AbellaCatalan, Galician Means "bee" in Catalan and Galician, used as a nickname for a small, active person or an occupational name for a beekeeper.
AbernathyScottish A different form of Abernethy, which originally meant "person from Abernethy", Perth and Kinross ("confluence of the (river) Nethy"). This was one of the surnames of the Scots who settled in northern Ireland during the ‘plantation’ in the 17th century, and it was brought to the U.S. as the name of a Southern plantation owner.
AboimovmRussian Might potentially mean "son of the fraudster" from абаум (abaum) meaning "fraud".
AgassiItalian Derived from the given name Agazio, an Italian form of Latin Agathius, ultimately derived from the Greek element ἀγαθός (agathos) meaning "good".
AgeyevRussian derived from given name Aggey (from Biblical Hebrew word meaning "festive")
AgüeroSpanish In Spanish, "agüero" can mean "(bad/good) omen" or "something from which omens are drawn", and it can also be a habitational name from places in Spain named Agüero.
AignerGerman (Austrian) German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German aigen ‘own’ a status name originally denoting a landowner who held his land outright rather than by rent or feudal obligation. In the Middle Ages this was sufficiently rare to be worthy of remark and was normally a special privilege granted in recognition of some exceptional service... [more]
AlamArabic, Bengali, Urdu, Persian Means "world, universe" (عالم) or "flag, sign, mark" (علم) in Arabic. This spelling represents two separate words in Arabic.
AlanísSpanish This indicates familial origin within the eponymous Andalusian municipality.
AlarcónSpanish Alarcón was a fort owned by the arabs in the Iberian Peninsula (Alarcón literally meaning 'the fort' in arabic), and the spaniards had the goal of owning it during the spanish reconquista. After 9 months of siege, Fernán Martínez de Ceballos climbed the walls of the fort using only two daggers and opened the gates from the inside allowing the castillan army to come in and conquer Alarcón... [more]
AlbrightAmerican This name was originally Albrecht. It was changed by German imigrants to America in the 1600s.
AldermanEnglish Status name from Middle English alderman, Old English ealdorman, "elder". In medieval England an alderman was a member of the governing body of a city or borough; also the head of a guild.
AlfordEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from any of several places in England, derived from Old English ford "ford, river crossing" and an uncertain first element, possibly eald "old", or the given name Ealdgyð.
AmaralPortuguese Unknown origin. It may come from the name of a country estate near Viseu, Portugal (quinta do Amaral) or from an old word meaning "place full of clary sages". This is also the name of a variety of red wine grape in northern Portugal whose name comes directly from the surname.
AmmannUpper German, German (Swiss) Alemannic form of Amtmann "official". Ultimately derived from Middle High German ambet man "retinue man; retainer", this word came to denote various kinds of administrator including a tax farmer.
AndersonScottish, Irish Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Ghille Andrais meaning 'Son of the devotee of St. Andrew'. ... [more]
AndoJapanese From the Japanese 安 (an or yasu) "relax," "inexpensive," "low," and 藤 (to or fuji) "wisteria." The second character may indicate historical or familial links to the formerly powerful Fujiwara (藤原) clan.
ApplegarthEnglish, Scottish Topographic name from northern Middle English applegarth meaning "apple orchard" (Old Norse apaldr meaning "apple tree" + gar{dh}r meaning "enclosure"), or a habitational name from a place so named, of which there are examples in Cumbria and North and East Yorkshire, as well as in the county of Dumfries.
AragónSpanish Habitational name from Aragon Spain which was an independent kingdom from 1035 to 1479. It took its name from the river Aragón which arises in its northwestern corner... [more]
ArandaSpanish Habitational name from any of various places for example Aranda de Duero in Burgos province which bears a name of pre-Roman probably Celtic origin.
ArmenterosSpanish Habitational name from either of two places called Armenteros, in the provinces of Ávila and Salamanca, from the plural of armenatero meaning ‘cowherd’, from Latin armenta ‘herd(s)’.
