Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
CAAMAÑO GalicianThis indicates familial origin within the eponymous parish in the municipality of Porto do Son.
CABABA SpanishSpanish (Cabaña) and Portuguese: habitational name from a place named with Spanish cabaña ‘hut’, ‘cabin’ (Late Latin capanna , a word of Celtic or Germanic origin).
CABALLERO SpanishOccupational name from
caballero "knight, soldier, horseman" (from Late Latin
caballarius "mounted soldier").
CABALLO Spanish, Spanish (Latin American)Derived from the Spanish word
cabello, ultimately derived from the Latin word
caballus, meaning "horse". This denoted someone who worked in a farm that took care of horses, or someone who had personality traits attributed to a horse, such as energetic behaviour.
CABAÑA Spanish, PortugueseHabitational name from a place named with Spanish cabaña ‘hut’, ‘cabin’ (Late Latin capanna, a word of Celtic or Germanic origin).
CABAÑAS Spanish, PortugueseHabitational name from a place named with Spanish cabaña or Portuguese cabanha ‘hut’, ‘cabin’.
CABANISS FrenchVariant 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] CABELL Catalan, English, GermanAs a Catalan name, a nickname for "bald" from the Spanish word
cabello. The English name, found primarily in Norfolk and Devon, is occupational for a "maker or seller of nautical rope" that comes from a Norman French word...
[more] CABLE EnglishEnglish: metonymic occupational name for a maker of rope, especially the type of stout rope used in maritime applications, from Anglo-Norman French
cable ‘cable’ (Late Latin
capulum ‘halter’, of Arabic origin, but associated by folk etymology with Latin
capere ‘to seize’)....
[more] CACCIATORE ItalianDerived from Italian
cacciatore meaning "hunter, huntsman", which is ultimately derived from the Italian verb
cacciare meaning "to hunt"....
[more] CADDICK WelshFrom the Welsh male personal name
Cadog, a pet-form of
CADFAEL (a derivative of Welsh
cad "battle").
CADEROUSSE French, LiteratureA character in the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. In the novel, Caderousse is a tailor and inkeeper who aids in the arrest of Dantès.
CADILLAC FrenchFrom 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.
CADOGAN WelshFrom the Welsh male personal name
Cadwgan, literally probably "battle-scowler". Cadogan Estate is an area of Chelsea and Belgravia, including Cadogan Square, Sloane Street and Sloane Square, owned by the earls of Cadogan, descended from Charles Sloane Cadogan (1728-1807), 1st Earl Cadogan.
CAESAR Ancient Roman, EnglishAn Ancient Roman political title that indicated a military leader. A famous bearer was Julius Caesar, Roman general, dictator, and politician. In modern times, the surname is used to refer to an individual with a tyrannical attitude, which references the connotative meaning of the word "caesar", meaning "a dictator".
CAGADAS FilipinoThe name Cagadas is most likely made or given to the Filipinos during the baptism of native Filipinos to Christianity in the 19th Century during the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Most Filipinos had no surnames prior to their baptism and these names are given by the Spanish colonizers.
CAGNEY IrishAnglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Caingnigh meaning "descendant of Caingneach", a given name meaning "pleader, advocate". A famous bearer was American actor and dancer James Cagney (1899-1986).
CAI ChineseFrom Chinese 蔡
(cài) referring to the ancient state of Cai during the
Zhou dynasty. Among Hui Muslims, it is interpreted as a contraction of the Arabic given name
Uthman.
CAINE French, EnglishOriginally from a French derogatory nickname for someone with a bad temper.
CAIRD ScottishDerived from Scottish Gaelic
ceard meaning "craftsman, artist mechanic, travelling tinker".
CAIRNS ScottishFrom Gaelic
carn "cairn", a topographic name for someone who lived by a cairn, i.e. a pile of stones raised as a boundary marker or a memorial.
CAJIGAS Spanish, FilipinoTopographic name from the plural of Spanish
cajigo, derived from
quejigo meaning "gall oak".
CAKE EnglishFrom the Middle English cake denoting a flat loaf made from fine flour (Old Norse kaka), hence a metonymic occupational name for a baker who specialized in fancy breads. It was first attested as a surname in the 13th century (Norfolk, Northamptonshire).
