McmurtryNorthern Irish, Scottish Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Muircheartaigh "son of Muircheartach", a personal name meaning "navigator", from muir "sea" and ceartach "ruler".
MeredithWelsh From the personal name Maredudd. In Welsh the stress is on the second syllable. The Old Welsh form is Morgetiud, of which the first element may mean "pomp, splendor" and the second is iudd "lord".
MillayEnglish This surname is thought to be a respelling of Millais, which may come from the French surname Millet, a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of millet or panic grass (derived from a diminutive form of Old French mil which is then derived from Latin milium meaning "millet").... [more]
MistryEnglish Influenced by the English word mystery meaning unknown.
MoChinese According to a study of Mu Ying's Name record, the surname came to be when descendants of the antediluvian ruler Zhuanxu abbreviated the name of his city, Moyangcheng (莫陽城; in modern-day Pingxiang County, Hebei) and took it as their surname... [more]
MolDutch Habitational name for someone from Mol in the Antwerp province, Belgium.
MontaleItalian From Latin mons ("mountain"), this surname was originally given as a nickname to people who lived on hills and mountains. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet and writer Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975.
MoorcockEnglish From a medieval nickname for someone thought to resemble a moorcock (the male of the red grouse). It is borne by British author Michael Moorcock (1939-).
MowatScottish From medieval female given name, Mohaut, a variant of Maud.
MultatuliDutch From the Latin phrase multa tulī meaning "I have suffered much" or "I have borne much". This was the pen name of the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), who wrote Max Havelaar, which denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies, now called Indonesia... [more]
MurakamiJapanese From the Japanese 村, 邑 or 邨 (mura) "village" and 上 (kami, kan or ue) "upper," "above," 神 (kami, kan or shin) "god" or 守 (kami or mori) "guard," "protect," "defend."
MurakamiJapanese From Japanese 村 (mura) meaning "town, village" and 上 (kami) meaning "start, high place, top".
NaiduIndian The surname Naidu occurs in communities of Andhra Pradesh. It is composed of a stem word ‘naya’, which means leader or chief. The suffix ‘du’ is a third person masculine suffix in Telegu.
NaiduIndian, Telugu Means "chief" in Telugu, ultimately from Sanskrit नाय (naya) meaning "guide, leader" combined with the Telugu masculine suffix డు (du).
NashCircassian Shapsug name derived from Adyghe нэ (nă) meaning "eye" combined with щэ (š̍ă) meaning "milk" or "crooked, wry, bent".
NewbyEnglish Means "person from Newby", Newby being a combination of the Middle English elements newe "new" and by "farm, settlement" (ultimately from Old Norse býr "farm"). British travel writer Eric Newby (1919-2006) bore this surname.
NugentEnglish, Irish, French An English, Irish (of Norman origin) and French habitational surname derived from any of several places in northern France (such as Nogent-sur-Oise), From Latin novientum and apparently an altered form of a Gaulish name meaning "new settlement".
OatesEnglish Patronymic from the Middle English personal name Ode (see Ott).
ŌeJapanese From Japanese 大 (ō) meaning "big, great" and 江 (e) meaning "bay, inlet".
OeJapanese O means "big, great" and e means "inlet, shore".
OeJapanese Alternate transcription of Japanese 大江 (see Ōe).
OldenhaveDutch From the name of a small village in the province of Drenthe, Holland, composed of Dutch oud and hoeve, meaning "old farm".
OrczyHungarian Was the surname of a family of Hungarian nobility (including Baroness Emmuska Orczy, author of *The Scarlet Pimpernel*) originating from the village Orczi (now called Orci).
PaleyEnglish English surname, either a habitational name denoting a person from a lost or unidentified place in Lancashire or Yorkshire (which was apparently named with Old English leah "woodland, clearing" as the final element), or derived from the Old Danish personal name Palli, from Old Danish páll meaning "pole"... [more]
PaleyJewish, Yiddish, Belarusian, Ukrainian Occupational name for a distiller, derived from an East Slavic word (Russian палить (palitʹ), Ukrainian палити (palyty)) meaning "to burn". A famous bearer was Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley (1865-1929), the morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia.
PepysEnglish From the medieval personal name Pepis, a form of Old French Pepin, brought into England by the Normans. It may have been based on an earlier nickname meaning "awesome"... [more]
PilcherEnglish Occupational name for a maker or seller of pilches, from an agent derivative of Pilch. In early 17th-century English, pilcher was a popular term of abuse, being confused or punningly associated with the unrelated verb pilch "to steal" and with the unrelated noun pilchard, a kind of fish.
PoeEnglish From a medieval nickname for a vain or flamboyantly dressed person (from Old Norse pá "peacock"). American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was a famous bearer.
