LimaPortuguese Topographic name for someone living on the banks of the river of this name (of pre-Roman origin, probably akin to a Celtic element lemos, limos 'elm').
LimaPortuguese Topographic name for someone who lived on the banks of the Lima River in Portugal, most likely derived from Indo-European *léymō meaning "lake".
LiyanasuriyaSinhalese From Sinhala ලියන (liyana) meaning "writing" combined with Sanskrit सूर्य (surya) meaning "sun".
LizárragaBasque (Hispanicized) Castilianized form of Basque Lizarraga, a habitational name from any of several places derived from Basque lizar (archaic form leizar) "ash tree" and the locative suffix -aga meaning "abundance of" or "place of".
LlapashticaKosovar, Albanian, Serbian Derived from the name of Kosovan villages named Llapashticë e Poshtme or Llapashticë e Epërme. It could also denote a person from Serbian villages called Donja Lapaštica or Gornja Lapaštica.
LlongoriaAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the parish of Samartín de Llodón in the municipality of Balmonte.
LloveraCatalan Topographic name from llovera "wolf pack" or "wolves' lair".
LoaizaBasque Castilianized form of a Basque topographic name derived from lohi "mud, mire" and the suffix -tza denoting abundance.
LoberaSpanish Either a topographic name from lobera "wolf pack" or "wolves' lair" or a habitational name from any of several places called La Lobera. variant of Lovera.
Lo GuastaItalian Variant of Guasti, literally "the broken". Probably used as a nickname for someone with a twisted or deformed limb, used in at least one case for a foundling.
LoiaItalian Most likely a variant of Aloia. May alternately be related to Italian loggia "atrium, open-roofed gallery", Greek λεώς (leos) "the people", or Tuscan loia "dirt, filth on clothes or skin", perhaps a nickname for someone with a profession that often made them dirty, such as mining.
LopataRussian, Ukrainian Derived either from Russian лопата (lopata) or Ukrainian лопата (lopata) both meaning "spade, shovel". This may have been a nickname for a digger or a truck farmer.
LosadaSpanish, Portuguese topographic name for someone who lived by an area paved with flagstones Spanish losada (from losar "to pave" a derivative of losa a word of pre-Roman origin meaning a "flat stone slab").
LoshaAlbanian An Albanian surname, most common on the south in the variant Loshaj. The most famous person bearing it was Peter Losha, head of the Losha clan and the despot of Arta.The surname originates from the word lios means "pockmark" in Albanian.
LoveraItalian, Spanish Either a topographic name from lovera "wolf pack" or "wolves’ lair" or a habitational name from a place called Lovera. Spanish variant of Lobera.
LoyaBasque, Spanish From a location in Navarre, Spain, probably means "the mud", derived from Basque lohi "mud, mire".
LuccaItalian A habitational name from Lucca Sicula in Agrigento province, Sicily, which was called simply Lucca until 1863. It was probably originally named with a Celtic element meaning ‘marshy.’
LuzaBasque Surname originally used by people from Lusa, Castro Urdiales, Spain. It comes from the Basque word "luze" (long, tall), possibly of Celtic origin.
LuzuriagaBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous council of the municipality of Donemiliaga.
MaccaaScottish MacCaa has many clan associations; the most prominent being with the Stuarts of Bute, the Clan MacKay, the Clan MacFarlane, the Clan MacDonald and Clan Galloway. The name is a phonetic variation of MacKay, meaning 'son of Aoh (ie the champion)'... [more]
MacchiaItalian Topographic name from Italian macchia "thicket, scrub, brush" (from Latin macula "spot, fleck, stain") as well as a habitational name from any of various places named Macchia... [more]
Mac Giolla ChudaIrish Meaning ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Chuda’, a personal name of unexplained origin. This was the name of a 7th-century abbot-bishop of Rathin in County Westmeath.... [more]
Mac Giolla IasachtaIrish Means "son of the strange youth", from Irish Gaelic iasachta "loan" "foreign", hence denoting to a boy who transferred to another family for fosterage, a common custom in ancient Ireland.
MaciupaPolish (Anglicized, ?) Ukrainian/Polish (Historically Galicia/Western Ukraine/Austro-Hungary); although it is often seen spelt this Anglicized way; due to the changing land-borders and occupation of land throughout history, it has been spelt with a slightly different transliteration pronunciation in Cyrillic (phonetic sound in Cyrillic is 'ts' as opposed to 'ch').
MadigaIndian, Telugu Telugu occupational name for a leather worker, a job historically considered polluting and impure in India, where the surname belongs to Dalit, or "Untouchables" - members of the lowest caste.
MaebaraJapanese Maebara is an uncommon Japanese surname that has more than one meaning, depending on the characters used to write it. The first and most common spelling is with the characters for "Before" (前) and "Original" (原)... [more]
MagdalitaTagalog Means "to entreat, to beseech, to implore" in Tagalog.
MagindaraCebuano Magindara is a name of a demigoddess who turned into a mermaid, it is also the name of mythical creatures in the Philippines that are man-eating mermaids. It's a Central Bikol word for "mermaid".
MaharanaIndian, Odia Derived from the Sanskrit title महाराणा (maharana) meaning "king of kings", from महा (maha) meaning "great" and राणा (rana) meaning "king".
MaiaPortuguese Habitational name from any of several places named Maia, especially one in Porto.
MaiaBasque From the name of a village in Navarre, Spain, called Amaiur in Basque, derived from amai "end, boundary, limit" (compare the given name Amaia).
MaiàCatalan Habitational name from Maià de Montcal, a village in Girona, or any of several other places named with Maià, which is of pre-Roman origin.
MaiharaJapanese A Japanese surname formed from the kanji characters 舞 (Mai, "dance") and 原 (Hara, "field" or "plain"). The meaning could be interpreted as "dancing field/plains" or "field/plain of dance".
MakitaJapanese I'm not sure how the surname is usually written, but 真 (Ma) means "Genuine, Real, Sincere" and 北 (Kita) means "North". On the other hand, 牧 (Maki) means "Shepard, Tend cattle" and 田 (Ta) means "Rice Field, Rice Paddy"... [more]
MalatestaItalian Means "bad head" in Italian, a nickname for a stubborn or perhaps malicious person. It could have also indicated the bearer had a misshapen head. ... [more]
MalayaRussian, Ukrainian From Russian малый (maliy) or Ukrainian малий (malyy) both meaning "small, little", used as a nickname for a small child or a person who was thin or short in stature. Alternately, it may have come from Tatar малай (malay) meaning "boy, son" or "apprentice".