ByresScottish Byres was first used as a surname by the descendants of the ancient Boernician clans of Scotland. The first Byres family lived in or near the place named Byers in Scotland. The place-name, Byers, derives from the Old English word byre, which means cattle shed... [more]
CabañasSpanish, Portuguese Habitational name from a place named with Spanish cabaña or Portuguese cabanha ‘hut’, ‘cabin’.
CabanissFrench Variant spelling of Cabanis, a habitational name from any of various places in Gard named Cabanis, from Late Latin capannis ‘at the huts’, ablative plural of capanna 'hut'... [more]
CabucosEnglish Decended from Old English meaning "leader."
CaderasRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and dera "free area".
CadiñanosSpanish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous minor local entity.
CagadasFilipino The name Cagadas is most likely made or given to the Filipinos during the baptism of native Filipinos to Christianity in the 19th Century during the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Most Filipinos had no surnames prior to their baptism and these names are given by the Spanish colonizers.
CairnsScottish From Gaelic carn "cairn", a topographic name for someone who lived by a cairn, i.e. a pile of stones raised as a boundary marker or a memorial.
CaithnessScottish Anglicized form of Scottish-Gaelic Gallaibh, which means "among the strangers" (referring to the Norse). The name of the Catti survives in the Gaelic name for eastern Sutherland, Cataibh, and in the old Gaelic name for Shetland, Innse Chat... [more]
CajigasSpanish, Filipino Topographic name from the plural of Spanish cajigo, derived from quejigo meaning "gall oak".
CampumanesAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous parish of the municipality of Ḷḷena.
CampusSpanish Derived from the Latin word campus, meaning "field". It denoted someone who either lived in a field or worked in one.
CamusBasque From the name of a location in Bermeo, Vizcaya (or Biscay), a Basque region in Spain.
CanalesSpanish Spanish: habitational name from any of several places called Canales, from canales, plural of canal ‘canal’, ‘water channel’, from Latin canalis.
CanizalesSpanish (Latin American) This surname came from around the beginnings of 1800 in south regions of Colombia where sugar cane was cultivated. It's a variation of Cañizales, that literally means "sugar cane fields".
CarruthersScottish This old Scottish surname was first used by Strathclyde-Briton people. The Carruthers family in the land of Carruthers in the parish of Middlebie, Dumfriesshire. In that are it is pronounced 'Cridders'.... [more]
CarstairsEnglish (British) From the manor or barony of the same name in the parish of Carstairs (= 1170 Casteltarres, 'Castle of Tarres').
CasarrubiasSpanish Topographic name from the plural of Spanish casa rubia ‘red house’.
CasavantesFrench, Spanish, Basque Topographic name composed of casa "house" + avant "ahead of forward" + the suffix -es, denoting one who lived in the house located at the beginning of a village. This surname has died out in France.
CasesCatalan Catalan family name. Plural of 'casa' meaning 'house', possibly given to people who were given or built a manor or town house or had a slightly better than normal dwelling for their location/village etc..... [more]
CasiellesAsturian From the town of Casielles, Asturias, Spain. From "casa" (house) and the suffix -ielles, a diminituve suffix, so this surname could mean "little houses".
CasillasSpanish From any of various places called Casillas or Las Casillas, from the plural of casilla, a diminutive of Casa. ... [more]
CatesEnglish English patronymic from the Old Norse byname Káti (from káti ‘boy’).
CathomasRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Thomas.
CatsDutch, Jewish Habitational name for a person from the village of Kats in Zeeland, Holland, or a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a cat, derived from Middle Dutch catte literally meaning "cat"... [more]
CaviedesCantabrian (Hispanicized) Castilianized form of a surname that indicates familial origin within an eponymous locality in the municipality of Valdáliga.
CawasIndian (Parsi), Persian, Indian, Arabic Cawas is an Indian (Parsi) surname which means “Arch” in Persian and ultimately Arabic. John Cawas of Toofani Tarzan fame was a notable person with that surname.
CaylusFrench Of debated origin and meaning; theories include a Southern French corruption of Latin castellum "castle, fort, citadel, fortress, stronghold".
CelsiusSwedish (Archaic), History Latinized form of Högen "the mound" (Latin: celsus), the name of a vicarage in Ovanåker parish, Sweden. Celsius is a unit of measurement for temperature named for Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744).
CeludrusPersian Mythology (Rare, Archaic, ?) It is a mystical name of a fiction book by an author named Giselle Viatcheslav, meaning "DRAGON DIAMOND GUARDIAN OF EVIL". It emerged shortly after a millennium dragon gives birth to a child with vampire blood on the sacred celestial moon... [more]
CendejasSpanish Cendejas is a city in Guadalahara. It is short for Cendejas de la Torre.
CespedesSpanish From the plural of cesped "peat", "turf" (Latin caespes, genitive caespitis), applied as a habitational name from a place named Céspedes (for example in Burgos province) or named with this word, or a topographic name for someone who lived by an area of peat, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for someone who cut and sold turf.
ChairesSpanish (Mexican) Possibly a plural form of Galician chaira "little valley or meadow" or chairo "flat" (way, terrain). Refers to a person who lived in such a place.
