RichersEnglish, German From a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + hari, heri ‘army’. The name was introduced into England by the Normans in the form Richier, but was largely absorbed by the much more common Richard... [more]
RickelsGerman Patronymic form of Rickel or possibly Richel. May have been derived from any of a number of Old German personal names including Richild (or the feminine form Richeldis) or Richold.
RiddickScottish A different form of Reddick ("person from Rerwick or Rerrick", Dumfries and Galloway (perhaps "robbers' outlying settlement")). A fictional bearer of the surname is Richard B. Riddick, (anti)hero of the 'Chronicles of Riddick' movies.
RideoutEnglish Means "outrider (a municipal or monastic official in the Middle Ages whose job was to ride around the country collecting dues and supervising manors)".
RispoliItalian A patronymic from a derivative of the given name Rispo, which is probably of Germanic origin. Alternatively, it could be a variant of Ruspoli, which is of unknown origin.
RoascioItalian (Rare) Derived from Roascio, the name of a municipality in the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roass in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
RobardsEnglish Altered form of Roberts. A famous bearer was American actor Jason Robards (1922-2000), as well as his father Jason Robards Sr. (1892-1963) and son Sam Robards (1961-), also noted actors.
RobinetFrench Derived from the medieval French masculine given name Robinet, which was a diminutive (as the -et suffix indicates) of the given name Robin.... [more]
RockettFrench From the French "la roche," or "of the rock." Some family histories trace this back to French Hugenots (sp) who immigrated to England in the 1500's from the Normandy region of France.
RodwellEnglish Rodwell, a name of Anglo-Saxon origin, is a locational surname deriving from any one of various places in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Kent, England. In English, the meaning of the name Rodwell is "Lives by the spring near the road".
RolstonEnglish English habitational name from any of various places, such as Rowlston in Lincolnshire, Rolleston in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire, or Rowlstone in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border... [more]
RønningNorwegian From any of the many farmsteads named Rønning, ultimately derived from Old Norse ruðja "woodland clearing".
RöntgenGerman Meaning uncertain. This was the name of German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) who discovered and studied x-rays. Röntgen called the radiation "X" because it was an unknown type of radiation.
RoolaidEstonian Roolaid is an Estonian surname meaning "reedy islet".
RootareEstonian Rootare is an Estonian surname meaning "reed hut/house".
RooväliEstonian Rooväli is an Estonian surname meaning "cane/reed field".
RoppoloItalian Perhaps a derivative of Roppo, a given name of Germanic origin.
RosamelFrench A French surname turned Spanish masculine given name, Rosamel likely derives from the combination of rose + Greek mel “honey”. As a surname, it was borne by a 19th century French naval officer with the wonderful name of Claude Charles Marie du Campe de Rosamel.
RosholtNorwegian Norwegian: habitational name from either of two farms called Røsholt in southeastern Norway, named with Old Norse, either ross ‘mare’ or ruð ‘clearing’ + holt ‘grove’, ‘wood’.
RosseauFrench, American Variant spelling of Rousseau. Comes from the Old French word rous meaning "red", likely a nickname for someone with red hair or a particularly rosy complexion.
RothfusGerman Middle High German rot "red" + vuoz "foot", a nickname for someone who followed the fashion for shoes made from a type of fine reddish leather. Or a variant of Rotfuchs, from the Middle Low German form fos "fox", a nickname for a clever person.
RothmanGerman, Jewish German (Rothmann) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with red hair, from an elaborated form of Roth 1. ... [more]
RozelleFrench Beautiful flower from France brought over by an immigrant named Page Rozelle. People said when she said something nice or touched you, good luck would come to you.
RudyardEnglish From the location Rudyard (Staffs) which is recorded as Rudegeard in 100 The place-name probably derives from Old English rude "rue" and geard "enclosure yard".
RuettenGerman (Rütten): from a field name, here showing an inflected form from a full name like aus den Rütten ‘from the clearing(s)’ (see Rutten and Reuter 1
RuffaloItalian Variant spelling of Ruffolo. A famous bearer is American actor Mark Ruffalo (1967-).
RugeleyAnglo-Saxon A locational surname whose literal meaning is "woodland clearing on or near a ridge", derived from the Old English hrycg meaning "ridge" and leah, meaning "clearing". First recorded as a surname in Staffordshire, England, but refers to a village in Normandy called Rugles.
