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]
MolinaroItalian Occupational name for a miller, derived from Italian mulino meaning "mill".
MolinaroloItalian Probably from a person's occupation, with molino/mulino meaning "mill" in Italian. The second part may come from rullo, meaning "a roller" or "I roll."
MolineroSpanish An occupational surname from molinero (“miller”).
MonacoItalian Means "monk" in Italian, ultimately derived from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós) "single, solitary" via Latin monachus. Could be a nickname for someone of monkish habits or appearance, a topographic name for someone living close to a monastery, or an occupational name for a servant employed at a monastery.
MontalbanoItalian Habitational name from any of several places called Montalbano, including Montalbano di Elicona in northeastern Sicily (earlier simply Montalbano), Montalbano Jonico (Matera province), or the district of Montalbano in Fasano, Brindisi.
MontaltoItalian, Portuguese Habitational name from any of various places called Montalto or Montaldo especially Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza province in Italy or from a place in Portugal called Montalto from monte "hill" and alto "high" (from Latin altus).
MontalvoPortuguese, Spanish, Italian Montalvo is a habitational Portuguese and Spanish surname that originated in the medieval period. It comes from the Spanish words monte, meaning "mount", and albo, meaning "white". The name was often given to families who lived near or on a white mountain or hill, and can be interpreted as "white mountain".
MontapertoItalian From the name of a town in Agrigento, Sicily, perhaps meaning "open mountain" from monte "mountain" and aperto "open, unlocked".
MonteagudoSpanish Habitational name from any of numerous places called Monteagudo (‘pointed mountain’) from monte ‘mountain’ + agudo ‘sharp pointed’ (from Latin acutus from acus ‘needle’) for example in the provinces of Murcia Teruel A Coruña and Navarre.
MonteblancoFrench, Spanish Originally from France "Mont Blanc" but translated when arrived in Spain.
MontecalvoItalian Habitational name from any of various places called Montecalvo ("bald mountain") especially Montecalvo Irpino in Avellino province, from the elements monte "mountain" and calvo "bald".
MontenegroSpanish, Portuguese Habitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in Spain and Portugal named Montenegro, from Spanish and Portuguese monte meaning "mountain, hill" and negro meaning "black".
MontoroSpanish, Italian A Spanish habitational name from any of the places called Montoro in particular those in Córdoba or Teruel provinces. Italian habitational name from any of the places called Montoro in particular Montoro Inferiore and Montoro Superiore in Avellino province.
MonzoItalian Possibly a variant of Monsu, which may be an occupational name for a cook, Calabrian munsu, or a nickname or title from Milanese monsu ‘sir’, ‘lord’, ‘gentleman’.
MorabitoItalian Ultimately from Arabic مُرَابِط (murabit) "holy man, one who preaches in the street; soldier stationed in an outpost", from which comes Sicilian murabitu "moderate, sober" and murabbiu "teetotal".
MorpurgoJudeo-Italian Italian surname of Jewish origin, originally Marpurg, from the Austrian city Marburg an der Drau (today Maribor in Slovenia). The progenitor was Moises Jacob, father of Petachia, in Bad-Rackersburg, Austria... [more]
MoscatoItalian Variant of the personal name Muscato, also Americanized spelling of Greek Moskatos, a metonymic occupational name for a grower of muscat grapes.
MoskalenkoUkrainian Means "child of a moskal" in Ukrainian. A moskal originally denoted somebody who was an inhabitant of the Grand Duchy of Moscow from the 12th to the 15th centuries. However, nowadays it is used as a pejorative term for a Muscovite or, by extension, a Russian... [more]
MoskovchenkoUkrainian Means "child of the Moskovite", from Ukrainian Москва (Moskva) "Moscow".
NaitōJapanese From Japanese 内 (nai) meaning "inside" and 藤 (tō) meaning "wisteria".
NakabugoEastern African A rare surname primarily found in Uganda derived from Nakabugo, with a documented origin in the Nkima clan of the Buganda kingdom. The name is derived from one of the daughters of the clan head, Mugema.
NakasatoJapanese From Japanese 仲 (naka) meaning "relationship" and 里 (sato) meaning "village".
NakazatoJapanese From 中 (naka) meaning "center, middle" and 里 (sato) meaning "village."
