BostwickEnglish From an English surname which was from a lost or unidentified place name. The second element is clearly Old English wic "outlying (dairy) farm".
BosustowCornish bos Ustoc, dwelling of Ustoc, poss: bos-ysow, corn abode
BouaziziArabic (Maghrebi) Means "father of Aziz" in Arabic (chiefly Maghrebi). A notable bearer was Mohamed Bouazizi (1984-2011), a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire... [more]
BouhiredArabic (Maghrebi) Meaning unknown. A notable bearer is Djamila Bouhired (1935-), an Algerian militant and nationalist who opposed the French rule over Algeria.
BourassaIndian Seems to be an Indian name. I am in touch with a relative whose family were Pottawatomi Indians in Oklahoma. This name comes from that reservation.
BoutellaArabic (Maghrebi, Rare) Means "father of the mountain" or "father of the hill", from Arabic أَبُو (ʾabū) meaning "father (of)" and تَلّ (tall) meaning "hill, foothill". Two notable bearers include father and daughter Safy (1950-) and Sofia (1982-) Boutella, an Algerian singer and an Algerian-French actress, respectively.
BraaksmaFrisian (Dutchified, Modern, Rare) Topographic name for someone who lived by a piece of wasteland or newly cultivated land, from Frisian, Dutch braak ‘fallow’, ‘waste’ + Frisian ma ‘man’. The suffix -ma indicating that it is of Frisian origin.
BrakhageGerman Possibly from the Old German word 'brak' meaning 'uncultivated field,' or from the Middle German word 'brachen' meaning 'to till the soil.' ... [more]
BrancatoItalian This surname can be derived from a given name (thus making it a patronymic surname) as well as from a place name (thus making it a locational surname). In the case of a patronymic surname, the surname is derived from the medieval Italian given name Brancato, which is a variant form of the given name Brancazio, itself ultimately derived from the late Latin given name Brancatius... [more]
BrandeisJewish Derived from Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav (known as Brandeis-Altbunzlau or Brandeis an der Elbe in German), a town located in the Prague-East District, in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic... [more]
BrantingSwedish A combination of Swedish brant "steep hill" and the suffix -ing. A famous bearer was Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), Prime Minister of Sweden in the 1920s.
BrasseurFrench French and English (of both Norman and Huguenot origin): occupational name for a brewer, from Old French brasser ‘to brew’. See also Brasher.
BreretonEnglish From the name of locations in Cheshire and Staffordshire, England. The name is derived from Old English brér "briar" + tún "enclosure, farmstead".
BreyetteEnglish (American) Of uncertain origin and meaning. First found in the United States around 1880. Self-taught artist Michael Breyette is a bearer of this surname
BrezhnevmRussian Denoted a person from a village called Brezhnevo. The most notable bearer was Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982), a leader of the Soviet Union.
BriatoreItalian This surname originates from the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is probably derived from Piedmontese brijador meaning "postilion, coachman", which itself is ultimately derived from Piedmontese bria meaning "bridles, reins".... [more]
BricknerGerman Derived from "brückenbauer," which means "bridge builder" in English. It was originally an occupational name for someone who built bridges. Over time, the name Brickner was likely shortened from Brückenbauer to its current form.
BrisbaneScottish Nickname derived from Old French bris(er) meaning "to break" and Old English ban meaning "bone". The sense of this hybrid name is not clear; it may have been used for someone crippled by a broken bone or for a violent man who broke other people’s bones.
BroccoliItalian, Sicilian From the Italian plural for “The flowering crest of a cabbage”. Best known as the surname of the (Calabrian-originated) Sicilian American family who made James Bond internationally famous, by making movies (loosely) based on the books where the titular antihero himself appeared.
BrockettEnglish From the Old French words broque and brocke.
BrockmanGerman German in origin, in heraldry a "brock" is represented by a badger. It could mean wet/water and man. It also has been said to mean broker.
BrucknerGerman Topographic name for someone living by a bridge or an occupational name for a bridge toll collector; a variant of Bruck with the addition of the suffix -ner.
BrueggerLow German North German (Brügger): occupational name for a bridge keeper, paver, or road builder, Middle Low German brügger. Compare Brueggemann.
BrunetteFrench (Quebec) Variant of Brunet, reflecting the French Canadian pattern of pronouncing the final -t, which is not pronounced in metropolitan French.
BucklandEnglish Habitational name from any of the many places in southern England (including nine in Devon) named Buckland, from Old English bōc "book" and land "land", i.e. land held by right of a written charter, as opposed to folcland, land held by right of custom.
BucknellEnglish From locations in Oxfordshire and Shropshire, England.
