ProvencherFrench From the French word for the flower periwinkle. (pervenche) Brought to Canada from France in 1660 by Sebastien Provencher.
ProvidenceEnglish From the name of the capital city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, derived from Middle English providence meaning "divine guidance, care", ultimately from Latin providentia.
PsychogiosGreek From the Greek words for soul (ψυχή) and son (γιός), usually means godson.
PuddephattEnglish Probably from the unattested Old English *pudi "fat, swollen; round in the belly" combined with fæt "vat, cask, barrel", a nickname for someone with a large paunch, or perhaps who was known for drinking.
PuigdemontCatalan Means "top of the hill" or "peak of the mountain". It is derived from Catalan puig meaning "hill, peak" combined with either damunt meaning "on top, above", or munt (a diminutive of muntanya) meaning "mountain", using the preposition d'... [more]
RamamurthyIndian, Tamil Derived from Sanskrit राम (rāma) meaning "pleasing, pleasant, charming" or "dark, black" (see Rama 1) combined with मूर्ति (mūrti) meaning "idol, icon".
RamsbottomEnglish Habitational name from a market town called Ramsbottom in Greater Manchester, England (historically in Lancashire), derived from Old English hramsa meaning "wild garlic" or ramm "ram", and bothm meaning "bottom, bottom valley".
RaudabaughGerman (Americanized) Raudabaugh is a German-Americanized surname of Reidenbach. People include Dan Raudabaugh (American Football coach) and Dave Raudabaugh (Outlaw who was an acquaintance to Billy the kid).
ReddingtonEnglish From a place name derived from an uncertain first element (perhaps the Old English given name Rēada) combined with the suffix ing meaning "belonging to" and tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".
ReichsteinGerman Habitational name from places named Reichstein (in Saxony) or Reichenstein (in Rhineland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Württemberg).
ReisenauerGerman Probably denoted a person from a minor place called Reisenau, or a topographic name for someone living by an overgrown water meadow, derived from Middle High German ris meaning "undergrowth" and owe meaning "water meadow".
RibchesterEnglish From the name of a village in Lancashire, derived from the River Ribble and Old English ceaster "fortress, fort" (derived from Latin castrum).
RiesenbergGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a big mountain, from Middle High German rise meaning "giant" and berg meaning "mountain".
RiesenbergGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a big mountain, derived from Middle High German rise meaning "giant" and berg meaning "mountain".
RinbayashiJapanese (Rare) It's written like this: 林林. Both rin and hayashi mean "forest". This is because rin is the Chinese reading called onyomi, and hayashi is the Japanese reading called kunyomi.
RonnenbergGerman (Germanized, Rare) Ronnenberg is a German town in the region of Hannover in Niedersachsen. It consists of 7 areas: Benthe, Empelde, Ihme-Roloven, Linderte, Ronnenberg, Vörie and Weetzen. The town is known for the Church named Michaelis from the 12th century.... [more]
RothchildsOld Celtic Scottish circa 1500-1600. See Neil Oliver's book 'The Vikings' for mention of Rothkilde
RottscheitGerman Modernization of Rotscheidt, also a city in Germany (Rottscheidt) bearing another modern alternate spelling. When broken down it ultimately means "red" and "piece of wood", implying that the families of today descends from woodwrokers.
RummeniggeGerman Meaning uncertain. It could possibly be an occupational name for a viticulturist who grew grapes to make wine, a seller or producer of Romanian wine, or a nickname for a person who preferred to drink Romanian wine... [more]
SagaydakovmRussian From Russian сагайдак (sagaydak), meaning "arrow quiver".
ŠahbegovićBosnian Possibly from Bosnian šah, ultimately from Classical Persian شاه (šāh), combined with Turkish element beg and the patronymic element -ić.
Saint-saënsFrench From any place named Saint-Saens by honor to the saint Sidonius.
Saint-SimonFrench A French surname meaning "Saint Simon". Two famous bearers were Duc de Saint-Simon Louis de Rouvroy(1675-1755), a French memoirist, and his younger relative, Henri de Saint-Simon(1760-1825), the founder of French Socialism and modern theoretical Socialism in general.
SakakibaraJapanese From Japanese 榊 (sakaki) meaning "sakaki" (a type of tree) and 原 (hara) meaning "meadow, plain, field".
SakakiharaJapanese Sakaki refers to the "sakaki tree" and hara means "field plain".
SakurajimaJapanese From Japanese 桜 or 櫻 (sakura) both meaning "cherry blossom" combined with 島 (jima) meaning "island". This surname comes from 桜島 (Sakurajima), an active stratovolcano located in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan... [more]
SakurakabaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 桜 (sakura) meaning "prunus serrulata" and 椛 (kaba) meaning "betula".
SakurakōjiJapanese From Japanese 桜 (sakura) meaning "cherry blossom", 小 (kō) meaning "small" and 路 (ji) meaning "road, path, journey" or 寺 (ji) meaning "Buddhist temple". A famous bearer is Kanoko Sakurakōji (surname written 桜小路), a Japanese manga artist.
SakuramiyaJapanese From Japanese 桜, 櫻 (sakura) meaning "cherry blossom" combined with 宮 (miya) meaning "temple, shrine, palace".
SakuramotoJapanese Sakura means "cherry blossom" and moto means "origin, root, source".
SakurasakaJapanese Sakura means "cherry blossom" and saka means "cape, peninsula".
SakurasakiJapanese Sakura means "cherry blossom" and saki means "peninsula".
SakurazakaJapanese (Rare) Sakura means "cherry blossom" and zaka is a form of saka that means means "peninsula, cape". ... [more]
SakurazakiJapanese Variant of Sakurasaki. Sakura means "cherry blossom" and zaki is a form of saki means "peninsula".
SamarakoonSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "coming together, meeting" or "conflict, struggle" combined with Sinhala කෝන් (kon) meaning "king" (of Tamil origin).
SammartinoItalian From Italian san (apocopic form of santo ("saint") + Martino ("Martin").
SanfelippoItalian Italian (mainly Sicily and southern Calabria): habitational name from any of several places so named for a local church or shrine dedicated to St. Philip, in particular San Filippo del Mela in Messina province.
SanfilippoItalian, Sicilian habitational name from any of several places called with reference to a local church or shrine dedicated to Saint Philip specifically San Filippo del Mela in Messina province, San Filippo near Reggio Calabria.
SantangeloItalian, Sicilian Either habitational name from any of numerous places especially in the south named with reference to a local shrine or church dedicated to Saint Angel (Italian Sant'Angelo) as for example Sant'Angelo a Cupolo (Benevento) Sant'Angelo a Fasanella (Salerno) Sant'Angelo all’Esca and Sant'Angelo a Scala (Avellino) Sant'Angelo d'Alife (Caserta) and Sant'Angelo del Pesco (Molise)... [more]
SarkeesianArmenian Variant of Sarkisian. Anita Sarkeesian is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture.
ScagliettiItalian The name of an Italian coachbuilder, with one of its famous customers being Ferrari when it doesn't want a design from Pininfarina.
ScanagattaItalian Probably means "cat killer", from Italian scannare "to slaughter, to cut the throat of" and gatto "cat", with the figurative meaning of "cheat, scoundrel". (Compare Pelagatti)... [more]
ScanarottiItalian Meaning uncertain, possibly a nickname given to a boastful person.
ScanavaccaItalian Possibly an occupational name for a butcher, from scannare "to slaughter, to cut the throat of" and vacca "cow".