SeatterScottish From an ancient barony called "The lands of Setter", Stromness, Orkney. Derives from the Ancient Norse word "saetr" meaning a hut or shelter for animals.
SebronEnglish Exact origins unknown. It could possibly be from "Seabourne", from a patronymic name ("the son of Sebern"), from William Sebrin, Normandy 1180, or possibly even from Norman or Scandinavian origin.
SeddaItalian From a place name in Sardinia, meaning "top of a mountain". May alternately derive from Sardinian sedda "saddle", indicating the bearer's occupation.
SekewaelIndonesian The last name Sekewael is an original name from one of the island in Maluku. That one island name is "Negeri Oma." The meaning of Sekewael is "The Guardian of the River" because in "Negeri Oma" any body want to use the river of the water they have to ask for permission by Sekewael family... [more]
SelanderSwedish Combination of Swedish sel "stretch of calm water in a river or stream" and the common surname suffix -ander (originally from Greek aner "man"). The first element, sel, is also a common place name element in Northern Sweden and it's possible that this name is both ornamental and locational in origin.
SelgEstonian Selg is an Estonian surname meaning "back", "spine" and "back of".
SenooJapanese From 妹 meaning "younger sister" combined with 尾 meaning "tail, end, foot of a mountain".
SenriJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 千里 with 千 (sen, chi) meaning "thousand" and 里 (ri, sato) meaning "league, parent's home, ri (type of measurement), village."... [more]
SferrazzaItalian Possibly derived from sferra meaning "old horseshoe, rusty knife or sword, piece of junk" or figuratively "good-for-nothing, worthless man", an occupational name for a scrap-metal merchant, or a nickname based on the latter sense... [more]
ShackletonEnglish The place name probably means "valley by a point of land," from the Old English scacol + denu. Another source claims the word scacol, describes a "tongue of land."
ShanklandScottish Believed to be a locational name derived from a now-lost or unidentified place name. The name is composed of the Old Scots term "schank," meaning "a projecting point of a hill" or "spur," and the suffix "-land," which indicates land or territory.
ShebaniArabic (Maghrebi) From the name of an Arab tribe which is derived from Arabic شيب (šīb) meaning "white hair, grayness" or "cold, snow". This surname is chiefly used in Libya.
ShelleyEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) Habitational name from any of the three places called Shelley (Essex Suffolk Yorkshire) or from Shelley Plain in Crawley (Sussex)... [more]
SherkhanzaiAfghan Meaning "son of Sherkhan" in Pashto. Sherkhan itself means "lion king" in Persian. This surname is found among Afghans belonging to the Barech, one of the Durrani Pashto tribes.
SherlockEnglish, Irish Nickname for someone with "fair hair" or "a lock of fair hair."
ShevardnadzeGeorgian Means "son of the falcon", from Georgian შავარდენი (shavardeni) meaning "falcon, hawk". A famous bearer was Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014).
ShrimptonEnglish Probably referring to the unknown "Estate of Shrimp"
ShrivastavIndian, Hindi Short form of Sanskrit श्रीवास्तव्य (shrivastavya) meaning "abode of wealth", itself from श्री (shri) meaning "diffusing light, radiance, splendour, beauty, wealth, prosperity" and वास्तव्य (vastavya) meaning "residence, abode, dwelling, inhabiting".
SikkemaWest Frisian, Dutch Patronymic form of Sikke, a short form of names containing the element sigu "victory", using the Frisian suffix -ma "man of".
SimbeckGerman Originates from the German prefix sim meaning "of the head" and the German word becka meaning "bull". When combined in this order, the meaning was "bull-headed", meaning stubborn and obstinant.
SmithwickEnglish habitational name from Smethwick in Staffordshire Smethwick Green near Brereton Heath (Cheshire) or a lost place called Smithwick in Southover (Sussex). The place name means "the farm of the smiths" from Old English smiþ "smith" and wic "dwelling specialized farm"... [more]
SmuldersDutch Occupational name derived from Dutch des mulders meaning "son of the miller". A famous bearer is Canadian-American actress Cobie Smulders (1982-).
SnapeEnglish (British), Scottish An old, now rare surname, with various origins in Suffolk and Yorkshire in England and Lanarkshire in Scotland, derived from Middle English snaipen, “to injure; to nip (of sleet or snow); to criticize, rebuke, revile”, from Old Norse sneypa, “to disgrace, to dishonor, to outrage”... [more]
SnelsonEnglish Means "son of Snell", Snell being a nickname for a brisk or active person, from Middle English snell "quick, lively" (cf... [more]
SolinasItalian Meaning uncertain; could be related to Latin solum, from which comes Italian suolo "earth, ground, soil" and suola "sole (of the foot or shoe)", or from Italian salina "salt pan, salt marsh".
SorensonJewish Means "son of the son of Sore", a Yiddish female personal name (from Hebrew Sara, literally "princess"), with the addition of the Slavic possessive suffix -in and German Sohn "son".
SotaJapanese From Japanese 颯 (sō) meaning "sudden, sound of the wind" and 太 (ta) meaning "thick, big, great". This name can also be formed of other kanji combinations. There is a character in Danganronpa used as a surname, but it's not actually used as a surname and it's originated from a boy's name from Japanese.
SoutaJapanese From Japanese 颯 (sō) meaning "sudden, sound of the wind" and 太 (ta) meaning "thick, big, great". This name can also be formed of other kanji combinations. Also used as a given name.
SpaansDutch Either a patronymic from the archaic given name Spaan, of uncertain etymology, or an occupational name derived from Middle Dutch spaen "wood chip, piece of wood; spoon, spatula".
SpannEnglish Derived from Old English spann meaning "span (of a hand)", a unit of measurement equaling about nine inches, possibly used to refer to someone who lived on a strip of land or by a narrow footbridge.
