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.
BolajiNigerian This surname is very common in Nigeria. Possibly taken from a word in one of the Nigerian tribes languages.
BolanPopular Culture Surname of glam rock founder Marc Bolan. How he decided his surname is unknown, though it is known that it was derived from Bowland... [more]
BolarSpanish Topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of soil of a particular type known as tierra bolar.
BolasMedieval English English: habitational name from Great Bolas in Shropshire, named in Old English with an unidentified first element (possibly an unattested word bogel meaning ‘bend in a river’) + wæsse ‘land beside a river liable to flood’.
BoldGerman, English English: nickname from Middle English bold ‘courageous’, ‘daring’ (Old English b(e)ald, cognate with Old High German bald). In some cases it may derive from an Old English personal name (see Bald)... [more]
BolingoliCentral African, Lingala Means "shining" in Lingala. This surname is borne by Belgian soccer player Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (1993-), more commonly known as Romelu Lukaku. Another famous bearer is Romelu's cousin Boli Bolingoli (1995-), also a noted soccer player.
BolithoCornish Habitational name for someone originally from the locality of Bolitho in western Cornwall, derived from Old Cornish bod or bos meaning "dwelling" combined with an unknown personal name.
BolkiahMalay (Rare) Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from Arabic وَاقِيَة (wāqiya) meaning "protector, preserver", or it may be an alteration of the Hadhrami surname بلفقيه (Balfaqih) from Arabic الفَقِيه (al-faqīh) meaning "the jurist"... [more]
BolkonskymRussian Bolkonsky is the last name of Princess Marya Bolkonskaya from "War and Peace" by Lev Tolstoy.
BollandFrench, German, English From the Ancient Germanic name Bolland. Alternatively it derive from the place name Bowland from the Old English boga meaning "bow" and land meaning "land".
BollardFrench From a personal name composed of the Germanic elements boll "friend", "brother" + hard "hardy", "strong".
BollardEnglish, Irish According to MacLysaght, this surname of Dutch origin which was taken to Ireland early in the 18th century.
BolleItalian Means "bubbles" in Italian, derived from the singular bolla.... [more]
BollingEnglish, German nickname for someone with close-cropped hair or a large head, Middle English bolling 'pollard', or for a heavy drinker, from Middle English bolling 'excessive drinking'. German (Bölling): from a personal name Baldwin
BollingerGerman (Swiss) Habitational name for someone from any of three places called Bollingen, in Schwyz, Württemberg, and Oldenburg, or from Bohlingen near Lake Constance (which is pronounced and was formerly written as Bollingen).
BolsonaroPortuguese (Brazilian) Brazilian Portuguese cognate of Bolzonaro; in the case of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (1955-), his Italian great-grandfather had the spelling changed from Bolzonaro upon emigrating to Brazil in the late 19th century.
BoltEnglish From Middle English bolt meaning "bolt", "bar" (Old English bolt meaning "arrow"). In part this may have originated as a nickname or byname for a short but powerfully built person, in part as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of bolts... [more]
BolzonaroItalian Occupational name for a person who operated a battering ram, derived from Italian bolzone literally meaning "battering ram".
BomanSwedish Combination of Swedish bo (noun) "nest, farm, dwelling" and man "man".
BombaPortuguese, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak From bomba "bomb", (Latin bombus), hence probably a nickname for someone with an explosive temperament, or a metonymic occupational name for an artilleryman.
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.
BonFrench, Hungarian As a French surname, it is derived from Old French bon meaning "good", or occasionally from the Latin given name Bonus (borne by a minor 3rd-century Christian saint martyred at Rome with eleven companions under the Emperor Vespasian... [more]
BonacciItalian "Bona" comes from the Italian for good, "Buona" and "cci" is ancient Latin form for "man." Thus, "the good man." A derivation of FiBonacci, or "son of Bonacci." Was the name of the famous mathematician, Leondardo de Pisa: Leonardo of Pisa is now known as Fibonacci short for filius Bonacci... [more]
BonaiutoItalian Derived from the Medieval names Bonaita or Bonaiutus or also from the Medieval Italian bon meaning "good" and aita meaning "help"... [more]
BonalFrench This is a surname formed from the Latin root "bonus" (= good) and the Germanic "wald" (waldan = govern). Bonwald meaning good governor.
BonarScottish, Northern Irish From a medieval nickname for a courteous or good-looking person (from Middle English boner "gentle, courteous, handsome"). A notable bearer of the surname was Canadian-born British Conservative politician Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923), prime minister 1922-23.
BonarIrish A "translation" of Irish Gaelic Ó Cnáimhsighe "descendant of Cnáimhseach", a nickname meaning literally "midwife" and ostensibly a derivative of Gaelic cnámh "bone".
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".
BonattiItalian Comes from the pesonal name 'Bona' which is derived from Latin 'bonus', which means 'great'.
BonbaBasque, Spanish From Basque bonba meaning "bomb", (Latin bombus), hence probably a nickname for someone with an explosive temperament, or a metonymic occupational name for an artilleryman.
BondeSwedish, Old Swedish, Danish From Old Norse bóndi "farmer". Used as both a last name and a (rare) given name in Sweden (see Bonde for the given name and Bondesson as an example of a patronymic derived from this name)... [more]
BoneraItalian Bresciano surname (i.e., concentrated in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy), derived from the medieval Italian given name Bonora or Buonora which in turn meant "(it was a) good hour (when you were born)" from Latin bonus "good" and hora "time, hour".
