GilgenGerman, German (Swiss) Derived from Middle High German gilge "lily", this was a habitational name from the inflected form of a house name meaning "at the lily".
GillanIrish The Gillan surname is a reduced Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic Mac Gille Fhaoláin, which means "son of the servant of St Faolán." While the name may have originated in Ireland, this line was extant by the beginning of the 17th century, only to find many of the family to return to Ireland about 100 years later with the Plantation of Ulster.... [more]
GinigeSinhalese From Sinhala ගිනි (gini) meaning "fire" combined with the suffix ගේ (ge) meaning "of, home, house" or "custodian". It was used as an occupational name for someone who used fuel and firewood to create fire before the introduction of firearms and gunpowder.
GleaveEnglish Means either "sword-maker" or "sword-seller", or else from a nickname applied to a skilled swordsman (in either case from Middle English gleyve "sword").
GobaraArabic (Egyptian, Anglicized), Arabic In Egypt and Sudan the surname Jabbar is pronounced with a ‘G’ sound in English. It is also feminine form hence the additional ‘A’ at the end of the name.
GoemanGerman Patronym from a Germanic name: good or god + man.
GoetheGerman From a short form of the personal name Godo, formed with the Germanic element god, got 'god', or from Middle High German göte 'godfather'.
GogliaItalian Nickname or a metonymic occupational name for a person who used leaves from a kind of plant to bind grafts, derived from the Italian dialectal goglia.
GognonFrench, Occitan Nickname for an aggressive or belligerent man, from Old French Gagnon ‘ mastiff’, ‘guard dog’. Possibly from Occitan ganhon ‘young pig’, applied as an offensive nickname. See also Gonyeau.
GoretsRussian Derived from Russian горец (gorets) meaning "highlander".
GorhamEnglish A name originating from Kent, England believed to come from the elements gara and ham meaning "from a triangular shaped homestead." Compare Gore.
GöringGerman German surname most commonly associated with Nazi Party leader, Hermann Göring.
GorterDutch Occupational name for someone who brewed beer or supplied ingredients for doing so, derived from either Dutch gruit, an herbal mixture used to flavour beer, or from the related word gort (also grut) "groat, grit, husked barley, pearl barley".
GosdenEnglish From the name of a lost place in the village and civil parish of Slaugham in West Sussex, England, derived from Old English gos meaning "goose" and denn meaning "woodland pasture".
GothamEnglish English: habitational name from Gotham in Nottinghamshire, so named from Old English gat ‘goat’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘water meadow’.
GouletFrench (Quebec), French Of uncertain origin and meaning. Theories include a derivation from Old French goule "mouth" (combined with a diminutive suffix), in which case this name would have been a nickname for a glutton.
GoupilFrench nickname for someone with red hair or for a cunning person from Old French goupil "fox" Late Latin vulpiculus a diminutive of classical Latin vulpes a distant cognate of Wolf . This was replaced as a vocabulary word during the Middle Ages by Renard originally a personal name.
GovaniIndian The meaning of the word is made up of two parts i.e. Go and vani ... [more]
GrableGerman Means "digger of ditches or graves" (from a derivative of Middle High German graben "ditch"). A famous bearer was US actress, dancer and singer Betty Grable (1916-1973).
GrandeSpanish, Italian, Portuguese Means "tall, large" in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, used as a nickname for a person of large stature.
GrangeEnglish, French Topographic name for someone who lived by a granary, from Middle English, Old French grange (Latin granica "granary, barn", from granum "grain"). In some cases, the surname has arisen from places named with this word, for example in Dorset and West Yorkshire in England, and in Ardèche and Jura in France... [more]
GrattàLate Greek (Italianized, Modern, Archaic, Expatriate) Historical origins of Grattà are found in The Southern Region of Italy in The Province of Catanzaro, Calabria; predominately in the Comune of Girafalco and Palermiti. There is also at least one Coat of Arms that place the name being used in the The Commune of Lucca, Region of Tuscany in Central Italy.
GrieseLow German Nickname for a gray-haired man from Middle Low German grīs meaning “gray.”
GriffoItalian From grifo "gryphon" (Latin gryphus, Greek gryps, of Assyrian origin), hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the mythical beast.
GrimkéGerman (Americanized) Americanised form of the German surname Grimk or Grimke with French inspiration. This was the name of a prominent American family of abolitionists.
GrindyGerman (Modern), French I have seen elsewhere explanations about this name being German or French in origin. Sorry, I do not have the sources to hand
GrinerGerman (Anglicized), Jewish Americanised form of German Greiner. It could also denote a person who came from various German places called Grüna or Grünau. In Jewish, it is a topographic name for someone who lived in a green of leafy area, derived from Yiddish grin meaning "green" or Middle High German gruene meaning "greenery".
GriselFrench, French (Swiss) Derived from the Old French adjective grisel, a variant of gris meaning "grey". It was a nickname for a person with grey hair a grey complexion or who habitually wore grey.
GrixtiMaltese Grixti is entirely of Maltese origin and is thought to mean "rough".