AsaharaJapanese From Japanese 朝 (asa) meaning "morning", 浅 (asai) meaning "shallow", or 麻 (asa) meaning "hemp" combined with 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".
AsamuraJapanese From Japanese 浅 (asa) meaning "shallow" and 村 (mura) meaning "town, village".
AshbrookEnglish Derived from Ampney St Mary, a small village and civil parish locally known as "Ashbrook", in Gloucestershire, England (recorded in the Domesday Book as Estbroce). It is named with Old English est meaning "east, eastern" and broc meaning "brook, stream".
AsherEnglish Name for someone who dwelled by an ash tree, from Middle English asche or asshe meaning "ash tree".
AshfordEnglish Derived from Ashford, which is the name of several places in England. All but one of these derive the second element of their name from Old English ford meaning "ford" - for the one in North Devon, it is derived from Old English worō or worth meaning "enclosure".... [more]
BaArabic Arabic from a shortened form of Aba, accusative case of Abu ‘father’.
BaManding From the Mandinka word ba(a) meaning "big, great".
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]
BackhausGerman from Middle High German backhūs "bakehouse" a word composed of Middle High German bah "something baked" and hus "house"... [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]
BäckströmSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, small stream" and ström "stream".
BackströmSwedish Combination of Swedish backe "slope, hill" 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]
BadeGerman Occupational name for a messenger, derived from an element related to Old Germanic budą "message, offer".
BadeGerman From a short form of a Germanic personal name containing the element badu "strife, battle".
BadeEnglish From the Old English personal name Bada, probably derived from Old English beadu "battle, war" or a name containing the element.
BainEnglish, Scottish Nickname for a hospitable person, derived from northern Middle English bayn meaning "welcoming, friendly" or "straight, direct".
BainFrench Habitational name probably derived from Old French bain "bath". In some cases, the toponym might instead be derived from the Ancient Roman given name Baenus or Balnus.
BainScottish, Irish Derived from Scottish Gaelic bàn "white, pale, fair", a nickname for a person with fair hair.
BainbridgeEnglish from Bainbridge in North Yorkshire, named for the Bain river on which it stands (which is named with Old Norse beinn ‘straight’) + bridge.
BangKorean Bang is derived from the Korean word ‘sarangbang’ referring to a ‘room’.
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]
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
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’.
BarnoItalian, Ukrainian, French, Ancient Aramaic, Russian The surname Barno was first found in the north of Italy, especially in Tuscany. The name occasionally appears in the south, usually in forms which end in "o," but the northern forms ending in "i" are much more common... [more]
BarónSpanish nickname from the title barón "baron" applied as a nickname or as an occupational name for a member of the household of a baron; or from an old personal name of the same origin in the sense "free man"... [more]
BaronJewish From German or Polish baron or Russian барон (baron) meaning "baron". In Israel the name is often interpreted to mean "son of strength" from Hebrew בר און (bar on).
BarrScottish, Northern Irish Habitational name from any of various places in southwestern Scotland, in particular Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, named with Gaelic barr "height, hill" or a British cognate of this.
BarriosSpanish Habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Spanish barrio "outlying suburb (especially an impoverished one), slum", from Arabic barr "suburb, dependent village". It may also be a topographic name for someone originating from a barrio.
BarrowmanEnglish A man employed in wheeling a barrow; specifically, in coal-mining, one who conveys the coal in a wheelbarrow from the point where it is mined to the trolleyway or tramway on which it is carried to the place where it is raised to the surface.
BarryAfrican A Guinean surname meaning the family comes from the Peul, Fulani, or Foulbe ethnic groups of West Africa.
BartleyEnglish, American 1. English: habitational name from Bartley in Hampshire, or from Bartley Green in the West Midlands, both of which are named with Old English be(o)rc ‘birch’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’; compare Barclay... [more]
BaryshnikovmRussian From Russian барышник (baryshnik), meaning "an immoral salesman".
