AkutagawaJapanese Akuta (芥) means "mustard", kawa (川) means "river", kawa changes to gawa due to rendaku. Notable bearers of this surname are Ryuunosuke Akutagawa (芥川龍之介), a Japanese writer and Ryuunosuke Akutagawa from Bungou Stray dogs who shares the same name.
AlcottEnglish English: ostensibly a topographic name containing Middle English cott, cote ‘cottage’ (see Coates). In fact, however, it is generally if not always an alteration of Alcock, in part at least for euphemistic reasons.
AlighieriItalian From the given name Alighiero, Italian form of Aldiger. A famous bearer of this surname is Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), author of the Divine Comedy.
AllendeBasque, Spanish Basque surname possibly linked to the Spanish word allende of Latin origin meaning "beyond" or "besides".
AndersonScottish, Irish Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Ghille Andrais meaning 'Son of the devotee of St. Andrew'. ... [more]
AngelouGreek (Cypriot) Means "son of Angelos" or "son of the angel" in Greek. A famous bearer is the American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
ApplegateEnglish Extremely common variant of Applegarth, in which the less familiar final element has been assimilated to the northern Middle English word gate meaning "road" or to modern English gate.
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]
ArdenEnglish From various English place names, which were derived from a Celtic word meaning "high".... [more]
AriostoItalian From the Germanic given name Ariost, meaning "battle-ready". A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533).
AsherEnglish Name for someone who dwelled by an ash tree, from Middle English asche or asshe meaning "ash tree".
AsimovRussian A notable bearer was author Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) whose name was derived from Russian озимый хлеб (ozímyj khleb) "winter grain" combined with the patronymic suffix -ov. His family name was originally spelled Азимов (Azimov), but it got anglicized to Asimov with an S instead of Z when the family immigrated to the United States... [more]
AzzopardiMaltese Possibly derived from the Hebrew term סְפָרַדִּי (s'faradí) used to refer to Jews originating from Iberia (called Sephardim or Sephardic Jews). It may also be of Greek origin from a word meaning "black, Mauritanian" or "soldier" with a connection to Middle Persian spʿh "army" used to refer to a person of African descent or someone who worked as a mercenary... [more]
BạchVietnamese Vietnamese form of Bai, from Sino-Vietnamese 白 (bạch).
BainbridgeEnglish from Bainbridge in North Yorkshire, named for the Bain river on which it stands (which is named with Old Norse beinn ‘straight’) + bridge.
BatailleFrench nickname for a bellicose man from bataille "battle" (from Latin battualia) or a habitational name from (La) Bataille the name of several places in France all named as the site of a battle in former times.
BaudelaireFrench A French surname, coming from the word "baudelaire", which is a short, broad, and curved sword used in heraldry.
BeauchampEnglish, French From the name of various places in France, for example in Manche and Somme, which was derived from Old French beu, bel meaning "fair, lovely" and champ, champs "field, plain".
BeckettEnglish An Old English name simply meaning "beehive". Famous Irish playwrite Samuel Beckett bears this name.
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.
BertinFrench From the given name Bertin a diminutive of the ancient Germanic personal name Berhto a short form of various compound names formed with berht "bright famous".
BierceEnglish, Welsh English variant and Welsh form of Pierce. A famous bearer was the American author, journalist and poet Ambrose Bierce (1842-c. 1914), who wrote The Devil's Dictionary and other works... [more]
BilginTurkish Means "scholar, learned, pundit" in Turkish.
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]
BlissMedieval English, Medieval English (Anglicized) Originally a nickname for a cheerful person, derived from the Old English blisse, meaning "gladness" or "joy." Another origin of the surname is habitional, coming from from the village of Blay in Calvados (modern-day Normandy), spelled as Bleis in 1077, or from the village of Stoke Bliss in Worcestershire, first known as Stoke de Blez, named after the Norman family de Blez.... [more]
BlumeGerman, English Could be from the Jewish surname Blum of from Swedish Blom. It could also be from the English word bloom.