BonesEnglish Derives from bon, "good" in Old French.
BongiornoItalian Italian from the medieval personal name Bongiorno (composed of bono ‘good’ + giorno ‘day’), bestowed on a child as an expression of the parents’ satisfaction at the birth (‘it was a good day when you were born’).
BongiovanniItalian Comes from the personal name Giovanni composed of the elements bon ‘good’ + Giovanni, Italian equivalent of John
BongioviItalian Comes from the given name Giovi, combination of bon 'good' + Giovi.
BoniadiPersian (Rare) Probably indicated a person from the Iranian village of Boniad, possibly derived from Persian بنیاد (bonyad) meaning "foundation, base". A notable bearer is Iranian-English actress Nazanin Boniadi (1980-).
BonnefoyFrench The name is derived from the French words bonne, meaning good, and foi meaning faith.
BonnellScottish From Bonhill, a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
BonnemaisonFrench Literally means "good house", derived from French bonne "good" and French maison "house". As such, this surname is most likely a locational surname, in that it originally either referred to someone who lived in a good house (probably more like a mansion) or to someone who was born in (or lived in) the place Bonnemaison, which is nowadays located in the Calvados department of France... [more]
BonsallEnglish (British) This is a locational name which originally derived from the village of Bonsall, near Matlock in Derbyshire. The name is Norse-Viking, pre 10th Century and translates as 'Beorns-Halh' - with 'Beorn' being a personal name meaning 'Hero' and 'Halh' a piece of cultivated land - a farm.
BonsorFrench Bonsor is from French origin mean good day Bon soir
BontempoItalian From the personal name Bontempo, meaning "good time" from Old Italian bono "good" + tempo "time". This was a name bestowed as an expression of gratitude for the birth of a much wanted child.
BontempsFrench From a French word bon temps meaning "good time". One popular bearer of the name is the American poet and novelist Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902-1973).
BontragerGerman Coming from the Old German, Bonträger or Bornträger, meaning 'water carrier'.
BookeAmerican American variant of the German name Buche meaning "beech" in reference to the beech tree. Notable bearer is the actor Sorrell Booke (1930-1994).
BookerEnglish Occupational name for a maker of books, a scribe or a binder of books, from Old English bocere.
BookmanGerman (East Prussian) Bookman, as a surname, derives from East Purssian origin. It is the American version of “Buchmann” with “Buch” meaning book in German, and “Mann” meaning man, creating the Americanized German surname Bookman.
BoolEnglish This surname derives from the Old English pre 7th Century bula, or the Medieval English bulle, bolle, meaning "bull", and was given as a nickname to one with great physical strength.
BoomhouwerGerman, Dutch Boomhouwer, means "Cutter of Trees", or "The one who hews trees", having Boom translating into "tree", houw meaning to "hew" or to "cut", and er meaning "the one who".... [more]
BoormanEnglish This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and may be either a topographical name for someone who lived in a particularly noteworthy or conspicuous cottage, from the Old English bur "bower, cottage, inner room" with mann "man", or a locational name from any of the various places called Bower(s) in Somerset and Essex, which appear variously as Bur, Bure and Bura in the Domesday Book of 1086.
BootEnglish, Dutch, German English: metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of boots, from Middle English, Old French bote (of unknown origin).... [more]
BoothbyEnglish From the name of a parish in Lincolnshire, England.
BorákCzech Habitational name for someone from one of many places named with bor meaning "pine forest"; alternatively from a short form of the personal names Dalibor or Bořivoj, containing the element -bor meaning "battle".
BorénSwedish Combination of an unknown first element and the common surname suffix -én (originally from Latin -enius "descendant of"). Also possible habitational name derived from places named with Bor-, such as Borås, Borensberg, and Borlänge... [more]
BorenGerman Of unclear origin, most likely a variant of the German surname Born.
BorgesPortuguese, Spanish Possibly from Old French burgeis meaning "town-dweller" (see Burgess). Alternately, it may have denoted someone originally from the city of Bourges in France.
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]
BorkowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various locations called Borki, Borkowice or Borek, all derived from Polish bór meaning "conifer forest, pine forest".
BormannGerman This surname is presumed to be a variant of Bornemann, which is made up of Middle Low German born meaning "spring" and man meaning "man," denoting someone who lived by a spring or a well.
BornGerman, English A topographical name indicating someone who lived near a stream, from the Old English "burna, burne". Alternatively, it could be contemporarily derived from the modern English word "born". Possible variants include Bourne, Burns and Boren.
BornMaltese Not to be confused with the German surname Born.
BornemannLow German North German: topographic name denoting someone who lived by a well or spring, from Middle Low German born ‘spring’, ‘well’ + man ‘man’.
BoroIndian, Bodo From the name of the Boro (or Bodo) people, itself either meaning "great people" or derived from the name of the Hindu god Varaha.
BorondaAmerican (Hispanic), Basque Boronda is a Californio surname that is also of Basque origin. Boronda is the name of a place in Salinas California named after Jose Eusebio Boronda where he made his house out of Adobe. Today, It is a California national Historic landmark in Boronda road in Salinas.
BoroumandPersian Means "exuberant, fertile, fruitful" in Persian.