SpringallEnglish Means (i) "operator of a springald (a type of medieval siege engine)" (from Anglo-Norman springalde); or (ii) from a medieval nickname for a youthful person (from Middle English springal "youth").
SproutEnglish This name is derived from the name of an ancestor, meaning "the son of Sprot".... [more]
StansfieldEnglish (British) Habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, probably named with the genitive case of the Old English personal name Stan 1 "stone" and Old English feld "pasture, open country"... [more]
StaterEnglish Occupational name for an official in charge of a public weighing machine derived from Middle English stater(er), from Latin statera "balance, scales, steelyard; value", ultimately from Ancient Greek στατήρ (stater) "a weight, a standard; a type of coin".
StentEnglish (Archaic) Derived from the Old Norse name Steinn meaning "stone". Recorded in several forms including Stein, Steen, Stone and Ston, this surname is english. It is perhaps not surprisingly one of the first recorded surnames anywhere in the world.... [more]
StraussGerman, Jewish From the German word strauß, meaning "ostrich." In its use as a Jewish surname, it comes from the symbol of the building or family that the bearer occupied or worked for in the Frankfurter Judengasse... [more]
StrayerGerman Americanized form of GermanStröher: habitational name for "someone from any of the places called Ströh in Westphalia and Lower Saxony".
Strel'nikovmRussian Means "son of the shooter", from Russian стрельник (strel'nik).
SuchwaniSanskrit Suchwani means "decendent of Suchu", where the given name Suchu means "truthful".
SugizakiJapanese Sugizaki (杉崎) can be translated out to (杉 = cedar; cryptomeria & 崎 = promontory; cape; spit) can be fully read as "Promontory of the cedar" it simply as "Cedar Promontory"
SungaBemba, Central African Sunga is a surname of the Bemba tribe, meaning "a person that takes care of others".... [more]
SuokasFinnish Comes from the finnish word "suo" which means swamp, and directly translated "suokas" means "swampy". This surname originally came from Karelian Isthmus, Sakkola, that in nowadays belongs to Russia... [more]
SuominenFinnish From Suomi meaning ”Finland” in Finnish. The -nen ending can be translated as "little" or "of something" (Suominen="of Finland") but is in Finland mostly seen just as a typical ending for surnames, without any actual meaning.
SusanEnglish, Dutch, Jewish (Sephardic) As an English (London) and Dutch surname, it comes from the feminine personal name Susanna, from Hebrew שושן (shushan) meaning "lily, lily of the valley".... [more]
SussexEnglish Derived from an English county name meaning "region of the Saxons from the south" in Old English.
SuwannaphumThai (Rare) From Thai สุวรรณภูมิ (Suwannaphum), from Sanskrit सुवर्णभूमि (Suvárṇabhūmi) meaning "Suvarnabhumi", referring to various places throughout Southeast Asia as "golden land; land of gold".
SvanidzeGeorgian Means "son of a Svan". The Svans are a subethnicgroup of the Georgians. Ekaterine "Kato" Svanidze was Stalin's first wife.
SwaileEnglish Recorded in the spellings of Swaile, Swale and Swales, this is an English surname. It is locational, and according to the famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley, originates from either a hamlet called Swallow Hill, near Barnsley in Yorkshire, with Swale being the local dialectal pronunciation and spelling... [more]
SwainScottish, Irish, English Northern English occupational name for a servant or attendant, from Middle English swein "young man attendant upon a knight", which was derived from Old Norse sveinn "boy, servant, attendant"... [more]
SwantonEnglish Habitational name from Swanton Court in Sevington, Swanton in Lydden, Swanton Farm in Littlebourne (all Kent), or any of the three places in Norfolk called Swanton (Swanton Abbott, Swanton Morley, and Swanton Novers)... [more]
SzmulikPolish The Szmulik surname has much history. Its origins are Hebrew. It has taken on various spellings over the centuries, depending on where the person or family lived in Europe or America.... [more]
TabakDutch Occupational name for a butcher or hog breeder, from Middle Dutch tucbake composed of tucken "to pull, push, strike" and bake "hog, pig; meat from the back of a pig".
TaciroğluTurkish Taciroğlu is a last name adopted by a merchant family in Turkey in January 1934. It literally means "Son of Merchant". "Tacir" is an Arabic word (" التاجر ") in origin which means trader in Turkish... [more]
TafajAlbanian Means "descendant of Tafa", from a short form of the given name Mustafa.
TaffeEnglish Of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic surname "Ó Táth," meaning "descendant of Táth." It's believed to have originated as a personal name, possibly meaning "poet" or "philosopher."
TagalogFilipino Of uncertain etymology. It could be from Filipino prefix taga- "native of" combined either from alog "ford" or ilog "river". It could also be from Tagal, a name of some tribes in Borneo or Sumatra... [more]
TagametsEstonian Tagamets is an Estonian surname meaning "behind/back of forest".
TagaväliEstonian Tagaväli is an Estonian surname meaning "behind/back of field".
TairaJapanese Meaning "peace". Together with the Fujiwara and Minamoto, this is one of the most prominent clans in Japanese history... [more]
TakasatoJapanese Taka means "tall, high, expensive" and sato means "village, hamlet, type of measurement, league, parent's home".
TakazatoJapanese 高 (Taka) means "high, expensive, tall" and zato is a variant of 里 (sato) meaning "type of measurement, village, league, parent's home". ... [more]
TakeharaJapanese (Rare) Take means "Bamboo" while Hara means "Plain". This surname means " Plain of the Bamboo". Takehara is also a city in Hiroshima and a railway station.
TakinoueJapanese Taki means "waterfall", no is a possessive particle meaning "therefore, of", and ue means "top, above, upper".