LaudrupDanish Possibly from the name of homesteads in Denmark, most likely derived from Old Norse laut meaning "barn", combined with the Danish suffix -drup (itself from Old Norse thorp) meaning "outlying farmstead, village, settlement"... [more]
LaufferGerman The lauffer name is generally thought to have evolved from a place name to a surname. ... Versions of the name that evolve from the word "läufer," which meant "runner," are thought to have originally been an occupational name for a messenger.
LavenzafLiterature The maiden name of Victor Frankenstein's love interest and eventual wife in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
LaveranFrench The surname Laveran probably became popular as a first name thanks to the French Nobel Prize in Medicine Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. Laveran discovered that protozoan parasites were the causative agent of malaria.
LaviadaAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of Xixón.
LawfordEnglish From any of several places in England called Lawford, derived from the personal name Lealla (cognate with Old High German Lallo), and ford "ford, river crossing".
LawlessEnglish, Scottish, Irish From a nickname for someone who was undisciplined or an outlaw, derived from Middle English laweles "not following the law or discipline".
LaxnessIcelandic (Rare) Derived from the name of a farm in Mosfellsbær parish in southwest Iceland. A notable bearer was author and Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness (1902-1998).
LaycockEnglish The name comes from a small village in England called "Laycock" and has something to do with "the place of the birds."... [more]
LazaldeBasque Latz = River/Stream Alde = Near or by.
LeatherEnglish, Scottish A metonymic occupational name for a leatherworker or seller of leather goods, and derived from Middle English and Old English lether meaning "leather".
LebaronFrench Either a variant of Baron "baron" with the French masculine definite article le. Or a habitational name from Le Baron the name of several places in various parts of France.
LeBoeufFrench Nickname for a powerfully built man, derived from French boeuf meaning "bull", with the definite article le. In some cases it may have been originally a metonymic occupational name for a herdsman.
LedesmaSpanish, Spanish (Philippines), Spanish (Latin American), Galician Habitational name from any of the numerous places in Spain called Ledesma, particularly in Salamanca or Boqueixón, possibly derived from a superlative form of the Proto-Celtic root *ɸletos "breadth, side" or *ɸleitos "grey".
LeemingEnglish Habitational name from either of two places, in West Yorkshire near Keighley and in North Yorkshire near Northallerton. Both are named with a river name, derived from the Old English word lēoma "gleam, sparkle".
LeetmaaEstonian Leetmaa is an Estonian surname meaning "podzolic soil land".
LeibnizGerman The German surname Leibnitz emerged in the lands that form the modern state of Lower Saxony, which is presently bordered by the North Sea, the Hartz mountains and the Elbe and Ems rivers. Lower Saxony was previously a medieval dukedom... [more]
LembergJewish Habitational name from the city of Lviv in Ukraine, from its German name Lemberg.
LembergGerman Habitational name from a place called Lemberg in Silesia, originally Löwenberg, from Middle High German lewe, löwe "lion" and berg "mountain".
LeminenFinnish Derived from the the name of the municipality of "Lemi" in Finland
LemmingDanish Derived from any of the places in Denmark called Lemming where the first element lem "lamb" is combined with the suffix -ing denoting a place.
LenickáCzech, Slovak From a diminutive form of a Czech and Slovak name Lenka. Matia Lenická (1984-) is a drum and bass producer and DJ from Bratislava, Slovakia.
LeonadoSpanish The color tawny which is an orange, brown color. This descriptive surname was given to the Filipino people by the Spanish when the Philippines was colonized.
LéotardFrench From the given name Leopold. Jules Léotard was an acrobat who popularized the leotard, a gymnastics garment. The garment is named after him.
LepajõeEstonian Lepajõe is an Estonian surname meaning "alder water".
LepistuEstonian Lepistu is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "lepitus" meaning "conciliation" and "arrangement".
LepmetsEstonian Lepmets is an Estonian word meaning "alder (lepp) forest (mets)".
LescherGerman German metonymic occupational name for a mediator or arbitrator, or possibly for a fireman, from Middle High German leschære ‘extinguisher’.
LesieurFrench From old French sieur "lord, overlord" (from Latin senior "elder") fused with le either an occupational name for someone in service of a great lord or an ironic nickname for someone who gives himself airs or graces.
LesmanaChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Li 1 (李) or Shi (施). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
LessardFrench Name for someone who lived in a clearing, derived from French l'essart meaning "the assart" (a term for cleared forest land used for agriculture). It is also a habitational name for someone from any of various locations named Lessard or Lessart, of the same origin and meaning.
LeusinkMedieval Dutch Descendants from farmers from the Overijssel Province in the Netherlands. History can be traced to the middle ages, perhaps to a farm called Lossyng in the village of Neede.
LevandiEstonian Levandi is an Estonians surname meaning the "Levant".
LibuttiItalian Composed of the definite article li and dialect butti "barrels".
LichtenGerman, Jewish From German licht meaning "light". Nickname for someone with a light complexion.
LichterGerman, Jewish Occupational name for someone who made candles or possibly for someone who tended a light, from an agent derivative of from Middle High German lieht, Yiddish likht "candle, light".
