form of the medieval female personal name Mabbe, a shortened form of Amabel (ultimately from Latin amābilis "lovable")... [more]
MaceEnglish, French English: from a medieval personal name, a survival of Old English Mæssa, which came to be taken as a pet form of Matthew.... [more]
MaconFrench, German French: See Maçon. An occupational name for a mason, French maçon. Habitational name from places so called in Saône-et-Loire, Allier, Aube, the Côte d’Or, Gers, and Deux-Sères... [more]
MacRoyScots The ancient Dalriadan-Scottish name MacRoy is a nickname for a person with red hair. MacRoy is a nickname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Nicknames form a broad and miscellaneous class of surnames, and can refer directly or indirectly to one's personality, physical attributes, mannerisms, or even their habits of dress... [more]
MadeleyEnglish English: habitational name from places so named in Shropshire and Staffordshire, named in Old English with the personal name Mada + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
MagnerIrish, Germanic Irish from a pet form of the Scandinavian name Magnus, in Ireland borne by both Vikings and Normans.... [more]
MagnumEnglish Possibly derived from the given name Magnus. It is borne by the fictional character Thomas Magnum, the protagonist on the American television series Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988).
MahlerGerman Variant of Maler, a German occupational surname meaning "painter", particularly a stained glass painter.... [more]
MahloyEnglish (American) Mahloy is a misspelling of Malloy by Charles Malloy's (b. 1898, Scotland) elementary school teacher in the Ireland. The surname Malloy is derived from the pre 10th century Old Gaelic name O'Maolmhuidh, meaning the descendant of the Great Chief.
MaidesEnglish Maides is an almost extinct surname which has decreased significantly in popularity since the 19th century, though has always been relatively uncommon. The surname is today most popular in Leicestershire but the family bearing the surname from that area seem to have originated from the south of Warwickshire... [more]
MaidmentEnglish Occupational name for a servant of maidens (such as nuns), from Middle English maiden (ultimately from Old English mægden) meaning "young girl, virgin, maiden" and man ending with an excrescent -t.
MaiselYiddish, German, French Predominantly seems to be a matronymic surname from the Yiddish feminine name Mayzl. Although it is believed that it derived from the Hebrew name Meïser, which means “representative of God”... [more]
MaitlandEnglish, Scottish Possibly from Mautalant, the name of a place in Pontorson, France meaning "inhospitable" or "bad temper" in Norman French (ultimately from Late Latin malum "bad" and talentum "inclination, disposition"), which was so named because of its unproductive soil; or perhaps it was originally a nickname for an ungracious individual, derived from the same source.
MaleEnglish Nickname for a virile man, from Middle English male meaning "masculine".
MalefeijtDutch A variant spelling of Malefeyt. This is also actually an archaic spelling (as the sound written as -eijt will be always be written as -eit or -ijt in modern times), but it has (barely) managed to survive into modern times... [more]
MalefeytDutch (Archaic) Archaic Dutch surname that is now no longer in use (not in this exact spelling, that is): the spelling reflects the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]
MalefijtDutch Modern form of Malefeyt, which is also the most common form of the surname. In The Netherlands, there were 24 bearers of the surname in 2007.
MalfeytDutch, Flemish Generally a Dutch form (or "dutchization", if you will) of Malfait, with the spelling reflecting the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]