Bin LadenArabic (Rare) Means "son of Laden", from a name derived from Arabic لدن (ladin) meaning "soft, mellow". It was most notoriously borne by Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden (1957-2011), though it is also the surname of an wealthy upper-class Saudi family (of which the former is descended from).
BinowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from binowo or other places starting with binow in Poland.
BirčaninSerbian Possibly derived from the village of Birač, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
BirchallEnglish Probably a habitational name from Birchill in Derbyshire or Birchills in Staffordshire, both named in Old English with birce "birch" + hyll "hill".
BistolfoItalian Bistolfi has a lineage between Alessandria Casale Monferrato, Acqui Terme and Prasco, Genoa and Savona. Bistolfo may derive from a modified form of the medieval name Guisulfus. In an act of 1327 Gui-sulfus Cottalorda (Mayor of Breil) signed an important peace agreement with Tenda, probably passing by the name Wisulfus, and therefore by common substitution of W with B.
BitsillyNavajo Means "his younger brother", from Navajo bi- meaning "his" and atsilí meaning "younger brother".
BittakerEnglish Possibly an altered spelling of Whitaker. An infamous bearer was the American serial killer and rapist Lawrence Bittaker (1940-2019).
BlakewayEnglish Literally means "black way", thus referring to a black road near which the original bearer must have lived. A famous bearer of this surname was Jacob Blakeway (b. 1583-?), the biological father of Mayflower passenger Richard More (1614-1696).
BlaylockEnglish The surname of James P. Blaylock (1950-), an early steampunk author. His surname may mean "black lock" from Middle English blakelok, originally referring to a person with dark hair.
BleeckerDutch Old form of Dutch bleker "bleacher", an occupational name for a bleacher of textiles, a launderer, or the owner of a public bleaching ground.
BleibaumGerman "Lead tree" possibly changed at Ellis Island from Blumenbaum meaning "flowering tree"
BleibergJewish, German Means "lead hill" in German. Can be a toponymic name, likely from a place involved in lead mining, or an ornamental name.
BlessingGerman, English Either a German patronymic from a variant of the personal name Blasius or a nickname for a bald person from Middle High German blas "bald bare"... [more]
BlissettEnglish A different form of Blessed. A bearer of this surname is Luther Blissett (1958-), a Jamaican-born English footballer ("Luther Blissett" has been used since 1994 as a cover name for activists engaging in anti-cultural establishment polemics and spoofs on the internet and elsewhere).
BlylevenDutch (Anglicized) Americanized form of Blijleven. Dutch-American former baseball player Bert Blyleven (1951-), born Blijleven, is a famous bearer of this surname.
BobińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Bobin or Bobino.
BocchinoItalian Means "small mouth" in Italian, either referring to a physical attribute of the bearer, or given as a nickname to a talkative person or someone prone to gossiping.
BoisvertFrench Means "green wood" in French, from bois "wood" and vert "green".
BojaxhiuAlbanian Derived from Albanian bojaxhi meaning "painter". This was the surname of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa (1910-1997), who was born AnjezëGonxhe Bojiaxhiu.
BombadilLiterature In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", the surname of Tom Bombadil, an enigmatic character not present in Peter Jackson's movie adaptation.
BomengenEnglish (American), Norwegian (Rare) Name created from during immigration from Norway to the United States in either the late 19th or early 20th century meaning, "The farm with the big gate."
BompadreItalian From a medieval given name Bonuspater, meaning "good father", given in hopes that the "eternal father (god)" would look kindly on the child. Was often given to abandoned infants as a surname.
BonaduceItalian From the Latin phrase bona duce fortuna, "with good luck as your guide".
BonaiutoItalian Derived from the Medieval names Bonaita or Bonaiutus or also from the Medieval Italian bon meaning "good" and aita meaning "help"... [more]
BonaseraSicilian Derived from the expression bona sera "good evening". This name was applied as a nickname either for someone who made frequent use of this salutation or as a personal name bestowed on a child as an expression of gratitude in the sense "it was a good evening when you were born".
BontempsFrench Derived from Old French bon temps meaning "good time". One popular bearer of the name is the American poet and novelist Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902-1973).
BoonstraWest Frisian, Dutch Denoted someone who cam from the town of Oldeboorn, named for the nearby De Boarn river, related to Middle Dutch borne "well, spring, source".
BorjiginMongolian This is the name of a Mongol sub-clan, of which Genghis Khan was part of. A suggested origin is a Turkic-language term borčïqïn meaning "man with dark blue eyes", though this is somewhat dubious... [more]
BornemanDutch Variant of Borne "well, spring, source", with the addition of man "man, person".
BorowskimPolish Derived from Polish bor, meaning "pine forest".
BorrelliItalian There are three possible origins of this surname. It could derive from some place names located in Catania and Campania -two Italian southern regions. Another hypothesis is that it derives from the Celtic word borro, meaning "proud" or maybe "ditch"... [more]
BorresenDanish The Danish surname Borresen has two origins. Boerresen is composed of -sen 'son' + the given name Boerre, the modern equivalent of Old Norse Byrgir 'the helper' (from proto-Indo-European root BHER- 'to carry, bear')... [more]
BorromeoSpanish (Philippines) Nickname derived from Italian buon romeo meaning "good pilgrim", from buono meaning "good" and Romeo meaning "pilgrim (to Rome)".
BorsheimNorwegian (Rare) Habitational name from either of two farmsteads in Norway: Borsheim in Rogaland and Børsheim in Hordaland. Borsheim is a combination of an unknown first element and Norwegian heim "home", while Børsheim is a combination of Old Norse byrgi "fence, enclosure" and heim.
BoschmanDutch From Middle Dutch bosch "wood, forest" and man "person, man", a name for someone who lived or worked in a forest.
BosinneyCornish Denotes the original bearer came from Bossiney, Cornwall. Bossiney comes from Cornish Bod and Cini, meaning "Cini's dwelling," with Cini being a Cornish name of unknown meaning.... [more]
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.
BreitnerGerman Derived from Middle High German breit meaning "broad, fat, wide". This was either a nickname for a stout or fat person, a topographic name for someone who lived on fertile and flat land, or an occupational name for a farmer who owned such land... [more]
BreretonEnglish Habitational name from any of the various places named Brereton or similar in England, derived from Old English brer "briar" and tun "enclosure, town" or dun "hill, mountain".
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.