BalmacedaSpanish, Basque From Balmaseda, the name of a town and municipality in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is derived from Spanish val meaning "valley" and Basque mahatseta meaning "vineyard"... [more]
BalmasedaBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
BalokovićCroatian Most of Croatian families with the surname (last name) Baloković originate from the town of Donji Miholjac located in Osijek-Baranja County on the border with Hungary. During the 1700s and 1800s most of the people bearing this family name were born either in Donji Miholjac and/or nearby Nasice... [more]
BaltimoreEnglish (American) From the name of the American city of Baltimore, and an anglicisation of Irish Gaelic Baile an Tí Mhóir meaning "town of the big house".
BarcelonaCatalan, Spanish Habitational name from Barcelona, the principal city of Catalonia. The place name is of uncertain, certainly pre-Roman, origin. The settlement was established by the Carthaginians, and according to tradition it was named for the Carthaginian ruling house of Barca; the Latin form was Barcino or Barcilo.
BareillesFrench, Occitan Derived from the place name Bareilles, a village in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitania region of France. A famous bearer is the American musician and actress Sara Bareilles (1979-).
BarkworthEnglish Location based surname from Barkwith in Lincolnshire, England.
BarnewallAnglo-Norman, Irish A locational surname given to those who lived by a stream in either Cambridgeshire, which derives its name from the Olde English beorna meaning "warrior" and wella meaning "stream", or from one in Northamptonshire, which got its name from the Olde English byrge meaning "burial mound" and well, which also means "stream." a burial mound and 'well(a)'... [more]
BarreirosPortuguese, Galician Habitational name from any of various places in Galicia called Barreiros, from Portuguese and Galician barreiro meaning "slough, clay".
BarrineauFrench The history of the Barrineau family goes back to the Medieval landscape of northern France, to that coastal region known as Normandy. Barrineau is a habitation name, derived from the place name Barrault, in Normandy.... [more]
BarrowmanEnglish A man employed in wheeling a barrow; specifically, in coal-mining, one who conveys the coal in a wheelbarrow from the point where it is mined to the trolleyway or tramway on which it is carried to the place where it is raised to the surface.
BarrundiaBasque From the name of a municipality in Álava, Basque Country, derived from barruti "district, area".
BarrymoreEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) Habitational name for a person from a barony in County Cork, derived from an Anglicized form of Irish Barraigh Mhóra, derived from Irish barr "crop, yield" and mór "big, large, great"... [more]
BarthorpeEnglish This surname originates from the village of the same name in the East Riding of Yorkshire, likely combining the Old Norse personal name Bǫrkr with Old Norse þorp meaning "village."
BarzilaijDutch, Jewish Dutch form (or "dutchization", if you will) of Barzilai via Barzilay. This name is found exclusively in the Dutch-Jewish community, and is considered quite rare: there were only 112 bearers in 1947 and only 51 bearers in 2007.
BaszowskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Lesser Polish village of Baszowice.
BatchelorEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for an unmarried man, a young knight or a novice, ultimately from medieval Latin baccalarius "unenfeoffed vassal, knight with no retainers".
BatistutaItalian Possibly from a diminutive of the given name Battista. A famous bearer is the former Argentinian soccer player Gabriel Batistuta (1969-).
BattersbyEnglish Derives from the place of Battersby in North Yorkshire, which is composed of Old Norse personal name Bǫðvarr and the Old Norse suffix býr "farm, settlement"... [more]
BattiloroItalian Means "goldworker", specifically an artisan who applied gold foil to other material, from Italian batti "to beat, to strike" and 'loro "the gold".
BauerdickGerman A surname originating from the Rhineland region of Germany. It is derived from German Bauer (Bur in the locals dialects) "farmer" and Deich (Diek and Dick in the local dialects) "levee" or Teich "pond"... [more]
BauersackGerman Semi-Germanized form of the Polish surname Burczak, originally derived from Polish burczec "growl; shout".... [more]
BauknechtGerman, Upper German Occupational name for a farm worker from Middle High German buknecht "plowboy, farmhand" derived from the elements bu "farm" and kneht "servant, apprentice".
BaxendaleEnglish Habitational name, probably an altered form of Baxenden, a place near Accrington, which is named with an unattested Old English word bæcstān meaning "bakestone" (a flat stone on which bread was baked) + denu meaning "valley"... [more]
BeardmoreEnglish A habitational name from a lost place (probably in the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, where the surname is particularly common).
BeauchampEnglish, French Habitational name for a person for any of the various places named Beauchamp in Northern France, derived from Old French beau "beautiful" and champ "field".
