AscencioSpanish, Italian From the personal name (Latin Ascensius), favored by the early Christians, by whom it was bestowed with reference to the ascension of Christ (Late Latin ascensio).
AshbrookEnglish Derived from Ampney St Mary, a small village and civil parish locally known as "Ashbrook", in Gloucestershire, England (recorded in the Domesday Book as Estbroce). It is named with Old English est meaning "east, eastern" and broc meaning "brook, stream".
AshcroftEnglish English (chiefly Lancashire) topographic name from Middle English æsc ‘ash tree’ + croft ‘enclosure’, or a habitational name from a minor place named with these elements.
AshikagaJapanese Ashikaga is a surname that originated with samurai families. Kaga means "Flower Bud,Reed" and Ashi means "Place",but it is most commonly, ( if not always ) written with characters meaning ,"foot" and "advantage".
AskeladdFolklore The main character in Asbjornsen and Moe's Norwegian Folktales, Askeladd is usually the youngest and smallest of three brothers who is left to sit by the fire in the ashes, hence his name (similar to Cinderella)... [more]
AspergerGerman Denoting a person who lived in Asperg, a town in Southwest Germany, derived from a cadet named Asperg who lived in the ruling house... [more]
AspergesItalian A kind of device used to sprinkle holy water, or the ceremony in which it is used, derived from Latin asperges "you will sprinkle", a conjugation of aspergo "to scatter, to strew (something); to sprinkle (liquid)", taken from the first word of the 9th verse of Psalm 51 (or Psalm 50) in its Latin translation... [more]
AspinallEnglish A locational name of Anglo-Saxon origin, it means “aspen well”.
AstridgeEnglish Perhaps a habitational surname from one or more places called Ashridge.
AsunciónSpanish Means "assumption" in Spanish, referring to the bodily taking up of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. The unaccented form, Asuncion, is much more common.
AthertonEnglish From the name of a town in Manchester, derived from the Old English given name Æðelhere and tun "enclosure, town." American writer Gertrude Atherton (1857-1948) and British journalist Terence Atherton (1902-1942) were famous bearers of the name.
AtreidesLiterature Used by Frank Herbert for the main character of first two novels of Dune, Paul Atreides, the heir of house Atreides. He probably based it on Ancient Greek Ἀτρείδης (Atreídēs), meaning "child of Atreus".
AtsusakaJapanese From 阿 (a) meaning "nook, corner", 津 (tsu) meaning "port, harbor" and 坂 (saka) meaning "slope, hill".
AtzerodtEnglish, German This was the surname of George Atzerodt, a conspirator in a plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln.
AubuchonFrench (Modern, ?) The Aubuchon name is French, but of uncertain origin. It is probably from the patronymic prefix au + buchon, a dialect term for a woodcutter (Standard French bûcheron).
AvalloneItalian Topographic name for someone who lived in a deep valley.
AvanceñaFilipino Hispanicised form of Arabic اِبْن سِينَا (ibn sīnā) meaning "son of Sina". This was the Arabic name for Avicenna (980-1037), a Persian polymath.
BaamondeGalician This indicates familial origin within either of 5 eponymous parishes.
BaamondeSpanish habitational name from one of the Galician places called Baamonde (earlier written Bahamonde) in the province of Lugo most probably Santiago de Baamonde (Begonte).
BachledaumPolish, Slovak From Romanian băchlit meaning "grumpy". In Poland, this surname is typically borne by Gorals, often as part of double surnames like Bachleda-Curuś or Bachleda-Księdzularz.
BackhausGerman From Middle High German backhus "bakehouse", a word composed of Middle High German backen "to bake" and hus "house", denoting a baker or someone who near a communal oven... [more]
BäcklundSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, stream" and Lund "grove".
BacklundSwedish Combination of Swedish backe "hill, slope" and Lund "grove".
BacunawaFilipino, Cebuano Derived from Cebuano bakunawa referring to a type of serpent or dragon in Visayan mythology.
BaddeleyEnglish From place names in both Suffolk and Staffordshire derived from an Old English personal name, 'Badda,' possibly meaning "battle" and lee or leah for a "woodland clearing," therefore meaning someone from "Badda's woodland clearing."
BaguindaFilipino, Maguindanao, Maranao From the Minangkabau title bagindo denoting a prince or member of royalty. It was probably adopted in honour of Rajah Baguinda Ali (Raja Bagindo Ali in Indonesian sources), a Minangkabau prince who became a ruler of the Sulu Archipelago.
BąkowskimPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Bąkowa, Bąkowice, Bąkowiec or Bąkowo, all derived from Polish bąk meaning "horsefly", "bumblebee" or "bittern" (a type of bird), or directly from bąk suffixed with -owski based on habitational surnames.
BalaguerCatalan, Spanish, Filipino Habitational name for someone originally from the city of Balaguer in Catalonia, Spain.
BalajczaPolish, Hungarian May be related to the Hungarian place name Balaj or it may be a derivation of a personal name. The -cza suffix can suggest "of" or "from", indicating origin or descent.
BalandinRussian From a nickname derived from Russian баланда (balanda) meaning "idle talk, nonsense".
BalfagerGothic, Medieval Portuguese Name of a Visigoth noble family (around the 10th century) from the Iberian Peninsula (current northern Portugal), meaning "bold spear"; they descent from the Balti dynasty.
BalingitFilipino, Tagalog From the name of Rajah Balingit (or Pedro Balingit), a 16th-century Filipino chief.
BalkwillEnglish Possibly derived from the name of a lost settlement in Devon, composed of Old English balca "balk, beam; ridge, bank" and wella "spring, stream". Alternatively, can be a variant form of Bakewell.
BankheadScottish, Northern Irish Topographic name for someone who lived at the top or end of a bank or hill, derived from Middle English bank meaning "bank" and hed meaning "head". There are several minor places in Scotland so called, but the most likely source of the surname is one on the border between the parishes of Kilmarnock and Dreghorn in Ayrshire, Scotland.
BankstonEnglish Derived from the old English world "Banke" usually given to a family who lived near a hill or a slope.
BanuelosSpanish Spanish (Bañuelos): habitational name from any of various places, primarily Bañuelos de Bureba in Burgos, named for their public baths, from a diminutive of baños ‘baths’ (see Banos)
BárcenasSpanish, Spanish (Mexican) This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the Castilian municipality of Espinosa de los Monteros.
BarchardEnglish The name is derived from when the family resided in Cheshire, where they held a family seat near Birkenhead at the estuary of the River Birket. It is from the name of the river that their name is derived.
BarcroftEnglish English habitational name from for example Barcroft in Haworth, West Yorkshire, so named with Old English bere (barley) and croft (smallholding).
BardwellEnglish From the name of a town in Suffolk, derived from the Old English byname Bearda (derived from beard "beard") or brerd "rim, edge, bank" and wille "well, spring, stream".
BarefootEnglish From a nickname for someone who has a habit of going around with no footwear, or for someone looking for penance, derived from Middle English barefote.
BarreiraPortuguese, Galician From several habitations in Galicia and Portugal, from barreira meaning "clay or loam hollow".
BarreiroGalician, Portuguese Barreiro is a habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal named with a derivative of barro 'clay loam'.