ElenbaasDutch Reinterpretation of Elenbos or Elebaers (see Elbert), or from another Germanic personal name composed of the elements aljaz "other" or agil "point or edge (of a sword)" combined with berht "bright"... [more]
ElestialEnglish (British, Modern, Rare) First used as a surname in September 2000, first appearing on a birth certificate in July 2009. Meaning "protected by angels"; the origin is an adopted surname from a type of quartz crystal, often referred to as a new millennium crystal... [more]
ElexaldeBasque The name of several locations in Biscay, Spain, derived from Basque elexa "church" (variant of eliza) and -alde "near, by; side". Compare Elizalde.
ElizaldeBasque, Spanish From Basque eleiza meaning "church" combined with the suffix -alde "by". This could be either a habitational name for a person who was from the town of Elizalde in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, or a topographic name for someone living near a church.
ElizoharHebrew (Modern, Rare) Means "my God is brilliant" or "my God is shining" in Hebrew. Taken from Hebrew ’el + i (7) combined with the name Zohar.
El KhouryArabic Means "the priest" from Arabic خوري (ḵūriyy).
EllenderGerman Respelling of German Elender, a nickname for a stranger or newcomer, from Middle High German ellende ‘strange’, ‘foreign’, or a habitational name for someone from any of twenty places named Elend, denoting a remote settlement, as for example in the Harz Mountains or in Carinthia, Austria.
EllermaaEstonian Ellermaa is an Estonian surname, most likely an Estoniazation of the German surname Ellermann.
EllerveeEstonian Ellervee is an Estonian surname meaning "Eller water", but of undetermined origin. Possibly from the German "Eller". Possibly a corruption of the surname "Ellerbee" or "Ellerby".
ElsegoodEnglish (British), English (Australian) Derived from an Old English given name, possibly *Ælfgod or *Æðelgod, in which the second element is god "god". (Another source gives the meaning "temple-god", presumably from ealh and god.)... [more]
ElsemereEnglish The surname Ellesmere was first found in Shropshire at Ellesmere, a market-town and parish, and the head of a union.
ElsevierDutch The name of a prominent Dutch publishing house of the 17th and 18th century, possibly derived from Old Hebrew הל ספר (hal safir) meaning "the book". Another suggested origin is Dutch hellevuur "hellfire" or helsche vier "four from hell", supposedly derived from a sign by the family’s house.
El-shafeiArabic It means "the intercessor (which refers to the Prophet of Islam, who will hopefully intercede on one's behalf before God on the day of judgement)".
EnggaardDanish Combination of Danish eng "meadow" and gård "farm, estate".
EngineerIndian (Parsi) Parsi name literally meaning "engineer", referring to someone who made machines or engines. As the British rule of India demanded for all Parsees to adopt a surname, many used English vocabulary based on their occupation.
EnjolrasLiterature From a surname which was from Occitan enjeura meaning "to terrify". This was the name of a charismatic activist in Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862).
EnoshimaJapanese From Japanese 江 (e) meaning "bay", ノ (no) which is a particle of possession, and 島 (shima) meaning "island". This can refer to the island in the Kanagawa prefecture.
EnshōganJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 焔 (en) meaning "blaze" and 硝岩 (shōgan), derived from 硝石 (shōseki) meaning "saltpeter" by replacing the character 石 (seki) meaning "stone" with 岩 (gan) meaning "rock".
EpshteynGerman, Jewish This surname may be derived from a German town known as Eppstein in Hesse. Epp probably came from Gaulish apa which means water or river and stein translates into English as stone.
ErlanderSwedish Derived from the personal name Erland. A famous bearer was Swedish politician Tage Erlander (1901-1985), Prime Minister of Sweden between 1946 and 1969... [more]
EscandónSpanish, Spanish (Mexican) Derived from a field named "Escanda" denoting a type of wheat. Perhaps farmers who lived close to the area.
EscuellaPopular Culture Based on Spanish escuela meaning "school". This was used for a character in the video games 'Red Dead Redemption' (2010) and 'Red Dead Redemption 2' (2018).
EscuredoLeonese It indicates familial origin within either of 2 neighborhoods: the one in Rosinos de la Requejada and the one in Quintana’l Castiellu.
