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".
BeglovmRussian From Russian бегать (begat'), meaning "to run".
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".
BeletsRussian, Ukrainian Belets is a term used in Russian monasteries to denote both individuals preparing to enter monasticism but who have not yet taken vows.
BelferJewish Occupational name from Yiddish be(he)lfer, ba(he)lfer "teacher’s assistant".
BelkinRussian Patronymic from the nickname Belka meaning "squirrel" (a derivative of bely "white", referring to the animal's white stomach).
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]
BellisItalian Patronymic from the given name Bello, using the Latin ablative plural suffix -is to indicate "of, belonging to".
BellocFrench Habitational name for a person from the commune of Belloc in southwestern France, of unknown etymology.
BelrioSpanish From the Spanish word meaning "beautiful river".
BelsonEnglish, Jewish Either from the Middle English female personal name Belsant (Old French BelisantBelisent from ancient Germanic bili "decent amiable" and swinth "strong fast") or a patronymic from the personal name Bele (see Beal) or a metronymic from a short form of the female personal name Isabel and son... [more]
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]
Ben-hurJewish, Literature Means "son of Hur" in Hebrew. This was also the name of the protagonist of both the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and the 1959 film adaptation Ben-Hur, named Judah Ben-Hur.
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.
BeriyaGeorgian (Russified) Russified form of Beria. This is the way the last name of Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the NKVD from 1938-1946, last name was spelled in the official Soviet language (Russian).
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]
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 From the name of a neighborhood in the municipality of Bertizarana, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Possibly derived from Basque berta "near, close, next to" or bertze "other" combined with either (h)aitz "rock, stone" or the toponymic suffix -iz.
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".
BesselGerman Of uncertain origin; possibly from the name of a place or river.
BesshoJapanese From 別 (be, betsu) meaning "separate, another different" and 所 (sho) meaning "place, plant, institute, station".
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.
BikuñaBasque From the name of a village in Álava, Basque Country, possibly derived from Latin vicus "street, neighbourhood; village, hamlet" and Basque on "good". Alternatively, the first element could be related to bike "steep slope".
BingelGerman A topographic name derived from a diminutive of Middle High German binge, which means "depression", "ditch", or "pit". May also be derived from pingel, which is a Westphalian nickname for a pedantic person.
BingerEnglish Derived from the Old English name Binningas, which was a name for someone who lived near stables.
BirketEnglish It's a locational surname taken from the village of Birket Houses in Lancashire.
BirkinEnglish The surname "Birkin" comes from a village in Yorkshire of the same name, first recorded as "Byrcene" in the Yorkshire charters of 1030, and as "Berchine" and "Berchinge" in the Domesday Book. The first known person with the surname "Birkin" was Jon de Birkin, a baron who lived in the late-11th century.
BirneyEnglish Scottish: habitational name from a place in Morayshire, recorded in the 13th century as Brennach, probably from Gaelic braonach 'damp place'.
BirnieScottish Part of the clan MacInnes from the Scottish highlands. It was originally the name of a church (Burn-nigh) which became Birnie or Birney.
BisleyEnglish (British) Bisley is a locational surname from the village of Bisley in Surrey. It comes from the words biss meaning “brown” or "ashy" and leah meaning “clearing” denoting a wide area of untilled land such as a meadow or woodland.
BlaauwDutch, South African Archaic spelling of Dutch blauw "blue", a nickname referring to the bearer’s eye colour, clothes, or possibly a pale and sickly complexion. It could also be an occupational name for someone who made blue dye, or bluing for laundry.
BlaseyFrench The name may have been associated with a 4th century (316) French saint Blasius of Armenie (Armienes,) and later introduced into and adopted by Yorkshire people as their saint of wool-combers from a Norman noble.
BlazerDutch From Middle Dutch blaser "blower", from blâsen "to blow, to sound (a wind instrument); to brag", hence an occupational name for a player of the trumpet or other wind instrument, or a nickname for a braggart or boaster.
BlesseEnglish (British), Filipino, Indian, French The last name Blesse was first discovered in Oxfordshire and held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. In the Philippines, Blesse means "a blessing in the family." In India, Blesse means "bless you."
BobberEnglish From the ancient Anglo-Saxon name Baber, a town in the county of Suffolk. A famous bearer of the last name is actor, director, animator, voice actor, and musician Troy Bobber.
BobeckSwedish, German, Jewish, Slavic A respelling of the Swedish Bobäck, an ornamental name composed of the elements bo meaning "farm" and bäck meaning "stream".... [more]
BoeingEnglish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of German Böing. This was the surname of American industrialist William Boeing (1881-1956) who founded The Boeing Company, a manufacturer of airplanes.