MushanokoujiJapanese From Japanese 武 (mu) meaning "military", 者 (sha) meaning "person", an unwritten possessive marker の (no), 小 (kou) meaning "small" and 路 (ji) meaning "street".
NiederhäuserGerman, Swiss Habitational name from any of numerous places named Niederhaus or Niederhausen, denoting the lower of two dwellings or settlements or one in a low-lying position.
NonnenmacherGerman Occupational name for a gelder of hogs, from Middle High German nunne, nonne meaning "nun", and by transfer "castrated hog" + an agent derivative of machen meaning "to make".
NordenskiöldSwedish, Finland Swedish (Archaic) Combination of Swedish nord "north" and sköld "shield". Norden is also the Swedish name for the Nordic countries, but it is not the element used in this surname. Nordenskiöld is a Swedish and Fennoswedish noble family, the first known members are brothers Anders Johan Nordenskiöld (1696-1763) and Carl Fredric Nordenskiöld the elder (1702-1779)... [more]
NosdechevskyPolish Family name from ancestors who emigrated from Poland around 1900
OcchiochiusoItalian Probably from Italian occhio "eye" and chiuso "closed, shut", perhaps a nickname for someone who was blind, or known for being lazy.
Ó MaoiléidighIrish Means "descendant of Maoléidigh" in Irish. This surname was stressed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable, and may have been shortened in some cases to give Leddy.
OsterreicherGerman I was told that this surname in native Austria originates as follows. Oster means East, reich means kingdom, with er meaning native of. In old Austria there were six kingdoms, with the East one being the largest with the seat of government there... [more]
PanibudlaskaUkrainian, Russian (Rare) From the Cossack nickname, derived from the Ukrainian vocative phrase пані, будь ласка! (pani, bud laska!) meaning "Lady, please!".
PanyanouvongLao From Lao ປັນຍາ (panya) meaning "wisdom, intelligence, reason" and ວົງ (vong) meaning "lineage, family".
PartenheimerGerman Habitational name for someone from Partenheim in Rheinhessen.
PassepartoutLiterature Derived from French passe-partout, which literally means "goes everywhere" but is actually an idiom for "skeleton key".... [more]
PitsenbargerGerman Probably an altered spelling of Bezzenberger, which is derived from Boizenburg, a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
PortocarreroSpanish, Spanish (Latin American) Possibly a Spanish form of Porto Carreiro, an old municipality in Galicia, from Galician porto "port, harbour" and carreiro "path, pathway".
ProtopopescuRomanian Derived from Romanian protopop meaning "archpriest", from Old Church Slavonic протопопъ (protopopŭ), from Koine Greek πρωτοπαπάς (prōtopapás). A famous bearer of this surname is Dragoș Protopopescu, a Romanian writer, poet, critic, philosopher, and far-right politician.
PurificacionSpanish (Philippines) Derived from Spanish purificación, meaning "purification," referring to the ritual purification of the Virgin Mary after her childbirth.
QuackenboschDutch Topographic name meaning "night heron woodlands" in Dutch, from Dutch kwak "night heron" and bosch "woodland wilderness". This surname is now extinct in the Netherlands.
RoncesvallesSpanish The name of a village in Navarre (Spain) where there was a Priory of Saint Mary of which the Hospital of Our Lady of Rouncevale at Charing Cross London was a cell.
RostworowskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Greater Polish village of Rostworowo.
SamaranayakeSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "coming together, meeting" or "conflict, struggle" and नायक (nayaka) meaning "hero, leader".
SantiprabhobThai From Thai สันติ (santi) meaning "peace" and ประภพ (praphop), a transcription of Sanskrit प्रभव (prabhava) meaning "production; source; origin".
SantostefanoSpanish Habitational name of numerous churches dedicated to Saint Stephen
SappingfieldAmerican (Anglicized, Rare) From the German name "Sappenfeld," a small town in Bavaria, Germany. (Pop. 380.) The town itself is named after an early resident named "Sappo;" in English, the name means "Sappo's Field." The name "Sappo" may mean noble (unconfirmed)... [more]
SarakatsanisGreek Derived from the Greek Σαρακατσάνοι (Sarakatsanoi) referred to an ethnic Greek population subgroup who were traditionally transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring Bulgaria, southern Albania, and North Macedonia... [more]
SaroukhanianArmenian Here is the combined words meaning of "Saroukhanian" surname: Sar(Armenian origin–սար– means: Mountain ) + u (Armenian origin –եւ– means :and )+ khan( խան _means: prince )+ yan (յան– a suffix for Armenian family names) and the combination of the words finally means The Mountain and Prince or The Prince օf Mountain
SchermerhornDutch From Schermerhorn, the name of a village in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands, derived from Dutch schermer meaning "fencer" and hoorn meaning "horn". It was borne by the Dutch politician Willem "Wim" Schermerhorn (1894-1977), a Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
SchmidlkoferGerman, German (Austrian) Occupational name for a farmer who was also a blacksmith, derived from a diminutive of Middle High German smit meaning "smith" and the suffix -kofer (a variant of -hofer).