EsfahaniPersian Indicated a person from the city of Isfahan in Iran, ultimately from Old Persian spādānām meaning "(of) the armies".
EsguerraSpanish, Filipino Castilianized form of Basque Ezkerra from ezker meaning "left, left-handed".
EspírituSpanish From a short form of Spanish del Espíritu Santo meaning "of the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Ghost" (Latin Spiritus Sanctus), which was the second part of religious compound names formed from the bearer's given name and del Espíritu Santo... [more]
EtchellsEnglish (British) This surname was a habitation name derived from the Old English word "ecels" which is roughly translated as the "dweller on a piece of land added to an estate." Alternatively, the name may have derived from the Old English word "ecan" which means "to increase."
EurlingsDutch, Flemish Derived from the Germanic given name Ulrich. A famous bearer of this surname is the Dutch politician and businessman Camiel Eurlings (1973-).
EzpeletaBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous commune in the French arrondissement of Baiona.
FàbregasCatalan Deriving from any of the places in Barcelona province named Fàbregues, from the plural of Fàbrega. Famous bearer of this surname is Spanish/Catalan footballer Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler.
FacchiniItalian Occupational name for a porter (a carrier of objects), derived from Italian facchino meaning "porter, carrier of goods". The word facchino was originally from Sicilian facchinu meaning "jurist, scribe, clerk, theologian" (ultimately from Arabic فَقِيه (faqīh) meaning "jurisconsult, expert on law"), but was later modified to mean "porter".
FaliszekPolish A notable bearer of this name is Chet Faliszek, an American videogame writer who has worked for companies like Valve and Bossa Studios, having been involved in the story writing for series such as Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead.
FaloticoItalian From southern Italian falotico ‘eccentric’, ‘strange’, Greek kephalōtikos, a derivative of Greek kephalē ‘head’.
FältskogSwedish Combination of Swedish fält "field" and skog "forest". Agnetha Fältskog (b. 1950) is a Swedish singer and former member of ABBA.
FancourtEnglish Derived from the English surname Fancourt, which originated in the county of Bedfordshire in England.
FanshaweEnglish Meant "person from Featherstonehaugh", Northumberland (now known simply as "Featherstone") ("nook of land by the four-stones", four-stones referring to a prehistoric stone structure known technically as a "tetralith")... [more]
FantasiaItalian From Italian fantasia meaning "imagination", possibly a nickname for a person who had a vivid imagination, or from the personal name Fantasia, the feminine form of Fantasio. Known bearers include American sociologist Rick Fantasia and Australian footballer Orazio Fantasia (1995-).
FantuzziEmilian-Romagnol, Italian A surname derived from the medieval name "Fantino", which is a diminutive of "Fante", usually meaning "infant" or "child", but it was also used to refer to a "foot soldier".
FarissolJudeo-Provençal Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol was a Jewish-Italian geographer, cosmographer, scribe, and polemicist. He was the first Hebrew writer to deal in detail with the newly-discovered Americas, born in Avignon in 1451.
FarquaadPopular Culture Meaning unknown, as a surname it is born by Lord Maximus Farquaad, main antagonist of the 2001 animated fantasy comedy film Shrek.
FarragutBreton, French, Catalan, American A Breton-French surname of unknown origin. A notable bearer was American naval flag officer David Farragut (1801-1870), who is known for serving during the American Civil War. His father was of Catalan ancestry... [more]
FarrugiaMaltese Derived from Maltese farruġ meaning "chicken", used as a name for someone who kept chickens.
FarthingEnglish (i) "someone who lives on a 'farthing' of land" (i.e. a quarter of a larger area); (ii) from a medieval nickname based on farthing "1/4 penny", perhaps applied to someone who paid a farthing in rent; (iii) from the Old Norse male personal name Farthegn, literally "voyaging warrior"
FearnleyEnglish (British) Comes from the family having resided in a forest glade carpeted with ferns. The name Fearnley is derived from two Old English elements: fearn, the old English word for ferns, and leah, a word for a clearing in a forest.
FebbraioItalian Derived from Italian febbraio meaning "February", perhaps indicating a person who was baptized in that month.