BudrioliItalian Possibly derived from the Greek bòthros or Latin butrium, both of which mean “moat”.... [more]
BuechlerGerman From the common field name Büchle 'beech stand', the -er suffix denoting an inhabitant. from buchel 'beech nut', hence a metonymic occupation name for someone who owned or worked in an oil mill producing oil from beech nuts.
BugajskiPolish Habitational name from any of numerous places called Bugaj.
BugayongPangasinan From Pangasinan bugayong meaning referring to a type of flowering plant (genus Abrus). It was perhaps used as an occupational name for someone who practiced folk medicine with this plant.
BuhagiarMaltese Means "father of rocks" from Maltese bu meaning "father" and ħaġar meaning "stones, rocks".
BuitragoSpanish This indicates familial origin within either of 2 eponymous municipalities: the Castilian one in El Campo de Gómara or the Manchego municipality of Buitrago del Lozoya in Sierra Norte, Comunidad de Madrid.
BujalskiPolish Nickname for a storyteller, Polish bujała.
BulgariaItalian, Spanish Originally an ethnic name or regional name for someone from Bulgaria or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with Bulgaria, which is named after the Turkic tribe of the Bulgars, itself possibly from a Turkic root meaning "mixed".
BurnetteFrench Descriptive nickname from Old French burnete ‘brown’ (see Burnett). Possibly also a reduced form of Buronet, from a diminutive of Old French buron ‘hut’, ‘shack’.
BurridgeEnglish Derived from an English place name, derived from Old English burg "fortress, fortification, castle" and Old English hrycg, Old Norse hryggr "ridge" or from the name Burgric.
BurtsellEnglish (American) Habitational name from Burshill in East Yorkshire, so named with Old English bryst ‘landslip’, ‘rough ground’ + hyll ‘hill’.
BusfieldEnglish This is a locational surname and originates from the hamlet of 'Bousfield', eight miles from the town of Appleby in Cumberland. This hamlet was controlled by Norse Vikings for several centuries until the Norman invasion of 1066... [more]
BykowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Bykowice or Byków.
BytheseaEnglish (British) Habitational name for someone who lived near the sea, this name is nearly extinct in England today.
CabalzarRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Balzer.
CabanissFrench Variant spelling of Cabanis, a habitational name from any of various places in Gard named Cabanis, from Late Latin capannis ‘at the huts’, ablative plural of capanna 'hut'... [more]
CacioppoItalian, Sicilian Derived from Sicilian cacioppu meaning "dried tree trunk", presumably applied as a nickname for someone with wizened skin, or from caciopu meaning "short-sighted" (derived from Greek kakiopes, literally meaning "having bad eyes").
CadillacFrench From the name of a city in France, of origin I am not sure of (anyone who knows the name's etymology edit this). This is most notably the name of the car company of the same name, named after Detroit, Michigan founder Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac.
CajochenRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the German given name Jochen.
CalabazaSpanish, Indigenous American Nickname from ‘calabaza’ meaning pumpkin squash. This is commonly used by Pueblos (Native Americans) in New Mexico.
CalamariItalian From Latin calamarius "relating to a writing reed, ink pen", a name for a scribe, or perhaps a fisherman from the Italian descendant calamaro "squid, calamari".
CalandraItalian from calandra "skylark" (from Latin calandra) probably a nickname for someone with a fine singing voice.
CalimlimPangasinan, Tagalog From Pangasinan and Tagalog kalimlim denoting a person who lived in a shaded area, from the word limlim meaning "shade, impending darkness".
ÇalışkanTurkish Means "hard-working, diligent, assiduous" in Turkish.
CalliariItalian (Latinized, Archaic) This is an Italian surname, in the north of Italy. Calliari is the result of the deformation of the graphically Calligari, where you can clearly see excision of the letter or character D, which is located in the middle of the surname... [more]
CalliganIrish (Rare) Before Irish names were translated into English, Calligan had a Gaelic form of O Ceallachain, possibly from "ceallach", which means "strife".... [more]
CallowayEnglish Derived from the place name Caillouet-Orgeville, from Norman caillou "pebble". Alternately, a variant of Galloway.
CalonderRomansh Either derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Leonhard or from the name of the mountain Calanda.
CaminadaRomansh Derived from Late Latin caminata, denoting a room provided with a fireplace.
CampagnaItalian Name for someone originally from any of various locations named Campagna, all derived from Latin Campania, itself from campus meaning "field".
CaouetteFrench (Quebec) Altered form of French Cahouet, itself a regional form of chat-huant meaning "screech owl", hence a nickname referring to the bird.
CapecchiItalian Probably from Old Italian capecchio, either denoting a type of cheap batting and, by extension, upholsterers, who worked with it, or as a nickname for a person with bristly hair or beard.... [more]