ÇAKMAK TurkishMeans "lighter" in Turkish, referring to a tool used to ignite fire. This is also the name of a village in Antalya Province, Turkey.
CALCATERRA ItalianNickname from calcare meaning "to tread", "to stamp" + terra meaning "land", "earth", "ground", probably denoting a short person, someone who walked close to the ground, or an energetic walker.
CALDERA SpanishDerived from Spanish
caldera meaning "basin, crater, hollow", ultimately from Latin
caldarium or
caldaria both meaning "hot bath, cooking pot". The word also denotes a depression in volcanoes, and it is commonly used as an element for surnames denoting streams or mountains.
CALDERÓN SpanishOccupational name for a tinker or a seller or maker of kettles from Vulgar Latin
*caldaria meaning "cauldron". Alternately, it may be a habitational name for someone from any of various locations named Calderón or a topographic name from Spanish
caldera meaning "crater, basin".
CALDERONE ItalianFrom the Latin word
Caldaria "cauldron". Given to someone who worked as a tinker or tinsmith.
CALE WelshPossibly derived from the River Cale. A famous barer of this name is Welsh musician John Cale (1942- ).
CALERO SpanishMetonymic occupational name for a burner or seller of lime, from
calero ‘lime’.
CALIGIURI ItalianComes from the Greek words "kalos" meaning "beautiful" and "gheros" meaning "elderly," and was often given to children in the hopes that they would retain their beauty in their old age.
CALLENDER EnglishOccupational name for a person who finished freshly woven cloth by passing it between heavy rollers to compress the weave. From Old Franch
calandrier,
calandreur.
CALLIARI Italian (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] CALLIGAN Irish (Rare)Before Irish names were translated into English, Calligan had a Gaelic form of O Ceallachain, possibly from "ceallach", which means "strife"....
[more] CALLOWAY American (Modern, Rare)Means "pebble". From the Old French
cail(ou) 'pebble'. Traditionally an English surname, which is a regional name of French Norman origin from Caillouet-Orgeville in Eure, France.
CALVEY IrishVariation of McKelvey. Meaning rich in possessions or Irish from the French word bald
CAMACHO Spanish, PortugueseFrom the ancient European
camb, meaning twisted or disfigured, denoting to someone with visible physical abnormalities, but could possibly also refer to residents of a particularly gnarly tract of land.
CAMARGO SpanishHabitational name for someone from a place in Andalusia called Camargo.
CAMBRIA ItalianDenoted to someone from Cambria, Sicily, possibly of Arabic origin.
CAMINO SpanishDerived from the Spanish word for "path", or "walkway". This could have been used to denote a person who lived near a path, or one who built paths for a living.
CAMM EnglishEnglish (of Norman origin): habitational name for someone from Caen in Normandy, France.English: habitational name from Cam in Gloucestershire, named for the Cam river, a Celtic river name meaning ‘crooked’, ‘winding’.Scottish and Welsh: possibly a nickname from Gaelic and Welsh cam ‘bent’, ‘crooked’, ‘cross-eyed’.Americanized spelling of German Kamm.
CAMOYS EnglishFrom a medieval nickname for someone with a snub nose (from Old French
camus "snub nose").
CAMPER EnglishRespelling of German
Kamper or
Kämpfer (see
Kampfer). The surname Camper is recorded in England, in the London and Essex area, in the 19th century; its origin is uncertain, but it may have been taken there from continental Europe.
CAMPION Norman, FrenchEnglish (of Norman origin) and French: status name for a professional champion (see
CHAMPION,
KEMP), from the Norman French form
campion.
CAMPUMANES AsturianThis indicates familial origin within the eponymous parish of the municipality of Ḷḷena.
CAMPUS SpanishDerived from the Latin word
campus, meaning "field". It denoted someone who either lived in a field or worked in one.
CAMUS BasqueCamus is a Basque surname from Bermeo, Vizcaya. Part passed to Cantabria and Chile.
CAN TurkishMeans "soul, life, being" in Turkish, ultimately of Persian origin.