GroganIrish Derived from the native Gaelic O'Gruagain Sept that was initially located in County Roscommon but which became widely dispersed. The name is derived from a Gaelic word meaning 'fierceness'.
GroschGerman Either a metonymic occupational name for a moneyer or possibly a nickname for an avaricious person from Middle High German Middle Low German grosche "groschen" a medieval thick silver coin its name ultimately derived from medieval Latin denariusgrossus literally "thick coin".
GroulxFrench French spelling, often found in Canada, of Groult, Grould, possibly reduced forms of Gréoul, a personal name of Germanic origin, composed of the elements gred "hunger" + wolf, wulf "wolf".
GruberJewish A nickname from an inflected form of Yiddish dialect grub meaning ‘rude' or 'impolite’.
GryllsEnglish (Rare) There was an old and distinguished family of Grylls of Tavistock (Devon) and Lanreath (Cornwall) in the 17th century; two high sheriffs of the county then bore the name. The manor of Gryils (commonly mispronounced Garles), near the rocks called the Gryils or Garles, from which they probably derive their name, is in the parish of Lesneweth in that county.
GuastiItalian Meaning uncertain, may denote someone from the town of Guasto. Alternately, it may be an occupational name from gastaldo "chamberlain", from Latin gastaldus "manager, bailiff, steward", or be a nickname from guasto "broken, crippled".
GuettaJudeo-Spanish Meaning uncertain, possibly from the name of a tribe from northwestern Libya or from the name of the town of Huete in Cuenca province, Spain.
GuidryFrench (Cajun), Louisiana Creole Derived from the given name Witeric. This surname is particularly associated with Cajuns in Louisiana, United States, who seem all to be descended from Claude Guédry dit Grivois, who arrived in Acadia before 1671.
GuilesFrench Of uncertain origin; it could be a variant of French Guill or of English Guile or Giles .
GuinanIrish The surname Guinan comes from the Irish surname O Cuanain (O'Conein and MacConein) and is derived from the Irish Cuinin for "rabbit", son of Dugal. They claim descendancy through the Donnelly line of the native Irish.
GuitryFrench Derived from the given name Witeric. A famous bearer of this name was Sacha Guitry (1885-1957), a French actor, playwright, screenwriter and director.
GüldenGerman Variant of Gulden, a metonymic occupational name for a craftsman who gilded objects, or a habitational name referring to a house name such as In den silvren Gulden ("In the Silver Guilder"), De Gulden Hoeve ("The Gilded Farmhouse") or De Gulden Zwaan ("The Gilded Swan").
GuldenDutch, German Means "golden, gilded" or "guilder, florin (coin)", possibly an occupational name for a goldsmith, or a habitational name derived from a house.
GulianArmenian From Armenian word gul meaning "rose", as well as "laughter", combined with the common suffix of ian meaning "son of".
GullitDutch, Dutch (Surinamese) Possibly derived from Old Dutch golt meaning "gold", most likely referring to a person who worked with gold. The former Dutch soccer player Ruud Gullit (1962-; birth name Rudi Dil) is a famous bearer of this name.
GundryEnglish From Gondri, Gundric, an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans, composed of the Germanic elements gund "battle" and rīc "power(ful)".
GuriraSouthern African, Shona From the Ndau word gurira meaning "to break or cut for someone, cut short, take shortcut". The American-Zimbabwean actress and playwright Danai Gurira (1978-) is a famous bearer of this name.
GurneyEnglish, French, Norman Originated from the region Normandy in France, is also a biospheric name from Gournay-en-Bray, a commune in France. It is also a fictional character's maiden name, Jacqueline "Jackie" Bouvier from the animated sitcom show, The Simpsons.
GürsoyTurkish From Turkish gür meaning "bushy, strong" or "thunder" and soy meaning "ancestry, descent, family".
GurugeSinhalese Derived from Sinhala ගුරු (guru) meaning "teacher, master" and the locative suffix -ගේ (-ge) meaning "of, home, house".
HaarlaEstonian Haarla is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "haar" meaning "leg".
HaarmaEstonian Haarma is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "härmas" meaning "frosty".
HabashArabic Derived from Arabic حبش (ḥabash) meaning "Abyssinian", originally indicating a person who came from Abyssinia, a historical region that is nowadays split between Ethiopia and Eritrea. This surname is more common among Muslims and Christians in the Arab world... [more]
HaddonEnglish Derived from the Old English word had meaning "heathland" and the Old English suffix -don meaning "hill"; hence, the "heathland hill" or the "heather-covered hill".... [more]
HadidaJudeo-Spanish Derived from Arabic حديد (hadid) meaning "iron", used as an occupational name for a blacksmith.
HadleyEnglish A habitational name from either a place named Hadley, or a place named Hadleigh. The first is named from the Old English personal name Hadda + lēah (means ‘wood’, ‘(woodland) clearing’), and the other three are from Old English hǣð (meaning ‘heathland’, ‘heather') + lēah.