BonninFrench Derived from a diminutive of Bon, it is also found in the island of Mallorca and Turin, Italy.
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).
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.
BraithwaiteEnglish Northern English habitational name from any of the places in Cumbria and Yorkshire named Braithwaite, from Old Norse breiðr "broad" + þveit "clearing".
BrechtGerman From a short form of any of various personal names formed with Germanic element berth " bright" "famous".
BretonFrench, English French and English: ethnic name for a Breton, from Old French bret (oblique case breton) (see Brett).
BridgeEnglish Indicating one who lived near a bridge.
BrinkLow German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish The Dutch and Low German meaning is "village green". In Danish and Swedish, the name is thought to be a borrowing of Middle Dutch brinc / brink, meaning "grassy edge" or perhaps "slope",, and the Danish word now means "where the water runs deep".
BrodJewish Either derived from German Brot "bread" or taken from one of the various towns named Brod in Bosnia, Croatia and Macedonia or from one of the towns named Brody in Ukraine and Poland.
BrodskyCzech Habitational name derived from a number of places, including Bohemia.
BrowningEnglish English: from the Middle English and Old English personal name Bruning, originally a patronymic from the byname Brun (see Brown).
BurneyEnglish, Irish Form of the French place name of 'Bernay' or adapted from the personal name Bjorn, ultimately meaning "bear".
BurroughsEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a hill or tumulus, Old English "beorg", a cognate of Old High German berg "hill", ‘mountain’ (see Berg). This name has become confused with derivatives of Old English burh ‘fort’ (see Burke)... [more]
ByronEnglish An English place name, earlier Byram, from byre, meaning "farm" and the suffix -ham meaning "homestead". Famously borne by the aristocratic poet, Lord Byron.
CaoVietnamese Vietnamese form of Gao from Sino-Vietnamese 高 (cao).
ČapekCzech Derived from a diminutive of Czech cáp meaning "stork", applied as a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a stork. In some cases the family name may have derived from a heraldic symbol.
CapoteItalian (Tuscan) Capote is a name for person who was the chief of the head from the Italian personal name Capo.
CarducciItalian From 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.
CarmiggeltDutch Dutch cognate of Carmichael. This was the surname of the Dutch writer, journalist and poet Simon Carmiggelt (1913-1987).
CarnegieScottish Habitational name from a place called Carnegie, near Carmyllie in Angus, from Gaelic cathair an eige "fort at the gap".
CarringtonEnglish, Scottish English: habitational name from a place in Greater Manchester (formerly in Cheshire) called Carrington, probably named with an unattested Old English personal name Cara + -ing- denoting association + tun ‘settlement’.... [more]
CasanovaCatalan, Italian Catalan and Italian: topographic name from Latin casa ‘house’ + nova ‘new’, or a habitational name from any of the many places named with these words.
CastañedaSpanish Habitational name from any of various places called Castañeda, a Spanish word meaning "chesnut grove", itself derived from castaña meaning "chesnut".
ChaKorean Cha is a relatively uncommon family name in Korea. The Yeonan Cha clan is the only clan. The founding ancestor was Cha Hyo-jeon, son of Ryoo Cha-dal (류차달) (10th century AD). Most of the clan's members live in Gyeongsang, Hwanghae, and P'yŏngan provinces... [more]
ChaHmong From the clan name Tsab or Tsaab associated with the Chinese character 張 (zhāng) (see Zhang).
ChaucerEnglish Meaning a "worker who makes leggings or breeches". Notable bearer is author Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), most well known for his classic 'The Canterbury Tales'.
CheeverEnglish Means "goatherd", or from a medieval nickname for someone thought to resemble a goat (e.g. in capriciousness) (in either case from Anglo-Norman chivere "goat"). It was borne by American author John Cheever (1912-1982).