BattersbyEnglish Derives from the place of Battersby in North Yorkshire, which is composed of Old Norse personal name Bǫðvarr and the Old Norse suffix býr "farm, settlement"... [more]
BeardEnglish (American) Nickname for a bearded man (Middle English, Old English beard). To be clean-shaven was the norm in non-Jewish communities in northwestern Europe from the 12th to the 16th century, the crucial period for surname formation... [more]
BeaubienFrench (Quebec), English From French beau meaning "beautiful" and bien meaning "well, good". The name referred to someone with physical beauty.
BeauregardFrench Habitational name from any of various places in France named Beauregard for their fine view or fine aspect, for example in Ain, Dordogne, Drôme, Lot, and Puy-de-Dôme, from beau "fair, lovely" and regard "aspect, outlook".
BedfordEnglish From the English county Bedfordshire and its principal city or from a small community in Lancashire with the same name. The name comes from the Old English personal name Beda, a form of the name Bede and the location element -ford meaning "a crossing at a waterway." Therefore the name indicates a water crossing once associated with a bearer of the medieval name.
BeerEnglish Habitational name from any of the forty or so places in southwestern England called Beer(e) or Bear(e). Most of these derive their names from the West Saxon dative case, beara, of Old English bearu "grove, wood"... [more]
BeerGerman, Dutch From Middle Low German bare, Middle Dutch bere "bear". Given as a nickname to someone who was thought to resemble a bear, a metonymic occupational name for someone who kept a performing bear, or a habitational name for someone who lived near a sign depicting a bear... [more]
BenthamEnglish Habitational name from any of various places named Bentham, from Old English beonet "bent grass" + ham "homestead" or hamm "enclosure hemmed in by water".
BenzGerman South German: (in Alemannic areas) from a short form of the Germanic personal name Berthold, or to a lesser extent of Bernhard
BergenGerman, Dutch, Flemish, Jewish Originally denoted a person from any of the various places named Bergen in Germany and the Netherlands. It is also a variant of Berg. Famous bearers include the Americans Candice Bergen (1946-), an actress, and Polly Bergen (1930-2014), an actress, singer and television host.
BergeronFrench Diminutive of French berger meaning "shepherd".
BérubéFrench Habitational name from some minor place named with Old French belru "beautiful stream", with the subsequent pleonastic addition of bé, variant of bel "beautiful".
BessonFrench, Provençal, Occitan Southern French nickname from Occitan besson "twin" (from Latin bis) or from the various places (Le) Besson in southern France.
BhardwajIndian From Sanskrit bhāradvāja ‘descendant of bharadvāja’, bharadvāja meaning ‘one who has strength or vigor’ (a compound of bharat ‘bearing’ + vāja ‘vigor’). According to legend, Bharadvaja (bharadvāja) was the name of one of the great sages.
BinghamEnglish Ultimately deriving from the toponym of Melcombe Bingham in Dorset. The name was taken to Ireland in the 16th century, by Richard Bingham, a native of Dorset who was appointed governor of Connaught in 1584... [more]
BirkelandNorwegian Derived from Old Norse birki "birch" and land "farm, land". This was the name of several farms in Norway.
BitencourtBrazilian, Portuguese (Brazilian), French (Rare), English BITENCOURT, derives from Bittencourt, Bettencourt and Bethencourt; They are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]
BlandEnglish Bland is a habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire called Bland, the origin of which is uncertain. Possibly it is from Old English (ge)bland ‘storm’, ‘commotion’ (from blandan ‘to blend or mingle’), with reference to its exposed situation... [more]
BlankGerman, Dutch, Jewish Means "white, pale, bright", a nickname for a person with white or fair hair or a pale complexion. As a Jewish name, it’s ornamental.
BlantonScottish (Americanized, Modern) An americanized version of the old Scottish name Ballantine (other forms being Ballantyne, Bannatyne, Ballanden).
BlitzGerman This surname is presumed to be coming from a nickname for a fast runner or a quick tempered person, from German blitz(er) meaning "lightning" (ultimately from Middle High German blicze.)