Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
BAArabic Arabic from a shortened form of Aba, accusative case of Abu ‘father’.
BAChinese Chinese from the name of the kingdom of Ba, which existed in Sichuan during the ZHOU dynasty (1122–221 bc). Descendants of some of the ruling class adopted the name of the kingdom as their surname... [more]
BAACKNorth Frisian, Dutch Either from a reduced form of the Germanic personal name Baldeke (a short form of any of the compound names with the first element bald ‘bold’, for example Baldewin) or from Middle Low German baec, bake ‘pork’, ‘bacon’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a butcher or pig farmer.
BAAMONDEGalician This indicates familial origin within either of 5 eponymous parishes.
BABELFrench Either (i) from the medieval French personal name Babel, apparently adopted from that of St Babylas, a 3rd-century Christian patriarch of Antioch, the origins of which are uncertain; or (ii) an invented Jewish name based on German or Polish Babel "Babylon".
BABIKERNorthern African, Arabic Possibly from Arabic بَكَرَ (bakara) meaning "first born" or "to be early" (chiefly Sudanese).
BABINECCzech Nickname from Old Czech babinec meaning "coward".
BABINGTONEnglish Habitational name for someone from Babington in Somerset or Great or Little Bavington in Northumberland, named with the Old English personal name Babba + the connective particle -ing- meaning "associated with", "named after" + tūn meaning "settlement".
BACCHUSEnglish (i) Variant of BACKUS (meaning "one who lives in or works in a bakery", from Old English bǣchūs "bakehouse, bakery"), the spelling influenced by BACCHUS (name of the Greek and Roman god of wine).... [more]
BÄCKLUNDSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, stream" and LUND "grove".
BACKLUNDSwedish Combination of Swedish backe "hill, slope" and LUND "grove".
BÄCKMANSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "small stream" and man "man".
BACKMANEnglish, Swedish, German Combination of Old English bakke "spine, back" and man "man". In Swedish, the first element is more likely to be derived from Swedish backe "hill", and in German the first element can be derived from German backen "to bake"... [more]
BÄCKSTRANDSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "stream" and strand "shore".
BÄCKSTRÖMSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "brook" and ström "stream".
BACONEnglish, French, Norman An occupational surname for someone who sold pork, from Middle English and Old French bacun or bacon, meaning 'bacon', which is ultimately of Germanic origin. Can also be derived from the Germanic given names Baco, Bacco, or Bahho, from the root bag-, meaning 'to fight'... [more]
BACQUEBasque It's a Basque and Gascon surname whose meaning is cowboy, rancher (cattle rancher) or breeder.
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."
BADILLOSpanish Topographic name from a diminutive of vado ‘ford’ (Latin vadum) or a habitational name from either of two places named with this word: Valillo de la Guarena in Zamora province or Vadillo de al Sierra in Ávila.
BADRINETTEEnglish Apparently an extremely rare name of French origin, but isn't used as a first name in France. It might come from the rather uncommon French surname Bardinette, which apparently is a variant spelling of the surname Bardinet... [more]
BAEZSpanish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of Spanish Báez, which might be a different form of PELÁEZ (cf. Páez). A famous bearer is American singer and activist Joan Baez (1941-).... [more]
BAEZASpanish From a place called Baeza in Andalusia, Spain.
BAFFAItalian The origins of this surname are uncertain, but it may be from Italian baffo "mustache", with the Latinate feminine suffix probably due to the influence of the word famiglia "family". Alternatively it may be Albanian in origin, of unexplained meaning.
BAGATSINGFilipino Filipinized form of Bhagat Singh, a combination of Sanskrit भगत (bhagat) meaning "devotee, follower" combined with सिंह (siṃhá) meaning "lion". A notable bearer was RAMON Bagatsing (1916-2006), the 19th Mayor of Manila who was of Indian descent.
BAGCITurkish (Rare) Bagci translated into English means vigneron, a vigneron is a person who cultivates grapes for winemaking. Originated in the 1920s in Turkey after the Balkan wars
BAGDONASLithuanian Patronymic from the personal name Bagdon, Lithuanian form of Polish Bogdan.
BAGGESwedish From Swedish bagge "ram (male sheep)".
BAGGINSLiterature In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," the surname of FRODO Baggins. Also the name of his relative Bilbo Baggins. The Bagginses are a well-to-do and respectable family of Hobbits living in Hobbiton of the Shire... [more]
BAGRATIONIGeorgian Means "son of BAGRAT" in Georgian. This was the name of a royal dynasty that ruled Georgia from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
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.
BAIGMuslim Baig Name Meaning Muslim (common in Pakistan): from the Turkish word beg ‘bey’, originally a title denoting a local administrator in the Ottoman Empire, but subsequently widely used as a title of respect... [more]
BAIGORRIBasque This indicates familial origin within the eponymous commune in the arrondissement of Baiona.