SchoenwetterGerman German (Schönwetter): nickname for someone with a happy disposition, from Middle High German schœn ‘beautiful’, ‘fine’, ‘nice’ + wetter ‘weather’.
SchopenhauerGerman Derived from German schöpfen meaning "to scoop, ladle" and hauen meaning "to chop", referring to a maker of wooden and metal scoops and buckets. This name was borne by the German pessimist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), the author of the 1818 book The World as Will and Representation among other works.
SchottlanderGerman, Jewish From German Schottland "Scotland" and, in some cases, denoted an immigrant from Scotland or Ireland. As a Jewish surname, it is most often an ornamental name.
ShereshevskyRussian, Jewish Name for someone originally from the city of Sharashova in Belarus, probably derived Russian шерешь (sheresh) meaning "frozen mud, ice (on a river)".
ShevardnadzeGeorgian Means "son of the falcon", from Georgian შავარდენი (shavardeni) meaning "falcon, hawk". A famous bearer was Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014).
ShimoyashikiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 下 (shimo) meaning "lower, downstream" and 屋敷 (yashiki) meaning "mansion", referring to a mansion in the lowlands.
SibounheuangLao From Lao ສີ (si) meaning "majesty, glory, splendour" or "color", ບຸນ (boun) meaning "happiness, prosperity, goodness" and ເຮືອງ (heuang) meaning "bright, clear, beautiful".
SilverthorneEnglish (Rare) Silverthorne, Silverthorn comes from the Old English seolfor "silver" and þorn "thorn bush" and means the family that lived by the "silver or white thorn tree".
StadtmuellerGerman From Middle High German stet meaning "place", "town" + müller meaning "miller", hence an occupational name for a miller who ground the grain for a town.
SteinbrecherGerman occupational name for someone who worked in a stone quarry from Middle High German stein "stone" and an agent derivative of brechen "to break".
SteinbrennerGerman occupational name for a lime burner from Middle High German stein "stone" (in this case limestone) and an agent derivative of brennen "to burn".
StekelenburgDutch Derived from Middle Dutch stekel meaning "prickle, stickle, spine, spike" and burg meaning "fortress". A famous bearer is the retired Dutch soccer goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (1982-).
StringfellowEnglish Nickname for a powerful man, Middle English streng ‘mighty’, ‘strong’ + felaw ‘fellow’ (see Fellows).
StrzałkowskiPolish Denoted a person from various places in Poland named Strzałki, Strzałkowo, Strzałków, all derived from Polish strzalka meaning "arrow".
StungevičiusLithuanian The oldest currently known use of the surname in history was for a Polish-Lithuanian noble Kazimieras Stungevičius who lived circa 1667 within the village of Stungaičiai in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth... [more]
SubercaseauxFrench, Spanish (Latin American) The Subercaseaux family is a Chilean family of French descent. They became well known during the 19th century due to their wealth amassed in Norte Chico. They have played a very significant role in Chilean mining, winemaking, politics and arts.
SüleymanoğluTurkish Means "son of Süleyman", from the given name Süleyman combined with the Turkish patronymic suffix -oğlu.
SullenbergerGerman (Swiss) Derived from an unknown place called Sullenberg or from Schallenberg in Baden, Switzerland. A famous bearer is Sully Sullenberger (1951-), an American retired Air Force fighter pilot and airline captain who is best known for saving all 155 people aboard in the 2009 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, after both engines were disabled by a bird strike.
SwartzlanderEnglish (American) Americanized form of German Schwarzländer, a habitational name for someone from an area of Bavaria known as Schwarzland ‘the black land’, from Middle High German swarz ‘black’ + land ‘land’.
ŚwierczyńskiPolish Name for someone from a place called Świerczyn or Świerczyna, both derived either from Polish świerk meaning "spruce" or świerszcz meaning "cricket".
Ter-grigoryanArmenian The surname Grigoryan derives from the name Grigor, which is Armenian pronunciation of the name Gregory (it derives from Greek word, γρηγορος, and means 'watchful', 'alert'). Adding to the name the prefix Ter- is the way people call the priests in Armenia (in English often the word "Father" is used instead)... [more]
ThammalangsyLao From Lao ທຳມະ (thamma) meaning "dharma, virtue, righteousness" and ລັງສີ (langsy) meaning "ray, beam".