CAN Mayanfrom the word
kaan meaning "snake"
CANABRAVA BrazilianCana is the short form of 'cana de açucar' that means "sugar cane", and Brava is the feminine form of 'bravo' that means "angry". There is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, called Canabrava do Norte, and according to oral tradition, the origin of the name is due to the disease and subsequent death of some animals after eating a plantation of sugar cane.
CANADA French, EnglishIt derives from the Middle English "cane", a development of the Old French "cane", meaning cane, reed.
CANAK TurkishFrom the Turkish town of Çanakkale. Canak is the Anglicised form, which may or may not retain its Turkish pronunciation.
CANAVAN Irish (Anglicized)Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceanndubháin "descendant of
Ceanndubhán", a byname meaning "little black-headed one", from
ceann "head" combined with
dubh "black" and the diminutive suffix
-án.
CANCIO SpanishA name for a person who first held the position of Chancellor.
CANDEMIR TurkishMeans "iron soul" from Turkish
can meaning "soul, spirit" and
demir meaning "iron".
CANDLIN EnglishDerived from the medieval English, male first name Gandelyn, of unknown meaning.
CANDY EnglishUnexplained.There was a family of this name in Roussillon, France, descended from a partisan of James II named Kennedy, who was exiled in France in the 17th century. The family died out in France in 1868, but may have had an American branch.
CANELLA ItalianItalian regional surname denoting someone who lived by a canal. From the Italian
canale 'canal', from the Latin
canalis meaning "canal; conduit; groove; funnel; or ditch". Alternatively, it may come the genus name of wild cinnamon, a diminutive of the Latin
canna "reed, cane".
CANGUSSU BrazilianThe surname Cangussu has its origins in the Tupi-Guarani language and is a variation of Akangu’su, which means 'Jaguar'.
CANIZALES Spanish (Latin American)This surname came from around the beginnings of 1800 in south regions of Colombia where sugar cane was cultivated. It's a variation of
Cañizales, that literally means "sugar cane fields".
CANNELLA ItalianDerived from the word "Cinnamon" in Italian meaning someone who was a baker and or made cinnamon.
CANOMANUEL SpanishThe first part of this surname is possibly derived from Spanish
cano "hoary, white-haired, grey-haired". The second part is derived from the given name
MANUEL...
[more] CAÑOSA FilipinoIt is derived from the word 'Caña' meaning 'reed'. Born as a surname in before World War I, it is a newly formed family name built by Angelo Cañosa and his 2 siblings, formerly his birth surname is Caña when he and his siblings migrated to Agusan when they are wanted by the Spanish Authorities as they were berdugos(Killing Spanish allies)in their native place, Minglanilla and by rowing boats, they landed in Mindanao and he, Angelo Caña and his two siblings changed their family name into Cañosa...
[more] CANT EnglishMeans "singer in a chantry chapel", or from a medieval nickname for someone who was continually singing (in either case from Old Northern French
cant "song").
CANTELLOW EnglishMeans "person from Canteleu, Canteloup, etc.", the name of various places in northern France ("song of the wolf").
CANTELOUP FrenchName of several places in France. The surname means "Song of the Wolf" from canta and loup as in "place where the wolves howl".
CANTERBURY EnglishHabitational name from Canterbury in Kent, named in Old English as
Cantwaraburg "fortified town (
burgh) of the people (
wara) of Kent".
CAPEDER RomanshFrom the Romansh surname prefix
Ca and the given name
PEDER, which is the Scandinavian (and apparently also Romansh) form of
PETER.
CAPEL EnglishFrom the Domesday Book of 1086, from the old French word 'capele' meaning chapel.
CAPLIN EnglishMeans "singer in a chantry chapel" (from Old Northern French
capelain, a variant of standard Old French
chapelain (cf.
CHAPLIN)).
CAPON FrenchA name for a person who worked as a poultry farmer.
CAPONE ItalianIs a Italian origin surname from an augmentative of capo ‘head’, applied as a nickname for someone with a big head, probably in the sense ‘arrogant’ or ‘stubborn’ rather than in a strictly literal sense...