ProustFrench From a nickname derived from French preux meaning "valiant, brave". A famous bearer was Marcel Proust (1871-1922), a French writer.
PrudhommeFrench, English, Norman, Medieval French French (Prud’homme) and English (of Norman origin): nickname from Old French prud’homme ‘wise’, ‘sensible man’, a cliché term of approbation from the chivalric romances. It is a compound of Old French proz, prod ‘good’, with the vowel influenced by crossing with prudent ‘wise’ + homme ‘man’... [more]
PushkinRussian Derived from Russian пушка (pushka) meaning "gun, cannon". A notable bearer was Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), a Russian poet and writer.
PymEnglish Recorded in several forms including Pim, Pimm, Pimme, Pym, and Pymm, this is a surname which at various times has been prominent in the history of England... [more]
QuChinese From Chinese 屈 (qū) meaning "bent, crooked", also referring to the ancient fief of Qu, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Hubei province.
RacineFrench Means "(tree) root" in French, used as an occupational name for a grower or seller of root vegetables or as a nickname for a stubborn person.
RhysWelsh In addition to being used as a given name, it occurs as a surname both alone and in combination with other surnames. Related patronymic forms of the surname are Price, Prys, Pris and Preece. A notable bearer is John Rhys-Davies.
RubinFrench, German, Slovene, Croatian, Czech, Slovak Metonymic occupational name for a jeweler, from Middle High German rubn Old French rubi Slovenian and Croatian rubin Czech and Slovak rubín "ruby"... [more]
RubinsteinGerman, Jewish, Polish Means "ruby stone", from rubin and stein. Rubin means "ruby" in German and stein means "stone" in German.
RushdieKashmiri (Rare) Derived from Arabic رَشَدَ (rašada) meaning "to go the right way, to follow the right course" or "to be well guided" (related to the given names Rashad and Rashid)... [more]
ScarryIrish Shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Scurra, meaning ‘descendant of Scurra’, a personal name of uncertain origin.
SchillerGerman Nickname for someone with a squint, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schilhen, schiln 'to squint'.
ScotlandEnglish (i) "person from Scotland"; (ii) "person from Scotland or Scotlandwell", Perth and Kinross; (iii) from the Norman personal name Escotland, literally "territory of the Scots"
SeifertGerman (East Prussian) German/Russian/Ashkenazi Jewish this surname derived from the very popular personal name siegfried, introduced for the first time inglaterra in the Anglo-Saxon period, and again as a surname thousand years later... [more]
SewellEnglish English from the Middle English personal names Siwald and Sewald, Old English Sigeweald and Seweald, composed of the elements sige ‘victory’ and se ‘sea’ + weald ‘rule’... [more]
SheldrakeEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandyish (showy) or vain man, from Middle English scheldrake, the male of a type of duck with brightly-coloured plumage (itself from the East Anglian dialect term scheld "variegated" combined with drake "male duck").
ShelleyEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) Habitational name from any of the three places called Shelley (Essex Suffolk Yorkshire) or from Shelley Plain in Crawley (Sussex)... [more]
SinclairScottish (Anglicized) Clan Sinclair is a Scottish clan, which held lands in the highlands; thought to have come to Scotland from France after the Norman invasion.
SingerGerman variant of Sänger, in the sense of ‘poet’
SmileyScots, English From elements small and lea meaning "a small clearing" or as a nickname may refer to a person of happy disposition known for smiling.
SolzhenitsynRussian Derived from Russian соложеница (solozhenitsa) meaning "maltman".
SontagGerman, Jewish "sunday;" usually given to a person who was born on a sunday.
SparkEnglish, German Northern English: from the Old Norse byname or personal name Sparkr ‘sprightly’, ‘vivacious’.... [more]
SpillaneIrish Irish: reduced form O’Spillane, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Spealáin or ‘descendant of Spealán’, a personal name representing a diminutive of "speal" "‘scythe’"... [more]
SpringerGerman, English, Dutch, Jewish Nickname for a lively person or for a traveling entertainer. It can also refer to a descendant of Ludwig der Springer (AKA Louis the Springer), a medieval Franconian count who, according to legend, escaped from a second or third-story prison cell by jumping into a river after being arrested for trying to seize County Saxony in Germany.
SteinbeckGerman Denotes a person hailing from one of the many places in Germany called Steinbeck or Steinbach, from Middle High German stein "stone" and bach "stream, creek". In some cases it is a South German occupational name for a mason... [more]
StokerDutch (Modern) A Stoker is (or was) someone who stokes (tends to) fires, coals, or furnaces.