BAINScottish, French, English Nickname for a hospitable person from northern Middle English beyn, bayn meaning "welcoming", "friendly".... [more]
BAINBRIDGEEnglish from Bainbridge in North Yorkshire, named for the Bain river on which it stands (which is named with Old Norse beinn ‘straight’) + bridge.
BAINEBRIDGEEnglish, Irish Bridge over the Bain, An English town named for its place on the river Bain, now used as a surname. Lives near the bridge over the white water... [more]
BAIOItalian From a nickname for someone with light brown or reddish-brown hair or beard, from baio meaning "bay horse", ultimately derived from Late Latin badius meaning "red-brown".
BAIRNSFATHEREnglish From a medieval nickname in Scotland and northern England for the (alleged) father of an illegitimate child (from northern Middle English bairnes "child's" + father). This surname was borne by British cartoonist and author Bruce Bairnsfather (1888-1959).
BAKRArabic From the given name BAKR. A famous bearer was Abu Bakr (573-634), the first Islamic caliphate.
BAKSHIIndian, Bengali, Punjabi Derived from Persian بخشی (baxši) meaning "paymaster, scribe, secretary", used as a title for officials who distributed wages in Muslim armies.
BALPunjabi Bal is an sikh and muslim jat family. they will few found in Pakistan and India Punjab. Basically they will found from bal kalan tehsil verka 5 District Sri Amritsar Punjab India. In the 2011 Census Bal Kalan Local Language is Punjabi... [more]
BALPunjabi Bal is an sikh and muslim jat family. they will few found in Pakistan and India Punjab. Basically they will found from bal kalan tehsil verka 5 District Sri Amritsar Punjab India. In the 2011 Census Bal Kalan Local Language is Punjabi... [more]
BĂLCESCURomanian Derived from the name of a Romanian town Bălcești.
BALCOMEnglish Altered spelling of English Balcombe, a habitational name from Balcombe in West Sussex, which is named with Old English bealu "evil, calamity" (or the Old English personal name Bealda) combined with cumb "valley".
BALDACCHINOMaltese, Italian, Sicilian Occupational name for an artisan who made the baldachin, also spelled baldaquin, a type of canopy used in cathedrals, from Italian baldacchino "baldachin". This word is derived from Italian Baldacca, a doublet of Bagdad "Baghdad", the city where the material originally came from.
BALDOCKEnglish (Rare) Means "person from Baldock", Hertfordshire ("Baghdad": in the Middle Ages the lords of the manor were the Knights Templar, whose headquarters were in Jerusalem, and they named the town Baldac, the Old French name for Baghdad).
BALDYEnglish Possibly derived from an Old English feminine given name, *Bealdgýð, composed of the elements beald "bold" and gyð "battle", first recorded c.1170 as Baldith, and in other cases from the Old Norse byname or given name Baldi.
BALEEnglish Variant of Bail. This is the surname of Welsh footballer Gareth Bale.
BALENEnglish English surname, perhaps of Cornish British origin, from belen, meaning "mill."
BALFAGERAncient Germanic (Gothic), 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.
BALFOURScottish Originating from several place names in Scotland. Derived from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "village pasture".
BALLONSpanish Theoretically it could be a variant of vallón, from valle ‘valley’, but neither form is attested as a vocabulary word or as a place name element. Alternatively, it could be a Castilian spelling of Catalan Batlló, Balló, nicknames from diminutives of batlle ‘dancing’.English: variant spelling of Balon.
BALLOUHaitian Creole, French (Caribbean), French The Ballou name comes from that Medieval landscape of northwestern France known as Brittany. The name Ballou was originally derived from the family having lived in Brittany, where this distinguished family was established from ancient times... [more]
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]
BALSAMGerman Occupational name for a seller of spices and perfumes.
BALSANOGerman (Austrian), Italian The roots of the distinguished surname Balzano lie in Austria. The name derives itself from "Balthasar," the name of one of the three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem, and was popular as both a first name and a family name during the 18th century.... [more]
BAMBOROUGHEnglish Bamborough name origin from early Northumberland early times other name know from the Bamborough is bamburgh as in bamburgh castle, ... [more]
BANASPolish The town of Bana, in Hungary, is said to have given birth to this family name. The name appears to have traveled northward, within eastern Europe, ending up in Poland where it is most recognized.
BANDARASinhalese Possibly derived from Bandāra, a group of guardian deities in the Sinhala Buddhist faith. The term was also used to refer to high officials within the Sinhala Kingdom.
BANDOJapanese This may be inaccurate, but Family Education says it means " East of The Slope", referring to eastern provinces of Osaka (lit. "Great Slope"). It's most popular in eastern Japan, where it originates from.
BANDYGerman This interesting surname of German and Ashkenazic origin is a diminutive of the metonymic occupational name Band, originally given to someone who made the wooden hoops with which wooden barrels were fastened together, deriving from the Germanic band meaning "hoop", "band"... [more]
BANEZSpanish Spanish (Báñez): shortened form of Ibáñez
BANGDanish Originally a nickname denoting a loud or brash person, from Old Danish bang "noise" (from Old Norse banga "to pound, hammer" of echoic origin). A literary bearer was Danish author Herman Bang (1857-1912).... [more]
BANGLABengali From বাংলা (Bangla), the endonym of the Bengali people, the region of Bengal (including Bangladesh), and the Bengali language. The word itself is derived either from Vanga, the name of an ancient kingdom on the Indian subcontinent, or from an Austric word meaning "sun god".