BecquerelFrench A notable bearer was French scientist Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) who discovered radioactivity. A becquerel (Bq), the SI unit for radioactivity, is named after him.
BehringerGerman Habitational name for someone from either of two places called Behringen, near Soltau and in Thuringia, or from Böhringen in Württemberg.
BelvedereItalian From various place names in Italy meaning "beautiful sight", derived from Italian bello "nice, fair, beautiful" (ultimately derived from Latin bellus) and vedere "to see".
BelyakovaRussian Derived from the Russian word belyak meaning "white rabbit".... [more]
BenguiguiJudeo-Spanish Means "son of Guigui", from a given name or tribal name possibly derived from Tamazight igig meaning "stake".
Ben-GurionHebrew Means "son of the lion cub", from Hebrew גוּר (gur) meaning "lion cub, young lion". A notable bearer was the Polish-born David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973; real name David Grün), the founding father of the State of Israel who also served as the country's first prime minister.
BenkiraneArabic (Maghrebi) From Arabic بْن (bn) meaning "son" combined with كِيرَان (kīrān) meaning "forges, furnaces", possibly denoting descent of a blacksmith or metalworker (chiefly Moroccan).
BeramendiBasque Derived from Basque behera "below, under" and mendi "mountain".
BerastegiBasque From the name of a town in Basque Country, Spain, derived from the Basque suffix -(t)egi "house, workshop; place of" and an uncertain first element. Possibly from the given name Beraxa (also written Beratza, Berasa, or Beraza), itself possibly from beratz "soft", or from the element beratz which means "meadow, grassy place"... [more]
BerentzenGerman The surname is derived from the given name Bernd and was formerly written "Bernd sin Sohn" which meant "son of Bernd"... [more]
BeresfordEnglish English: habitational name from a place in the parish of Alstonfield, Staffordshire named Beresford, from Old English beofor ‘beaver’ (or possibly from a byname from this word) + Old English ford ‘ford’... [more]
BerethnetLiterature Used by Samantha Shannon in her book The Priory Of The Orange Tree as the surname of the queens of Inys, a fictional queendom in the book.... [more]
BerghorstGerman Topographical name for someone who lived by a wilderness area on a mountain, from Berg 'mountain', 'hill' + Horst 'wilderness' (see Horst).
BergoglioItalian From the name of a village in Piedmont, Italy. A notable bearer is JorgeMario Bergoglio (1936-), better known as Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church.
BerinchykUkrainian Possibly from Ukrainian беріть (berit'), meaning "to take".
BerzeliusSwedish Derived from the name of an estate named Bergsätter located near Motala, Östergötland, Sweden. Bergsätter is composed of Swedish berg "mountain" and säter "outlying meadow"... [more]
BhatnagarIndian, Hindi, Marathi, Odia Derived from the name of a subgroup of the Kayasth community, denoting association with Hanumangarh (formerly named Bhatner), a city in Rajasthan, India.
BhattaraiNepali Derived from Sanskrit भट्ट (bhatta) meaning "venerable, learned, philosopher".
BhavarajuSanskrit It is a patronymic name, meaning it is from the father’s or ancestor’s name. It is derived from the Sanskrit words “bha,” which means “knowledge,” and “raja,” which means “king.” So, it means “king of knowledge” or “one who is knowledgeable.”
BhawalkarIndian From the town of Bhawal in the NorthWest part of India, around the state of Jaipur.
BickermanEnglish The toponym Bickerton is derived from the Old English beocere, which means bee-keeper, and tun, which originally denoted a fence or enclosure.
BielawskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Bielawa.
BielińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places named Bielin, Bielina, Bielino or Bieliny, all derived from Polish biel meaning "white".
BingemannGerman (Rare) Possibly a habitational name for someone from a place named Bingen or Bingum. May also be from a topographic name derived from the German word Binge, which means "trench", and may also refer to a kettle-shaped depression or a collapsed shaft in a mine (see Bingel).
BiscornetLiterature Derived from the Latin words bis, meaning "two" and cornet, meaning "horn". According to French urban legend, this was the last name of the architect who built the doorways in the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral... [more]
BlakewoodMedieval English Derived from the Old English words blaec, which means black, and wudu, which means wood, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a dark, wooded area.
BlandfordEnglish Habitational name from Blandford Forum and other places called Blandford in Dorset (Blaneford in Domesday Book), probably named in Old English with bl?ge 'gudgeon' (genitive plural blægna) + ford 'ford'.