BaragaSlovene A Slovene surname of unknown origin. A notable bearer was Slovene-American Roman Catholic bishop Frederic Baraga (1797-1868), who was the bishop of Marquette, a town in Upper Michigan, USA. There is also a village in Upper Michigan named Baraga, which was named after the bishop.
BarakiEthiopian, Amharic From the given name Baraki, meaning "one who blesses" in Amharic. It is possibly related to Arabic Barak 2 and Hebrew Baruch, also meaning "blessed".
BarbonFrench (Quebec) Derived from the nickname barbon meaning "old codger" as well as referring to a "confirmed bachelor".
BarchoCircassian Possibly derived from an Adyghe word meaning "band, lace", referring to someone who made ropes or binding tapes, or from a Chechen word referring to a tailor.
BardenEnglish English: habitational name from places in North and West Yorkshire named Barden, from Old English bere ‘barley’ (or the derived adjective beren) + denu ‘valley’.
BaresiItalian Variant of Barrese. A famous bearer is Franchino "Franco" Baresi (1960-), as well as his brother Giuseppe Baresi (1958-), both former Italian soccer players.
BarhamEnglish English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, are named with Old English beorg ‘hill’ + ham ‘homestead’. The one in Kent, however, is from an unattested Old English byname Biora, Beora (a derivative of bera ‘bear’) + ham.
BarileItalian From Italian barile "barrel" either an occupational name for a Cooper or a nickname for a fat man.
BarkerEnglish SURNAME Town cryer, or someone who shouts out notices
BarkisEnglish Meant "person who works in a tannery" (from Middle English barkhous "tannery" - bark was used in the tanning process). A fictional bearer is Barkis, a carrier in Charles Dickens's 'David Copperfield' (1849) who sends a message via David to Clara Peggotty that "Barkis is willin'" (i.e. to marry her).
BarkusEnglish Probably a reduced form of Barkhouse, a topographic name for someone who lived by a tannery, Middle English barkhous, or an occupational name for someone who worked in one.
BarrowEnglish Habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Old English bearo, bearu "grove" or from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, which is named with an unattested Celtic word, barr, here meaning "promontory", and Old Norse ey "island"... [more]
BarsbyEnglish Derived from the Old Norse word barn, which occured as a byname and meant "child", and Old Norse býr "farm, settlement"
BartekPolish, Czech, Slovak, German Polish, Czech, Slovak, and eastern German: from a pet form of a vernacular form of the personal name Bartolomaeus (Czech Bartoloměj, Polish Bartłomiej, German Bartolomäus)
BaskinJewish Means "son of Baske", a Yiddish female personal name (a pet-form of the Biblical name Bath Seba). Baskin-Robbins is a US chain of ice-cream parlours founded in Glendale, California in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913-1969) and Irv Robbins (1917-2008).
BatawiIndonesian, Arabic Means "Betawi" in Arabic, referring to an ethnic group native to the city of Jakarta in Indonesia. The name itself is from Batavia, the capital city of the Dutch East Indies (located in present-day Jakarta)... [more]
BaucomEnglish Variant spelling of BALCOMBE, a habitational name from West Sussex derived from Old English bealu "evil" and cumb "valley".
BaudryFrench Derived from the medieval French given name Baudry, which was a variant form of Baudric, a given name that itself was a variant form of Baldéric (see Baldric)... [more]
BaylisEnglish Derived from the Middle English 'bail(l)i', a development of the Old French 'baillis'. In Scotland the word survives as 'bailie', the title of a chief magistrate for a part of a county or barony. The word survives in England as 'bailiff', an officer who serves writs and summonses for the court.
BaylonSpanish Spanish: variant of Bailón ( see Bailon ).
Baz-oolTuvan (Rare) Means "another boy" from Tuvan база (baza) meaning "also, too, another" combined with оол (ool) "son, boy".
BeaberEnglish (American) Americanized spelling of German Bieber or Biber, from Middle High German biber ‘beaver’, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way, a topographic name for someone who lived in a place frequented by beavers or by a field named with this word, or a habitational name from any of various place names in Hesse containing this element.
BeatonEnglish As an English surname, it is derived from either the French town of Béthune, or from the medieval diminutive Beaton, short for Bartholomew or Beatrice... [more]
BecherGerman Shortened form of Becherer as well as a surname given to for someone who distilled or worked with pitch, in which case it is derived from Middle High German bech / pech "pitch".
BechetEnglish A famous bearer of this surname was Sidney Bechet (1897–1959), an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
BedellEnglish This place name derives from the Old English words byde, meaning "tub," and "well," meaning a "spring," or "stream." As such, Bedell is classed as a habitational name.
BednářCzech Bednář means "hooper, cooper" in Czech.
BedoniItalian Probably of French origin, from betun "mud" or bedon "paunch, pot belly".
BedoyaSpanish Castilianized form of Bedoia. Name for someone from Bedoña, in the Spanish province Gipuzkoa. Bedoña likely comes from Basque bedi "pasture grazing" and -oña, suffix for a place name.
BeedenEnglish (British) Probably means "from Beeden", a village near Newbury in Berkshire. Ultimately coming from either Old English byden, meaning "shallow valley", or from the pre 7th century personal name Bucge with the suffix dun, meaning "hill of Bucge".
BéguinFrench Nickname from beguin, a member of a medieval Christian male religious community (ultimately named after a priest called Lambert le Bègue) that followed a monastic rule without making perpetual vows and was quickly considered heretic; by extension the term came to mean "sanctimonious person".
BelletFrench Comes from a derivative of bel ‘handsome’.