BANKSTONEnglish Derived from the old English world "Banke" usually given to a family who lived near a hill or a slope.
BANKSYEnglish, Popular Culture This is pseudonyms Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. Banksy's real name might be Robin Gunningham. How Banksy got his pseudonym is unknown... [more]
BANOVIĆSerbian, Croatian "Son of a Ban", the -ić "son of" suffix with ban, the title of class of Croatian nobility beginning in the 7th century approximately equivalent to viceroy, lord or duke, stemming potentially from the Turkic bajan ("rich, wealthy").
BAOChinese There are three different surnames that are Romanized in pinyin as Bao. Other Romanizations include Bau, Pao, and Pau. This character also means "abalone", but the name comes from an old place name... [more]
BARADBiblical Hebrew (Rare) It's the Hebrew name of one the biblical plagues in the Hebrew bible that God cast on Egypt. It means Hail as in the Ice storm.
BARAGASlovene A Slovene surname of unknown origin. A notable bearer was Slovene-American Roman Catholic bishop Frederic Baraga (1797-1868), who was the bishop of Marquette, a town in Upper Michigan, USA. There is also a village in Upper Michigan named Baraga, which was named after the bishop.
BARBEGerman From Middle High German barbe, the name of a species of fish resembling the carp; hence by metonymy an occupational name for a fisherman or fish dealer, or possibly a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish in some way.
BARBERAItalian Derogatory nickname from barbera ‘barber’s wife’, a term also used to denote a prostitute or dishonest woman. Catalan (Barberà): habitational name from a place in Tarragona province, named with Late Latin Barbarianum ‘place of Barbarius’, a derivative of Barbarus (see Barbaro)... [more]
BARBEROSpanish Spanish occupational name for a barber-surgeon (see BARBER), Spanish barbero, from Late Latin barbarius, a derivative of barba ‘beard’ (Latin barba).
BARBONFrench (Quebec) Derived from the nickname barbon meaning "old codger" as well as referring to a "confirmed bachelor".
BARBOSAPortuguese denoting a person who lived by land that contained overgrown leafy vegetation from the portuguese word barba "leaf" + oso/osa (adjective suffix); variant of BARBOZA
BARCELÓCatalan Apparently from a personal name Barcelonus (feminine Barcelona), originally denoting someone from the city of Barcelona.
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.
BÁRCENASSpanish This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the Castilian municipality of Espinosa de los Monteros.
BARCHOCircassian Possibly derived from an Adyghe word meaning "band, lace", referring to someone who made ropes or binding tapes, or from a Chechen word referring to a tailor.
BARCLAYScottish, English Habitational name of English origin, from Berkeley in Gloucestershire, named in Old English with be(o)rc "birch" and lēah "woodland clearing".
BARDELLEnglish Originally meant "person from Bardwell", Suffolk ("Bearda's spring"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mrs Bardell, Mr Pickwick's widowed landlady in Charles Dickens's 'Pickwick Papers' (1837), who misconstrues an innocent remark about having a companion as a marriage proposal, which leads to her suing Pickwick for breach of promise.
BARDENEnglish English: habitational name from places in North and West Yorkshire named Barden, from Old English bere ‘barley’ (or the derived adjective beren) + denu ‘valley’.
BAREFOOTEnglish English: nickname for someone who was in the habit of going about his business unshod, from Old English bær ‘bare’, ‘naked’ + fot ‘foot’. It may have referred to a peasant unable to afford even the simplest type of footwear, or to someone who went barefoot as a religious penance.In some instances, probably a translation of German Barfuss, the northern form Barfoth, or the Danish cognate Barfo(e)d.
BARHAMEnglish English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, are named with Old English beorg ‘hill’ + ham ‘homestead’. The one in Kent, however, is from an unattested Old English byname Biora, Beora (a derivative of bera ‘bear’) + ham.
BARILFrench During the middle ages, when people were named after their given job, Baril was what winemakers and brewers were named. Baril simply means "Barrel" or "Keg"
BARINOVRussian Means "son of the boyar" from Russian барин (barin) meaning "boyar, nobleman".
BARKEREnglish SURNAME Town cryer, or someone who shouts out notices
BARKISEnglish Meant "person who works in a tannery" (from Middle English barkhous "tannery" - bark was used in the tanning process). A fictional bearer is Barkis, a carrier in Charles Dickens's 'David Copperfield' (1849) who sends a message via David to Clara Peggotty that "Barkis is willin'" (i.e. to marry her).
BARKUSEnglish Probably a reduced form of Barkhouse, a topographic name for someone who lived by a tannery, Middle English barkhous, or an occupational name for someone who worked in one.