FeldhausGerman habitational name from a place called Feldhaus after a "house standing in open country", derived from the elements feld "field" and hus "house"... [more]
FeldmannJewish From the surname Feld combined with the German suffix mann "man"
FerrandoItalian, Spanish This surname can be derived from a given name (thus making it a patronymic surname) as well as from a nickname (thus making it a descriptive surname). In the case of a patronymic surname, the surname is derived from the medieval masculine given name Ferrando, which was in use in both Italy and Spain during the Middle Ages... [more]
FerranteItalian This surname can be derived from a given name (thus making it a patronymic surname) as well as from a nickname (thus making it a descriptive surname). In the case of a patronymic surname, the surname is derived from the medieval masculine given name Ferrante... [more]
FerrantiItalian Derived from the Latin word ferrum, which means "iron". Originally an occupational name for a blacksmith or a worker in iron.
FerreireCeltic It means smith. In the Gaelic languaje is gofaint or ngfaint.
FerreiriCeltic (Latinized, Archaic) Ferreiri or Ferreiro is a Galician surname in the north of Spain. It's a last name belonging to ancient Celtic tribes.
FerrignoItalian Derived from the Italian adjective ferrigno meaning "made of or resembling iron" (a derivative of Latin ferrum meaning "iron"), applied as a nickname to someone who was very strong or thought to resemble the metal in some other way... [more]
FeverfewLiterature Used in Jill Murphy's books, The Worst Witch, as well as the television adaptations for the surname of Fenella Feverfew. It is a combination of "fever" and "few".
FichtnerGerman The Fichtner family name first began to be used in the German state of Bavaria. After the 12th century, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules, and names that were derived from locations became particularly common
FigueiraPortuguese, Galician Means "fig tree" in Portuguese and Galician, ultimately from Latin ficaria. It was used a topographic name for someone who lived or worked near fig trees or for someone from any of various places called Figueira (derived from the same word).
FillmoreEnglish Of uncertain origin: it could be derived from the Norman given name Filimor, composed of the Germanic elements filu ("very") and mari or meri ("famous"), or it might be a combination of the Saxon elements fille ("abundance") and mere, a word denoting a lake or otherwise humid land.
FinnertyIrish Reduced anglicisation of Irish Ó Fionnachta meaning "descendant of Fionnachta", a given name derived from fionn meaning "fair, white" and sneachta meaning "snow".
FinniganIrish This interesting surname is of Irish origin, and is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Ó Fionnagáin, meaning the descendant(s) of Fionnagan, an Old Irish personal name derived from the word "fionn", white, fairheaded.
FiorelliItalian The surname Fiorelli was first found in Bolgna (Latin: Bononia), the largest city and the capital of Emilia-Romagna Region. The famous University of Bolgna was founded in the 11th century, by the 13th century the student body was nearly 10,000... [more]
FitoussiJewish (Sephardic) Meaning uncertain, possibly from the Tamazight place name Fitous located in present-day Libya. Alternately it may be related to the Arabic root ف ط س (f-t-s) meaning "flatness", possibly used as a nickname for someone with a flat nose.
FitzhughEnglish English (Northamptonshire): Anglo-Norman French patronymic (see Fitzgerald) from the personal name Hugh.
FitzoothFolklore (?) Fitzooth means "son of a nobleman". Robin Hood's real name was Robert Fitzooth.
FivelandNorwegian (Rare) From the name of a farm in Norway named with the word fivel possibly meaning "cottongrass, bog cotton". This plant grows in abundance in the marshy land near the location of the farm.
FlahertyIrish (Anglicized) Irish (Connacht) reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Flaithbheartaigh ‘descendant of Flaithbheartach’, a byname meaning ‘generous’, ‘hospitable’ (from flaith(eamh) ‘prince’, ‘ruler’ + beartach ‘acting’, ‘behaving’).
FlandersEnglish Given to a person who was from Flanders in the Netherlands (compare Fleming).
FlanneryIrish Appears originally in Irish Gaelic as O Flannabhra derived from flann, meaning "red", and abhra, meaning "eyebrow". First appeared in County Tipperary, Ireland.
FlaugherGerman (Anglicized) Americanized spelling of German Flacher, itself a variant of Flach, or of Flaucher, a nickname derived from an agent derivative of Middle High German vluochen meaning "to swear".
FlavignyFrench French form of Flavinius. The Flavigny Abbey, in the French region of Burgundy, became famous because of the candies made by its Benedictine monks, called the anise of Flavigny... [more]