DiskinIrish (Anglicized) Reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Díscín "descendant of Díscín", which may be derived from díosc "barren". The place name Ballyeeskeen, now Ballydiscin, in County Sligo, is derived from the surname.
DistelGerman, Low German, Dutch Means "thistle" in German and Dutch, a topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of ground overgrown with thistles, or perhaps a nickname for a "prickly" person.
DobellEnglish (Australian) Sir William. 1899–1970, Australian portrait and landscape painter. Awarded the Archibald prize (1943) for his famous painting of Joshua Smith which resulted in a heated clash between the conservatives and the moderns and led to a lawsuit.
DobeshCzech (Americanized) Americanized spelling of Czech Dobeš, from the Czech personal name Tobiáš, or of German Döbesch, from the same Czech personal name or some other Slavic form of Tobias .
DonatoItalian From the medieval personal name Donato (Latin Donatus, past participle of donare, frequentative of dare "to give"). It was the name of a 4th-century Italian bishop martyred in c. 350 under Julian the Apostate, as well as various other early saints, and a 4th-century grammarian and commentator on Virgil, widely respected in the Middle Ages as a figure of great learning.
DonkerDutch Means "dark, dim, somber" in Dutch, a nickname for a person with dark hair or a dark complexion, or perhaps for someone with a gloomy demeanour.
DonnanIrish Anglicized form of Ó Donnáin meaning "descendant of Donnán", a diminutive of the given name Donn, derived from Irish donn "brown, brown-haired" or donn "prince, chieftain".
DoonleSomali The surname "Doonle" can be interpreted as "the one who seeks" or "the seeker." This reflects a meaningful characteristic of pursuit and exploration. The name is derived from the Somali word "doon," which means "to seek" or "to want." Additionally, "doon" also translates to "boat," symbolizing the journey and exploration of new horizons.
DoradoSpanish From dorado "golden" (from Late Latin deaurare "to gild", from aurum "gold"), probably applied as a nickname to someone with golden hair.
DormanEnglish From the Old English personal name Deormann, composed of Old English deor (see Dear) + mann 'man'. This surname became established in Ireland in the 17th century; sometimes it is found as a variant of Dornan.
DossatEnglish, Scottish Possibly from French origins (used predominantly in Louisiana in the United States).
DosterGerman, Belgian A German surname, which is from an agent derivative of the Middle High German words 'doste' and 'toste' (meaning ‘wild thyme’, ‘shrub’, ‘bouquet’). It is a topographic surname which was given to someone whose land abutted an uncultivated piece of land, or possibly an occupational name for someone who dealt herbs.... [more]
DotaniJapanese (Rare) 戸 (Do) means "door" or 藤 (do) means "wisteria". 谷 (Tani) means "valley".
DotsonEnglish Patronymic of the Middle English name Dodde. Originally derived from the Germanic root dodd meaning "something rounded", used to denote a short, rotund man.
DötterGerman From a Germanic personal name formed with theud ‘people’, ‘race’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘strong’ or hari, heri ‘army’
DoucetFrench Nickname for a gentle minded person from French doux "sweet" (from Latin dulcis).
DouchiJapanese Possibly from 戸 (do) meaning "door" and 内 (uchi) meaning "inside".
DouwesDutch, Frisian From the given name Douwe, itself derived from Frisian dou meaning "dove, pigeon". A notable bearer was the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli.
DovbykUkrainian Means "one who works with wood", from Ukrainian довбати (dovbaty), which means "to dig, to make a hole, to cut out" (referring to wood in this case).
DowardEnglish, Welsh Indicated that the bearer lived by two hills, from Old Welsh dou "two" and garth "hill"
DowellEnglish, Scottish, Irish Derived from the Gaelic name Dubhgall, composed of the elements dubh meaning "black" and gall, "stranger". This was used as a byname for Scandinavians, in particular to distinguish the dark-haired Danes from fair-haired Norwegians.
DowsonEnglish Either a patronymic surname derived from the given name Dow, a medieval variant of Daw (which was a diminutive of David), or else a metronymic form of the medieval feminine name Dowce, literally "sweet, pleasant", from Old French dolz, dous (cf... [more]
DragonFrench, English Nickname or occupational name for someone who carried a standard in battle or else in a pageant or procession, from Middle English, Old French dragon "snake, monster" (Latin draco, genitive draconis, from Greek drakōn, ultimately from derkesthai "to flash")... [more]
DragooAmerican, French (Huguenot) Americanized form of Dragaud, a French (Huguenot) surname derived from the Germanic given name Dragwald, itself derived from the elements drag- meaning "to carry" and wald "power, rule".