RuisardFrench (Rare, ?) Originated as a result of trade between France and the Persian Empires before the Iranian Revolution, probably during the Safavid Dynasty. The surname has its roots in the Persian Riahi surname and the Arabic word رِيح (rīḥ) meaning "wind" and the Persian word “sered” before it was altered to fit French spelling rules.... [more]
RumfeltGerman, Dutch Altered spelling of German Romfeld, derived from Middle Low German rüm- meaning "to clear (land)" and feld meaning "open country, field", hence a topographic name or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a person engaged in clearing woodland, or in some cases a habitational name for someone from Romfelt in the Ardennes... [more]
RumfordEnglish From the parish of Romford in Essex, England. The name means "the wide ford" from Old English rúm "wide".
RumpoleEnglish A different form of Rumbold (from the Norman personal name Rumbald, of Germanic origin and probably meaning literally "fame-bold"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Horace Rumpole, the eccentric QC created by John Mortimer (originally for a 1975 television play).
RundellEnglish Nickname derived from a diminutive of Middle English and Old French rond, rund meaning "fat, round" (see Rounds), or derived from Rundale, a local place in the village and civil parish of Shoreham in Kent, England, named with Old English rum(ig) meaning "roomy, spacious" and dæl meaning "valley".
RusconiItalian From Italian rusca, "splinter, sliver of wood".
RushdieKashmiri (Rare) Derived from Arabic رَشَدَ (rašada) meaning "to go the right way, to follow the right course" or "to be well guided" (related to the given names Rashad and Rashid)... [more]
RuutsooEstonian Ruutsoo is an Estonian surname meaning "square swamp".
RuzickiPolish Ruzicki was first found in Polesie, inhabited by Ruthenians, called Polesians, of Ukrainian descent. One of the principal names of the area was the royal Clan of Poraj, of which the family name Ruzycki is a branch.
RybackiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Rybaki, derived from Polish ryba meaning "fish".
RybakovRussian Means "son of the fisher" from Russian рыбак (rybak) meaning "fisherman".
RybalkaUkrainian Ukrainian surname meaning "fisherman". Derived from ryba "fish".
RycroftEnglish Derived from Rycroft, in the parish of Birstall, Yorkshire
RydbergSwedish Combination of Swedish ryd "woodland clearing" and berg "mountain". Notable bearers are author and poet Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895) and physicist Johannes Rydberg (1854-1919).
RyslinkCzech (Rare) Czech spelling or interpretation of an Irish (I think) name. First introduced in 1620 at the beginning of the 30 Years War at White Mountain near Prague, CZ when an Irish (I think) soldier fathered a Czech son... [more]
RyūfukuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 竜福 (Ryūfuku), a clipping of 竜福寺 (Ryūfukuji), a former temple that was located possibly somewhere in the prefecture of Tochigi in Japan. It is also a clipping of 龍福寺 (Ryūfukuji), former temple in the division of Shiji in the area of Shiraki in the ward of Asakita in the city of Hiroshima in the prefecture of Hiroshima in Japan.... [more]
RyumineJapanese 竜/龍 (Ryu) means "Dragon, Imperial" and 嶺,峰,峯 (Mine) means "Peak, Summit, Mountaintop".
RyusakiJapanese Ryu means "dragon" or "imperial" and Saki means "peninsula".
RyūzakiJapanese From Japanese 竜, 龍 (ryū) meaning "dragon" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape, peninsula". One bearer of this surname was actor Katsu Ryūzaki (竜崎 勝, 1940–1984), born Fumiaki Takashima (高島 史旭).
SacasasSpanish Have researched the surname Sacasas, and have narrowed the usage down to four countries the name has been used in. Spain, Cuba, the United States and Philippines. The uncommonality of the last name and the fact that three of those countries were at one point or another colonized by Spain has led me to theorize Spanish origin.
SadozaiPashto, Balochi Means "son of Sado" in Pashto. The Sadozai are a Pashtun sub-tribe of the Popalzai mainly inhabiting Pakistan as well as a Baloch tribe living by the Gulf of Oman in Iran... [more]
SaengerGerman, Jewish Occupational name for a chorister or a nickname for someone who liked singing, from Middle High German senger, German Sänger meaning "singer".
SaensukThai From Thai แสน (saen) meaning "very, extremely" and สุข (suk) meaning "happy, pleased".
SaetangThai Form of Tang used by Chinese Thais. This is one of the most common surnames in Thailand.
SætherNorwegian Derived from Old Norse sætr "farm" or setr "seat, residence, mountain pastures".
SaetiaoThai Form of Zhang used by Chinese Thais (based on the Hokkien romanization of the name).
SaeuengThai Form of Huang used by Chinese Thais (based on the Hakka romanization of the name).