[more] CAPOTE Italian (Tuscan)Capote is a name for person who was the chief of the head from the Italian personal name Capo.
CAPRA ItalianFrom the Latin word
capra meaning "nanny goat." This was a name originally borne by shepherds / goat herders.
CAPRARI ItalianFrom Latin
caprarius, meaning "goats grower", ultimately derived from
capra, meaning "goat".
CAPSHAW EnglishUnexplained. Perhaps a habitational name from Cadshaw near Blackburn, Lancashire, although the surname is not found in England.
CAPUA ItalianCapua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Naples on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now....
[more] CAPULET EnglishThis is the last name of Juliet from William Shakepeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.
CAPUTO ItalianFrom Latin
caput ("head"), which was a nickname given to big-headed or stubborn people.
CARABUZ RomanianCarabuz is a combination betwen 2 Romanian words, ,,cărăbuș" the Romanian form of ,,beetle" and ,,autobuz" the Romanian form of ,,bus"
CARAWAY EnglishProbably means "spice merchant" (from Middle English
carewei "caraway").
CARBAJAL Spanish, Judeo-SpanishProbably a habitational name demoting someone originally from any of the multiple locations called
Carbajal in León, Asturias, or Zamora in Spain. Alternatively, it may be of pre-Roman origin from the word
carbalio meaning "oak", denoting someone who either lived near an oak tree or who was like an oak tree in some way....
[more] CARBONELL EnglishFrom a medieval nickname for a dark-haired or swarthy person, from Anglo-Norman
carbonel, literally "little charcoal".
CARBONERO SpanishFamous bearers are Carlos Carbonero, a Colombian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Sampdoria on loan from Fénix and Sara Carbonero, a Spanish sports journalist.
CARBREY IrishAnglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Cairbre and
Mac Cairbre meaning "descendant of
CAIRBRE", a given name meaning "charioteer".
CARCAN LombardIt indicates familial origin within the eponymous frazione of the commune of Vila in the province of Còmm.
CARCELÉN SpanishThis indicates familial origin within the eponymous Manchego municipality.
CARD EnglishEnglish: metonymic occupational name for someone who carded wool (i.e. disentangled it), preparatory to spinning, from Middle English, Old French card(e) ‘carder’, an implement used for this purpose...
[more] CÁRDENAS SpanishHabitational name from places in the provinces of Almería and Logroño named Cárdenas, from the feminine plural of
cárdeno "blue, bluish purple" (Late Latin
cardinus, from
carduus "thistle")...
[more] CARDENETE SpanishThis indicates familial origin within the eponymous Manchego municipality.
CARDILLO ItalianCardillo is a surname of Sicilian origin, derived from the word
cardilla, meaning ''goldfinch''.
CARDUCCI ItalianFrom
Riccarduccio, an affectionate form of the given name
RICCARDO. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1906.
CARDWELL EnglishFrom the traditionally British surname, which is a variant of the British surname Caldwell, a from the Old English
cald "cold" and
well(a) "spring, stream".
CARE EnglishOccupational name for a locksmith, Middle English keyere, kayer, an agent derivative of keye.
CARISBROOK EnglishCarisbrooke is a village on the Isle of Wight; the name is thought to mean "Carey's brook". When in 1917 the British royal family changed its name from the "House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha" to the "House of Windsor" and renounced all German titles, the title of Marquess of Carisbrooke was created for the erstwhile German Prince Alexander of Battenberg.
ĈARISTO EsperantoOccupational name for a charioteer, from
ĉaro, meaning "a chariot, wagon, or cart", and
-isto, a suffix used for professions.
CARLAN IrishAnglicized form of Irish
O'Carlain or
O'Caireallain, from the Irish
carla meaning a "wool-comb" and
an meaning "one who" which roughly translates as "one who combs wool"...
[more] CARLANDER SwedishCombination of the given name
KARL or Swedish
karl "man" and
ander, from classical Greek
andros, "man".
CARLESS EnglishThis surname of English origin is found chiefly in the Western Midlands. It is a nickname for a carefree person, derived from Old English
caru meaning
care plus
leas, meaning "free from" or "without", hence "free from care".