ChekhovRussian Possibly referred to someone from Czechia, or a derivative of the ancient Russian name Chekh or Chokh, which in turn relates to the verb chikhat "to sneeze"... [more]
CherryEnglish From Middle English chirie, cherye "cherry", hence a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of cherries, or possibly a nickname for someone with rosy cheeks.... [more]
CornwellEnglish Habitational name from Cornwell in Oxfordshire, named from Old English corn, a metathesized form of cron, cran ‘crane’ + well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’.variant of Cornwall.
D'annunzioItalian Patronymical form of Annunzio, Italian form of the Latin given name Annuntius. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938).
DazaiJapanese 太宰 is translated as (plump; thick; big around | superintend; manager; rule) it could be roughly translated as meaning "a plump superintend"... [more]
DeleddaItalian, Sardinian Variant of Ledda. A famous bearer of this surname is Nobel Prize for Literature recipient Grazia Deledda (1871–1936).
De LimaSpanish "de Lima" is the surname given to the people who lived near the Limia River (Lima in portuguese) on the Province of Ourense, an autonomous community of Galicia, located at the northwest of Spain. The root of the name is Don Juan Fernandez de Lima, maternal grandson to the King Alfonso VI de León (1040-1109).
DesaiIndian, Marathi, Gujarati From a feudal title derived from Sanskrit देश (desha) meaning "country, kingdom" and स्वामिन् (svamin) meaning "owner, master, lord".
DoolittleEnglish From a medieval nickname applied to a lazy man (from Middle English do "do" + little "little"). It was borne by the American poet Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961). A fictional bearer is Eliza Doolittle, the flower seller in Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion' (1913); and a variant spelling was borne by Dr Dolittle, the physician who had the ability to talk to animals, in the series of books written by Hugh Lofting from 1920.
DouwesDutch, Frisian From the given name Douwe, itself derived from Frisian dou meaning "dove, pigeon". A notable bearer was the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli.
DriverEnglish Occupational name for a driver of horses or oxen attached to a cart or plow, or of loose cattle, from a Middle English agent derivative of Old English drīfan ‘to drive’.
Du AiméFrench The Duaime surname comes from an Old French word "hamel," which meant "homestead." It was likely first used as a name to describe someone who lived at a farm on the outskirts of a main town, or for someone that lived in a small village.
DucasseFrench French: topographic name for someone who lived by an oak tree, from Old French casse ‘oak (tree)’ (Late Latin cassanos, a word of Celtic origin), with the fused preposition and article du ‘from the’... [more]
DupinFrench Means "of the pine tree" in French, referring to a person who lived near a pine tree or was from any of various locations named Le Pin.
FerranteItalian This surname can be derived from a given name (thus making it a patronymic surname) as well as from a nickname (thus making it a descriptive surname). In the case of a patronymic surname, the surname is derived from the medieval masculine given name Ferrante... [more]
ForsythScottish Variant of Forsythe. Known bearers include the Scottish botanist William Forsyth (1737-1804), after whom the genus Forsythia is named, and Scottish inventor Alexander John Forsyth (1769-1843).
FranceFrench Ethnic name for an inhabitant of France, a country in Europe.
FrostWelsh Originally spelled Ffrost (the double ff is a Welsh letter). The Welsh word ffrost refered to someone who is excessively bold or a brag, especially with regard to warrior feats. Edmund Ffrost signed his name this way on the ship's register of the boat which brought him to the Massachussett's Bay Colony in 1631... [more]
GoetheGerman From a short form of the personal name Godo, formed with the Germanic element god, got 'god', or from Middle High German göte 'godfather'.
GogolUkrainian, Polish, Jewish Means "Common goldeneye (a type of duck)" in Ukrainian. Possibly a name for a fowler. A famous bearer was Nikolai Gogol.
GoldsmithEnglish Occupational name for a worker in gold, a compound of Old English gold "gold" and smið "smith". In North America it is very often an English translation of German or Jewish Goldschmidt.