NakibogofEastern African From the prefix "Na-" which is commonly used in female names and can denote "mother of" or relate to femininity and the root "kibogo" which is a dialectal form of "kibuga," which in Luganda means "city" or "capital."
NakoJapanese From 名 (na) meaning "name, noted, distinguished, reputation" and 幸 (ko) meaning "happiness, blessing, fortune".
NapelloItalian (Rare) Means "aconite, monkshood" in Italian, taken from the plant’s scientific name Aconitum napellus, a nickname for someone considered to have an unpleasant or "poisonous" character.
NapsoCircassian (Russified) Means "whole-eyed", derived from Adyghe нэ (nă) meaning "eye" and псэу (psăw) "health, alive" or "whole, all, complete".
NaranjoSpanish Topographic name for someone who lived by an orange grove, from Spanish naranjo ‘orange tree’ (from naranja ‘orange’, Arabic nāránjya), or a habitational name from a place named Naranjo in A Coruña and Códoba provinces... [more]
NascimentoPortuguese (Brazilian) Means "birth, nativity" in Portuguese, from Late Latin nascimentum, a derivative of Latin nasci "to be born". This was originally a religious byname. It was also an epithet of the Virgin Mary (Maria do Nascimento), and was used as a given name for children born on Christmas.
NashkhoCircassian Literally means “blue-eyed” from Adyghe нэ (nă) meaning “eye” combined with шхъуантӏэ (šχ°ānṭă) meaning “blue”.
NatkhoCircassian Shapsug name possibly derived from Adyghe нат (nāt) meaning "Nart" (referring to a Caucasian saga) combined with хъо (χo) meaning "pig".
NegroItalian, Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish Nickname or ethnic name from negro "black" (Latin niger), denoting someone with dark hair or a dark complexion.
NegroItalian, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, Jewish Nickname or ethnic name from negro "black" (continuation of Latin niger), denoting someone with dark hair, dark eyes, a dark complexion, someone who wore dark clothes, someone who worked a job in the night, or was otherwise associated with the night.
NehoJapanese Japanese surname meaning "raised foundation".
NesbøNorwegian Derived from Old Norse nes "headland" and bǿr "farmhouse, farmstead".
NeshchadymenkoUkrainian (Rare) Cossack surname meaning "no mercy", from Ukrainian не (ne) "not, none, no" and щадити (shchadyty) "to spare, to show mercy".
NikaidoJapanese (Rare, ?) From japanese kanji 二 (ni) meaning "two", 階 (kai) meaning "floor, storey" combined with 堂 (dō) meaning "temple". The last name is a name of a clan of Japanese samurai that ruled the Iwase District of Mutsu Province during the Sengoku period during the Kamakura era... [more]
NocitoItalian from Latin nucetum (Italian noceto) "walnut orchard" applied as either a topographic name for someone who lived by such a place or as a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in one.
NotoJapanese No means "wilderness, field, plain" and to means "wisteria" or "door".
NovelloItalian From the nickname and personal name Novello, from Italian meaning 'new, young'. A famous bearer of this name is Welsh actor and musician Ivor Novello (1893-1951).
NovoGalician, Portuguese Nickname from Portuguese and Galician novo ‘new’, ‘young’ (Latin novus). The word was also occasionally used in the Middle Ages as a personal name, particularly for a child born after the death of a sibling, and this may also be a source of the surname.
NukutoJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 貫 (nuku) meaning "pierce; go through" and 渡 (to) meaning "go across, migrate".
NukutōJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 抽く (nuku) meaning "to pull out; to draw out" and 冬 (tō) meaning "winter".
NushiroJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 主代 (nushiro), a contraction of 主代 (nushishiro), from 主 (nushi), a variant reading of 主 (shu), a clipping of 主人 (shujin) meaning "master, owner, host" and 代 (shiro), a variant reading of 代 (dai), a clipping of 代理 (dairi) meaning "surrogation; proxy", referring to someone who would represent their master.
OboronkoUkrainian From Ukrainian оборонець (oboronets), meaning "defender".
OcampoSpanish, Galician From the Galician toponym O Campo meaning "the field", also used as a habitational name from a town of the same name in Lugo, Galicia.