RiddickScottish A different form of Reddick ("person from Rerwick or Rerrick", Dumfries and Galloway (perhaps "robbers' outlying settlement")). A fictional bearer of the surname is Richard B. Riddick, (anti)hero of the 'Chronicles of Riddick' movies.
RideoutEnglish Means "outrider (a municipal or monastic official in the Middle Ages whose job was to ride around the country collecting dues and supervising manors)".
RidgewayEnglish Comes from Middle English 'riggewey', hence a topographic name for someone who lived by such a route or a habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, and Staffordshire.
RidingerGerman A habitational name for someone from a place named Riding or Rieding. It is also possibly an altered spelling of Reitinger, a topographic name from Reit(e), which means ‘clearing’ (Old High German riuti).
RieckGerman South German: from a pet form of the personal name Ru(o)diger, a compound of Old High German hrod ‘renown’ + ger ‘spear’, ‘lance’ (see Roger). ... [more]
RiedemannGerman Either a habitational name derived from places named Ried or Riede, or a topographic name derived from Low German Riede "rivulet".
RiegelGerman From Middle High German rigel "bar, crossbeam, mountain incline", hence a topographic name or a habitational name from any of numerous places named with this word in Baden, Brandenburg, and Silesia; in some instances it may have been a metonymic occupational name for a maker of crossbars, locks, etc.
RifiMoroccan Habitational name from the region of Rif.
RifiMoroccan Derived from the Rifian word for Rifian.
RifkinJewish Metronymic from the Yiddish female given name Rifke from the Hebrew given name Rivka (see Rebecca), with the addition of the Slavic suffix -in.
RifkindJewish Variant of Rifkin. The final element was changed due to the influence of the Yiddish noun kind "child" (German: "Kinder").
RiisScandinavian Nickname from ris 'twigs', 'scrub', or a habitational name from any of several places so named in Denmark. Norwegian: habitational name from any of five farmsteads named Ris, from Old Norse hrís 'brushwood'.
RiivikEstonian Riivik is an Estonian surname derived from "rivik", meaning "setting stick", "galley", and "assembler".
RikimaruJapanese This surname is used as 力丸 with 力 (rii, riki, ryoku, chikara) meaning "bear up, exert, power, strain, strength, strong" and 丸 (gan, maru, maru.i, maru.meru) meaning "curl up, explain away, full, make round, month, perfection, pills, roll up, round, seduce."... [more]
RinbayashiJapanese (Rare) It's written like this: 林林，literally "Hayashi Hayashi", Hayashi means "Forest". This is because "Hayashi" is "Rin" in the Chinese reading called onyomi,and Hayashi is the Japanese,or kunyomi reading for "Forest".
RindGerman Probably a metonymic occupational name for a cattle dealer or butcher, from Middle High German rint meaning "cow".
RingerEnglish From the Norman name Reinger or Rainger derived from the Germanic elements ragin meaning "advice, counsel" and ger meaning "spear"... [more]
RinggoldGerman Comes from Germanic ring "ring" or "assembly" and wald "rule"
RinneEstonian Rinne is an Estonian surname meaning "front" or "battlefront".
RintoulScottish Derived from a farm with the same name, near the town of Milnathort in Kinross-shire, Scotland. The etymology of the place name is obscure.
RispoliItalian A patronymic from a derivative of the given name Rispo, which is probably of Germanic origin. Alternatively, it could be a variant of Ruspoli, which is of unknown origin.
RitschelGerman, History Derived from Old High German hruod "fame". This was the maiden name of Magda Goebbels who was the wife of Paul Joseph Goebbels. Her husband was Nazi Germany's propaganda minister between the years 1933 and 1945... [more]
RivetFrench, English French: from a diminutive of Old French rive ‘(river) bank’, ‘shore’ (see Rives).... [more]
RivettEnglish, French English (East Anglia): metonymic occupational name for a metalworker, from Middle English, Old French rivet ‘small nail or bolt’ (from Old French river ‘to fix or secure’, of unknown origin).... [more]
RizalFilipino, Tagalog, Cebuano From Spanish ricial meaning "green field" or "rice field". A notable bearer was José Rizal (1861-1896), a Filipino nationalist and national hero.
RoascioItalian (Rare) Derived from Roascio, the name of a municipality in the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roass in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
RoasioItalian This surname originates from the Piedmont region of Italy. It is most likely derived from Roasio, which is the name of a municipality in that same region. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roaso in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
RobSlovene It probrably originates from the surname Robb, but we don't know for sure.
RobbenFrench, Dutch It is a French surname that was originally derived from the Germanic name Robert, which is composed of the elements hrod, meaning famous, and berht, meaning bright.
RobicheauFrench (Acadian) Patronymic name derives from Robert or Robin. Origin, Poitou province of France. Emigrated to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada.
RobinetFrench Derived from the medieval French masculine given name Robinet, which was a diminutive (as the -et suffix indicates) of the given name Robin.... [more]
RocherFrench From French roche, meaning "rock'. It indicates a person who worked at a quarry.
RochesterEnglish Means "person from Rochester", Kent (probably "Roman town or fort called Rovi"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mr Rochester, the Byronic hero of Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' (1847).
RockEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a notable crag or outcrop, from Middle English rokke "rock" (see Roach), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Rock in Northumberland.
RockefellerGerman Means "from Rockenfeld." Some famous bearers include founder of the Standard Oil Company and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), and 41st Vice President of the U.S.A. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908-1979).
RockettFrench From the French "la roche," or "of the rock." Some family histories trace this back to French Hugenots (sp) who immigrated to England in the 1500's from the Normandy region of France.
RockfordEnglish An altered spelling of English Rochford; alternatively it may be an Americanized form of French Rochefort or Italian Roccaforte.
RockholdAnglo-Saxon Came from when the family lived in the village of Rock found in the various locations that existed in Worcestershire, Devon and also in Northumberland.The surname also has topographic origins in that it describes the area where the original bearers lived.
RockwellEnglish Means "person from Rockwell", Buckinghamshire and Somerset (respectively "wood frequented by rooks" and "well frequented by rooks"). Famous bearers include American illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) and Utah pioneer Porter Rockwell (1813-1878).
RoddEnglish Locational name for someone "at the rod" of land, from Middle English rodde. Also could come from the given name Rod, or the parish of Rodd in Herefordshire, England.
RodmanEnglish The surname Rodman is an ancient English surname, derived from a trade name, "men who were by the tenure or customs of their lands to ride with or for the lord of the manor about his business". The most famous bearer of this name is the basketball player Dennis Rodman.
RodwellEnglish Rodwell, a name of Anglo-Saxon origin, is a locational surname deriving from any one of various places in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Kent, England. In English, the meaning of the name Rodwell is "Lives by the spring near the road".
RoeEnglish Nickname for a timid person, derived from the Middle English ro meaning "roe"; also a midland and southern form of Ray.
RoeNorwegian Habitational surname for any of the several farmsteads named Roe or Røe, derived from the Old Norse ruð meaning "clearing".
RoeberLow German Habitational name from a place named Roben, for example in Thuringia or Schleswig. From a Germanic personal name based on hrod ‘renown’, ‘victory’. Low German variant of Räuber and Rauber.