GrassEnglish, German Topographic name for someone who owned or lived by a meadow, or a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or sold hay, from Middle English gras, Middle High German gras "grass, pasture, grazing".
GrassScottish Occupational name, reduced from Gaelic greusaiche "shoemaker". A certain John Grasse alias Cordonar (Middle English cordewaner "shoemaker") is recorded in Scotland in 1539.
GunnScottish This ancient Scottish surname is of Norwegian origin derived from the Old Norse personal name Gunnr. This surname, in most cases originated in Caithness, Scotland's most northerly county.
GuriraSouthern African, Shona From the Ndau word gurira meaning "to break or cut for someone, cut short, take shortcut". The American-Zimbabwean actress and playwright Danai Gurira (1978-) is a famous bearer of this name.
HällEstonian Häll is an Estonian surname meaning "cradle" and "birthplace".
HallEstonian Hall is an Estonian surname meaning both "grey" and "frost".
HarjoEstonian Harjo is an Estonia surname, a variation of "Harju"; from Harju County.
HarjoCreek From Creek Ha'chō meaning "crazy brave; recklessly brave".
HarrisWelsh A combination of the Welsh adjective 'hy', meaning 'bold' or 'presumptuous' and the common Welsh personal name 'Rhys'. This surname is common in South Wales and the English West Country and has an official Welsh tartan... [more]
HašekCzech (?) Meaning "Pure" or "Chaste" from Latin Castus, a shortening of Castulus. Diminutive of the personal name Haštal. Noteable people with this surname include Dominik Hašek, a Czech ice hockey Goal-tender and Jaroslav Hašek, a Czech satirist and Journalist, most known for his satirical novel, 'The Good Soldier Švejk'.
HastingsEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hastings, a place in Sussex, on the south coast of England, near which the English army was defeated by the Normans in 1066. It is named from Old English H?stingas ‘people of H?sta’... [more]
HellerGerman Nickname from the small medieval coin known as the häller or heller because it was first minted (in 1208) at the Swabian town of (Schwäbisch) Hall.
HemingwayEnglish Probably from the name of an unidentified minor place near the village of Southowram in West Yorkshire, England, derived from the Old English given name Hemma combined with weg meaning "way, road, path"... [more]
HintonEnglish (Archaic) Comes from Old English heah meaning "high" and tun meaning "enclosure" or "settlement." A notable person with the surname is female author S.E Hinton.
HoytEnglish Generally a topographical name for someone who lived on a hill or other high ground. As such Hoyt is related to words such as heights or high. Hoyt is also possibly a nickname for a tall, thin person where the original meaning is said to be "long stick".
HugoFrench Victor Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He was also the writer of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'Les Misérables'.
HumphreysWelsh, English Patronymic form of Humphrey. A famous bearer was Murray Humphreys (1899-1965), an American mobster of Welsh descent.
HuygensDutch, Belgian Means "son of Hugo". A notable bearer was Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695).
IhimaeraMaori This name in English means Ishmael. This name is not only a surname but was used at least in the past as a first name. This name could have another origin. This is the last name of the first Maori author to produce a book made up of stories Witi Ihimaera (1944- ).
IshiguroJapanese Ishi means "Stone" and Guro is just a form of Kuro, meaning "Black". Hiroshi Ishiguro was the director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory.
JinJapanese From Japanese 神 (jin) meaning "deity; god". This may have been used by shrine masters, people who came from shrines, or people who were granted by the emperor of Japan.