StoreyEnglish From the Old Norse nickname Stóri, literally "large man". A literary bearer is British novelist and playwright David Storey (1933-).
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]
StrindbergSwedish Likely a combination of Strinne, the name of a village in Multrå parish, Ångermanland, Sweden, and berg "mountain". A well known bearer of this name was Swedish playwright and novelist August Strindberg (1849-1912).
SwinburneEnglish habitational name primarily from Great and Little Swinburne (Northumberland) but perhaps also occasionally from one or other places similarly named from Old English swin "pig" and burna "stream" meaning "pig stream".
TeasdaleEnglish From Teesdale, the name of a valley of the River Tees in northern England, derived from the river's name (meaning "warmth" in Old English) combined with dæl meaning "valley".
ThackerayEnglish Famous bearer is William Makepeace Thackeray, author of the novel Vanity Fair. ... [more]
ThoreauEnglish Last name of famous American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, sage writer and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau.
TolstoyRussian Means "fat" from Russian толстый (tolstyy) meaning "thick, stout, fat". This was the name of a Russian family of nobility; a notable member was Count Lev "Leo" Tolstoy (1828-1910), a Russian writer.
TownleyEnglish Habitational name for a person from Towneley near Burnley in Lancashire, itself from the Old English elements tun "enclosure, settlement" and leah "wood, clearing"... [more]
TuChinese From Chinese 屠 (tú) referring either to Zou Tu, an ancient country that may have existed in what is now Shandong province, or the ancient fief of Tu, which existed during the Shang dynasty in what is now Shaanxi province.
TuChinese From Chinese 涂 (tú), the old name for the Chu River that runs through the present-day provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu.
TwainAmerican Most famously borne in the pen name of American author and one time Mississippi riverboat pilot Mark Twain (1835-1910), whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens... [more]
Van Der SteenDutch, Belgian Habitational name for someone from any of various minor places called Steen or Ten Stene (from steen meaning "stone"), for example in the Belgian provinces of East Flanders and Brabant.
VerlaineFrench, French (Belgian) Habitational name for someone from Verlaine in the province of Liège, Belgium. Paul Verlaine was a noted bearer.
VerneFrench, English As a French surname refers to someone who lived where alder trees grew. While the English version can mean someone who lived where ferns grew, Verne can also mean a seller of ferns which in medieval times were used in bedding, as floor coverings and as animal feed.
WagameseOjibwe Comes from an Ojibway phrase meaning ‘man walking by the crooked water.’
WalcottEnglish habitational name from any of several places called Walcott Walcot or Walcote for example in Lincolnshire Leicestershire Norfolk Oxfordshire and Wiltshire all named in Old English wealh "foreigner Briton serf" (genitive plural wala) and cot "cottage hut shelter" (plural cotu) meaning "the cottage where the (Welsh-speaking) Britons lived".
WeldonEnglish Weldon is one of the many names that the Normans brought with them when they conquered England in 1066. The Weldon family lived in Northamptonshire, at Weldon.... [more]
WellmanEnglish From German Welle meaning "wave" and man, meaning "man", referring to someone who lived by a stream.
WeltyGerman (Swiss) From a Swiss German diminutive of the German given name Walther. A literary bearer was the American writer Eudora Welty (1909-2001).
WhartonEnglish Derived from an Olde English pre 7th Century river name Woefer.
WhitlockEnglish Nickname for someone with white or fair hair, from Middle English whit ‘white’ + lock ‘tress’, ‘curl’. Compare Sherlock. ... [more]
WhitmanEnglish From Middle English whit ‘white’ + man ‘man’, either a nickname with the same sense as White, or else an occupational name for a servant of a bearer of the nickname White.... [more]
WodehouseEnglish The name "de Wodehouse" is attested as early as in the 11th century, of one Bertram, of Wodehouse-tower, Yorkshire, who lived at the time of the Norman conquest.
WylieMedieval English It is of locational origin, and derives from the places called Willey in the counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Devonshire and Surrey.
WynWelsh, English English: from the Old English personal name and byname Wine meaning ‘friend’, in part a short form of various compound names with this first element. Welsh: variant of Gwynn.
YeatsEnglish Scottish and northern English variant spelling of Yates.
ZaimTurkish Zaim may be a representation of the male Arabic given name Za'im / Zaeim (Arabic: ضعیم / زاعِم/ زاعيم), meaning leader, chief. Correspondingly al-Za'im (Arabic: الزعيم) means "the leader".
ZolaItalian Italian: habitational name from any of various minor places named with Zol(l)a, from a dialect term for a mound or bank of earth, as for example Zola Predosa (Bologna) or Zolla in Monrupino (Trieste)... [more]