LickertGerman (East Prussian) Derived from the German feminine name Luitgard, and thus ultimately from Old High German liut "people" and garto "garden; enclosure".
LicursiItalian Of Albanian origin, either an occupational name for a tanner from lëkurë "skin, leather", or a habitational name.
LiebmanJewish Variant of German Liebmann, itself a variant of Libman and derived from the Yiddish personal name Lipman, from Middle High German liep "dear, beloved" and man "man"... [more]
LihtmaaEstonian Lihtmaa is an Estonian surname meaning "common/simple land".
LiistroItalian From Sicilian lijistru "privet", a kind of shrub or small tree.
LiivandEstonian Liivand is an Estonian surname meaning "sand(y) gift".
LiivaruEstonian Liivaru is an Estonian surname meaning "sand(y) upland meadow".
LillardBelgian Habitational name from either of two places called Li(e)laar, in Gavere and Sint-Maria-Oudenhove, East Flanders.
LimbachGerman Derived from any of numerous places in Germany named with Germanic lindo meaning "lime tree" and bach meaning "stream". Several of these places are in areas such as the Palatinate, which contributed heavily to early German immigration to the United States.
LimonovmRussian Derived from Russian word "лимон (limon)" meaning "lemon". This is the last name of Eduard Limonov, the leader of the National Bolshevik Party in Russia.
LindersDutch Patronymic form of Leonard, or possibly of a Germanic name composed of linta "linden tree, shield, spear" and heri "army".
LindleyEnglish, German English habitational name from either of two places in West Yorkshire called Lindley, or from Linley in Shropshire and Wiltshire, all named from Old English lin ‘flax’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘glade’, with epenthetic -d-, or from another Lindley in West Yorkshire (near Otley), named in Old English as ‘lime wood’, from lind ‘lime tree’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’... [more]
LindmaaEstonian Lindmaa is an Estonian name meaning "bird land".
LindmäeEstonian Lindmäe is an Estonian surname meaning "bird mountain/hill".
LindmanSwedish Combination of Swedish lind "linden tree" and man "man".
LindveeEstonian Lindvee is an Estonian surname meaning "bird water".
LinekerEnglish From a place name composed of Old English lin meaning "flax" and æcer meaning "field". A famous bearer is retired English soccer player Gary Lineker (1960-).
LinelinGerman (Americanized) Of German origin, an anglicization of German "Leinlindt", which is a combination of surnames Lein meaning "linen" and Lindt meaning "gentle".
LinfordEnglish habitational name from Great and Little Linford in Buckinghamshire or Lynford in Norfolk. The former may have Old English hlyn "maple" as its first element; the latter is more likely to contain lin "flax" or alternatively the first element may relate to the river Lynn... [more]
LingardEnglish Habitational name from Lingart, Lancashire, or Lingards Wood in Marsden, West Yorkshire.
LischkeGerman A German surname of slavic origin. A historic bearer was Johann Lischke, a German Protestant reformer in the 16th century. The name may come from the German word “Lisch,” which can refer to a marshy or wetland area.
ListratFrench From Occitan "listrat" meaning "chopped off, striped" or from "Listrac", a commune in the Gironde department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwest France.
LittmanGerman (East Prussian), German (West Prussian), German, Jewish Derived from Germanized Czech personal names like Litomir (Czech: Ljutomir) and Litobor (Czech: Ljutobor) which ultimately go back to Old Slavic ljutu "grim; fierce; ferocious; wild". One theory suggests, however, that these given names might have been influenced by ljub- "love; dear".... [more]
LokerseDutch Possibly a patronymic form of a given name such as Lokke, or a habitational name from a place using the Middle Dutch element loken "to close, shut, fence" (compare Lock).
LomakinmRussian Means "son of the breaker", from Russian ломать (lomat') "to break".
LombardFrench, English, South African French and English cognate of Lombardi, or derived from the given name Lambert. A famous bearer of this name was the American actress Carole Lombard (1908-1942), born Jane Alice Peters.
LongleyEnglish Geographic name referring to multiple places by the same name in Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the word "long" plus Old English leáh "meadow".
LongoniItalian Probably a variant of Longo "long, tall" using the augmentative suffix -one. In some cases, it could instead derive from the toponym Longone.
LoometsEstonian Loomets is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "loom" (animal)" and "mets (forest)".
LoorandEstonian Loorand is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "loor" meaning "veil" and "fog" and "rand" meaning "beach": "fog(gy) beach".
LooritsEstonian Loorits is an Estonian surname derived from "loor" meaning "veil", "fog" and "shroud".
LoosaarEstonian Loosaar is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "lood" ("level") and "saar" ("island"); or "loog" ("windrow") and "saar" ("ash tree").
LopatinmRussian Occupational name derived from Russian лопата (lopata) meaning "shovel, spade".
Lo RiccoItalian Possibly means "the rich one", from Italian ricco "rich, wealthy" combined with the definitive article lo.
LorimerEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for a maker or seller of bits and other metal parts of a horse's bridle, and other metal pieces, derived from Old French lorain "tackle, harness".