BellewEnglish, Irish Of Norman origin: habitational name from any of the various places in northern France, such as Belleu (Aisne), named in Old French with bel ‘beautiful’ + l(i)eu ‘place’, or from Belleau (Meurthe-et-Moselle), which is named with Old French bel ‘lovely’ + ewe ‘water’ (Latin aqua), or from Bellou (Calvados), which is probably named with a Gaulish word meaning ‘watercress’... [more]
BelzerGerman Occupational name for a furrier, from an agent derivative of Middle High German bel(li)z "fur"
BelzerJewish Habitational name for someone from Belz in Ukraine.
Ben AliArabic (Maghrebi), Comorian Maghrebi transcription of Arabic بن علي (bin Ali) meaning "son of Ali 1". A notable bearer was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1936-2019), who served as the president of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011.
BenčićCroatian Habitational name for someone from Benčići, Croatia.
BenderGerman, German (East Prussian) As a German surname, Bender is a regional occupational surname from the Rhineland area denoting a "barrel-maker" (the Standard German Fassbinder became "Fassbender" in the local dialects and ultimately was shortened to Bender).... [more]
BennerGerman Occupational name for a basket and bassinet maker, from an agent derivative of Middle High German benne 'work basket', 'bassinet', 'cradle'.
Ben NunHebrew Joshua or Yehoshua Ben Nun functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Exodus and Numbers, and later succeeded Moses as leader of the Israelite tribes in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua
BergenGerman, Dutch, Flemish, Jewish Originally denoted a person from any of the various places named Bergen in Germany and the Netherlands. It is also a variant of Berg. Famous bearers include the Americans Candice Bergen (1946-), an actress, and Polly Bergen (1930-2014), an actress, singer and television host.
BerginSwedish Derived from Swedish berg "mountain" and the common surname suffix -in.
BerlinSwedish Of uncertain origin. The name could be a shortened form of Berglin. It could also be a habitational name from the city in Germany or from a place in Sweden named with ber or berg "mountain"... [more]
BerlinGerman, English Habitational name from the city in Germany, the name of which is of uncertain meaning. It is possibly derived from an Old Slavic stem berl- meaning swamp or from a West Slavic word meaning "river lake".
BernerEnglish, Norman From the Norman personal name Bernier from Old English beornan ‘to burn’, hence an occupational name for a burner of lime (compare German Kalkbrenner) or charcoal... [more]
BernerGerman, Low German German habitational name, in Silesia denoting someone from a place called Berna (of which there are two examples); in southern Germany and Switzerland denoting someone from the Swiss city of Berne. ... [more]
BerroaBasque This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the municipality of Baigorri in the French canton of Euskal Mendialdea.
BertinFrench From the given name Bertin a diminutive of the ancient Germanic personal name Berhto a short form of various compound names formed with berht "bright famous".
BertizBasque This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the Navarrese municipality of Bertizarana.
BérubéFrench Habitational name from some minor place named with Old French belru "beautiful stream", with the subsequent pleonastic addition of bé, variant of bel "beautiful".
BessonFrench, Provençal, Occitan Southern French nickname from Occitan besson "twin" (from Latin bis) or from the various places (Le) Besson in southern France.
BevierFrench (Germanized) From Old French bevier, meaning "a measure of land". This was probably a nickname for someone who owned or worked such a piece of land. This surname was first found in Austria, where the name Bevier came from humble beginnings but gained a significant reputation for its contribution to the emerging medieval society.
BexleyEnglish Habitational name from Bexley (now Bexleyheath in Greater London), which was named from Old English byxe ‘box tree’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
BhowalBengali From the Bhawal Estate in British India.
BhuiyaBengali Bangladeshi: from Bengali bhuyyan ‘landlord’, ‘chieftain’. Bearers of this surname claim descent from one of the twelve chieftains (nine Muslims and three Hindus), who ruled the Sultanate of Bengal (1336–1576)... [more]
BhuttoSindhi Meaning uncertain. This is the name of a prominent Pakistani political family of Sindhi origin. Two of its members, ZulfikarAli Bhutto (1928-1979) and Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) served as prime ministers of Pakistan.
BhuyanIndian, Bengali, Assamese, Odia Means "landlord, chieftain", derived from Sanskrit भूमि (bhumi) meaning "earth, soil".
BialikPolish, Czech, Jewish Derived from Polish biały meaning "white", originally a nickname for a person with blond hair or a pale complexion. A famous bearer of this name is American actress Mayim Bialik (1975-).
BiankiRussian (Rare) Russian form of Bianchi. A famous bearer is Vitaly Valentinovich Bianki, the Soviet children’s writer.
BickelGerman, German (Swiss), Jewish German: from bickel ‘pickaxe’ or ‘chisel’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made pickaxes or worked with a pickaxe or for a stonemason. South German: from a pet form of Burkhart... [more]
BiddleEnglish, Irish Variant of English BEADLE or German BITTEL. The name is now popular in the north east region of America, where it was brought by English and Irish immigrants.
BielecPolish Nickname for a man with white hair or a blond beard, from biały meaning "white".
BielerGerman, Jewish Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of the many places in eastern Europe whose name incorporates the Slavic element byel- ‘white’.... [more]
BierceEnglish, Welsh English variant and Welsh form of Pierce. A famous bearer was the American author, journalist and poet Ambrose Bierce (1842-c. 1914), who wrote The Devil's Dictionary and other works... [more]
BiglinEnglish (British) German origin, settled by a single farmer in East Yorkshire in 1750. The name comes from the phrase "big land" meaning someone who owns alot of land.