DrexelGerman, Jewish It originates from the pre 7th century word 'dreseler' meaning 'to turn', a verb which in medieval times had a wide range of meanings.
DriverEnglish Occupational name for a driver of horses or oxen attached to a cart or plow, or of loose cattle, from a Middle English agent derivative of Old English drīfan ‘to drive’.
DrydenEnglish Possibly from an English place name meaning "dry valley" from the Old English elements drȳġe "dry" and denu "valley". A notable bearer was the English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright John Dryden (1631-1700).
Du AiméFrench The Duaime surname comes from an Old French word "hamel," which meant "homestead." It was likely first used as a name to describe someone who lived at a farm on the outskirts of a main town, or for someone that lived in a small village.
DuclosFrench du 'from the' from Old French clos 'enclosure' (see Clos ) or a habitational name for someone from Le Clos the name of several places in various parts of France so it means "from the enclosure"
DudkinRussian Derived from Russian дудка (dudka) meaning "fife, pipe", referring to a folk instrument played by shepherds. Thus, it was used to denote someone who made pipes or a shepherd who played pipes.
DudzaiShona Dudzai means "Speak it out, confess it".
DueñasSpanish From the name of a municipality in Palencia province, Spain, derived from Spanish dueña meaning "madame, mistress".
DuerreGerman Topographic name for a person who lived on a dry, barren land, derived from Old German durri and German dürre meaning "barren, infertile". It could also be a variant of Dürr.
DumarsFrench Habitational name, with fused preposition and definite article du meaning “from the,” denoting someone from any of several places called Mars. This surname is very rare in France. Alternatively, it could be an altered form of some similar French surname, possibly Demars.
DundasScottish, Northern Irish Scottish and northern Irish (Counties Leitrim and Fermanagh): habitational name from Dundas, a place near Edinburgh, Scotland, which is named from Gaelic dùn ‘hill’ + deas ‘south’.
DuntonEnglish Either a habitational or topographic name from Dunton in Norfolk or Dunton Bassett in Leicestershire, from Middle English doune, dune "hill" (Old English dun) and Middle English toun "settlement" (Old English tun)... [more]
DupainFrench Means "of the bread" in French, probably used as an occupational name for a baker.
DurbinFrench Derived from the place called D'urban or D'urbin in Languedoc
DurdenEnglish A different form of Dearden. A fictional bearer is Tyler Durden, a character from Chuck Palahniuk's 'Fight Club' (1996) and its subsequent film adaptation (1999).
DurgunTurkish Means "still, calm, stagnant" in Turkish.
DurhamEnglish Denotes a person from either the town of Durham, or elsewhere in County Durham, in England. Durham is derived from the Old English element dun, meaning "hill," and the Old Norse holmr, meaning "island."
DushajAlbanian It comes from serbian name ''dusha'' meaning soul.In serbian ''dusha moja'' means my sweatheart.Probably a nickname or name given to the patriarch of the dushaj family that got taken as a surname by his descendants later on,adding the popular albanian ending -aj.
DuttonEnglish Habitational name for a person from the villages called Dutton in Cheshire or Lancashire, of different first elements. The one in Cheshire comes from Old English dun "hill, mountain", while the one in Lancashire comes from the Old English byname Dudda, both of them have the second element of tun "enclosure, town"... [more]
DybalaPolish nickname from dybac, meaning 'to lurk' or 'to watch for somebody'.
DycianGerman (East Prussian), Hebrew The surname "Dycian" is quite rare, with limited information available regarding its origin or meaning. One suggestion proposes that it may derive from the German word "dicyan," meaning "cyanogen," a chemical compound... [more]
DziałoPolish Derived from Polish działo "cannon" or "gun" as an occupational name metonymically. It can also be a nickname from Polish działać "to work", "to do", "to influence", etc.
EachusEnglish, Swiss Name is said to have originated in Cheshire and Lancashire. A variant of Etches, possibly a variant of Edge , with post-medieval excrescent -s and devoicing of the consonant, or an altered pronunciation of the nickname Edgoose (Middle English Edcus, early modern English Etcus)... [more]
EarleyGerman, Irish The surname Earley originally derived from the Old English word Eorlic which referred to one who displayed manly characteristics.... [more]
EcclesEnglish From the name of a town in Greater Manchester, England or another town or village named Eccles, derived from Latin ecclesia via Romano-British ecles meaning "church".
EdgelyEnglish A surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a place name taken from either a village in Cheshire or one in Shropshire. The name means “park by the wood” in Old English.