JüngerGerman, Jewish German (Jünger) distinguishing name, from Middle High German jünger ‘younger’, for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, usually a son who bore the same name as his father... [more]
JuulDanish, Norwegian Alternate form of Juhl. This variant of the name can be traced back to the 13th century as the name of a Danish noble family still alive today. The family is sometimes referred to as "Juul med liljen" meaning "Juul with the fleur-de-lis" in reference to their coat-of-arms, as a way to distinguish them from another Danish noble family - the Juel-family - who in turn are known as "Juel with the star"... [more]
KawabataJapanese 'Side or bank of the river'; written two ways, with two different characters for kawa ‘river’. One family is descended from the northern Fujiwara through the Saionji family; the other from the Sasaki family... [more]
KawabataJapanese From Japanese 川 (kawa) meaning "river, stream" and 畑 (hata) meaning "farm, cropfield".
KawabataJapanese From Japanese 川 (kawa) or 河 (kawa) both meaning "river, stream" and 端 (hata) meaning "edge, end, tip".
KenyonEnglish, Welsh Kenyon is a surname from Wales meaning "a person from Ennion's Mound"
KerouacFrench (Quebec) Variant form of Kirouac. This name was borne by the American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), who was a pioneer of the Beat Generation, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
KetchumPopular Culture The surname of Ash Ketchum in the English dub of the anime "Pokémon," and comes from the English localizations' catchphrase "Gotta Catch' em All!"
KozakJewish Nickname from Yiddish kozak from a Ukrainian loanword meaning "warrior", "brave man".
KozakPolish, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian, Ukrainian Ethnic name for a Cossack, a member of a people descended from a group of runaway serfs who set up a semi-independent military republic in Ukraine in the 15th and 16th centuries.
KrasińskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Krasne, Przasnysz County.
LackeyIrish Lackey was originally a name for a horse servant.
LaxnessIcelandic (Rare) Derived from the name of a farm in Mosfellsbær parish in southwest Iceland. A notable bearer was author and Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness (1902-1998).
LearEnglish Means (i) "person from Leire", Leicestershire ("place on the river Leire", a river-name that may also be the ancestor of Leicestershire); or (ii) "person from Lear", any of several variously spelled places in northern France with a name based on Germanic lār "clearing"... [more]
LeopardiItalian From the medieval given name Leopardus. A famous bearer of this surname is Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), one of the most influential Italian poets.
Le RouxFrench Nickname for a person with red hair, from Old French rous "red." Variant spelling of Leroux.
LivelyEnglish A modern English surname possibly derived from a lost village called Laefer-leah which would give it the meaning "the farm by the lake".... [more]
LivelyEnglish Nickname from Middle English lifly, "lively", "nimble".
LongfellowEnglish Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline.
LowryLumbee The surname is prominent. The earliest time this name is scene is when a grandchild of man named James Lowery is called James Lowry in the 1700s. This name was self-identified as an Indian Name in the Robeson County, North Carolina 1900 census... [more]
LuChinese From Chinese 陆 (lù) referring to the ancient territory of Lu, which existed in the state of Qi in what is now Shandong province. Alternately, it may be from 陸渾 (Lù Hún), the name of an ancient nomadic tribe that established a state in the area that is now Henan province.
LuChinese From Chinese 鲁 (lǔ) referring to the ancient state of Lu, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
LurieJewish It is one of the oldest family trees in the world, tracing back at least to King David born c. 1037 BCE, as documented by Neil Rosenstein in his book The Lurie Legacy... [more]
MannSanskrit (Anglicized) Originally Sanskrit, now in Punjabi and Hindi - used by Jats predominantly in Punjab area of NW India. Well represented in Sikhs. Also spelled as {!Maan} when anglicized. Belonged to landholding nobility of warrior caste (knights) that at one time held a strong and established kingdom.... [more]
MansfieldEnglish Means "open land by the River Maun," from the Celtic river name + the Old English word "feld."
MarchEnglish From the English word meaning, "to walk stiffly and proudly" or possibly from the month.
MarinettiItalian Variant of Marino. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), considered to be the founder of Futurism.
MarsmanDutch Derived from Middle Dutch marsch, mersch (Southern Dutch meers), meaning "marsh". In some cases, however, it can also be a variant of Meersman.