ChakirisGreek Alternate transcription of Greek Τσακίρης (see Tsakiris). The American actor and dancer George Chakiris (1932-), who is best known for portraying the character Bernardo Vasquez in the movie West Side Story (1961), is a famous bearer of this name.
ChalkokondylisGreek Chalkokondylis (or Chalkokondyles) was a Greek noble family of Athens which was elected during the Florentine possession of the city. The family can be traced back to the 11th century.
ChalmersScottish Variant of Chambers. The -l- was originally an orthographic device to indicate the length of the vowel after assimilation of -mb- to -m(m)-.
CharterisScottish The family is said to have originated in the French town of Chartres.
ChartersEnglish Scottish (Kirkcudbrightshire) and northern English, ultimately of Norman origin. This is a habitational name derived from the French town of Chartres, which is named from the Gaulish tribe recorded in Latin sources as the Carnutes.
ChavisLumbee The earliest possibly record of this is from 1728. The spelling at the time was possibly different. It was the surname of freed servant mulatto servant named Will Chaviss. In 1900 census of Robeson County, North Carolina the word was self-identified as a Lumbee last name.
ChildersEnglish Probably a habitational name from some lost place named Childerhouse, from Old English cildra "child" and hus "house", possibly referring to an orphanage.
ChoulesEnglish (British, Rare) The surname Choules is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a variant of Scholes, itself "a topographical name for someone who lived in a rough hut or shed", from the Northern Middle English 'scale, schole'... [more]
ChristmasEnglish Either an occupational name for someone who was responsible for arrangement of festivities for Christmas day, or it might a nickname for someone who was born on Christmas.
CifuentesSpanish Habitational Name Probably From Cifuentes In Guadalajara Named From Spanish Cien ‘Hundred’ (From Latin Centum) + Fuentes ‘Springs’ (From Latin Fontes; See Font ) Because Of The Abundance Of Natural Springs In The Area.
CisnerosSpanish Habitational name from Cisneros, a place in the province of Palencia, named with a derivative of Spanish cisne 'swan' (via Old French and Latin from Greek kyknos).
ClossGerman Variant of Kloss and, in North America, also an altered form of this. It is also found in Lorraine, France.
ClottsEnglish Found in the United States, most likely either an English spelling of Klutz, meaning "awkward, clumsy," or as a plural form of the English surname Clot, meaning "cloth ."
ClucasManx Contracted anglicised form of "Mac Lucas" meaning "Son of Lucas
CoatesEnglish Name for a cottager or a person who lived in a humble dwelling, derived from Old English cote meaning "cottage, hut". It could also be used as a habitational name for someone from any of numerous locations with this name.
CoisItalian Possibly from the name of a lost town, Coni. Alternately, may be from dialectical words meaning "to cook" or "finch", referring to an occupation or nickname.
CombèsFrench Either a topographic name from combe "narrow valley ravine" (see Combe ) or a habitational name from any of various places in southern France for example in Hérault named Combes.
CommonsBreton It's generally believed this name comes from a Breton personal name, derived from element "cam," meaning "bent," or "crooked;" or from the herb "cummin" (cumin). Or from the place name Comines, in Flanders, Northern France.... [more]
CopasEnglish Possibly a topographic name derived from Middle English coppis "coppice, thicket, grove of brushwood; cut-over forest".
CopernicusHistory Nicolaus Copernicus is a mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe... [more]
CorlissEnglish Derived from Old English carleas "free from anxiety; unconcerned", cognate to Old Norse kærulauss. This was a nickname given to a carefree person.
CorpusEnglish Possibly derived from Old Norse Korpr "raven", a nickname for a person with dark hair.
CorpusSpanish Ultimately from Latin corpus meaning "body, corpse, matter". It is possibly from the feast of Corpus Christi.
CorralesSpanish Habitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations named Corrales in Spain, from Spanish corral meaning "coral, enclosure".
CorriasItalian Probably from Sardinian corria "leather strap, lace, belt; narrow strip of land".
CourcellesFrench The name of several places in France, Belgium and Canada. In Middle French the word courcelle was used to describe a "small court" or a "small garden". The word is derived from the medieval Gallo-Romance and Gallo-Italian word corticella, which was formed from the Latin word cohors, meaning "court" or "enclosure", and the diminutive –icella.... [more]
CressGerman, Jewish, Belarusian A variant of the German surname Kress. From the Middle High German "kresse" meaning "gudgeon" (a type of fish) or the Old High German "krassig", meaning "greedy". Can also be from an altered form of the names Erasmus or Christian, or the Latin spelling of the Cyrillic "КРЕСС".
CreusCatalan Means "crosses" in Catalan, the plural of creu. Also compare Spanish Cruces. A famous bearer of this surname is the Spanish footballer Xavi Hernández Creus (1980-).
CribbsEnglish (Rare) Unknown origin. Likely either from the Old English given name Crispin, which derives from a Latin nickname meaning "curly-haired", or from the place Cribbis near Lauder, England.
CricksAmerican "living near a river." Comes from a similar origin of Rios
CubillasSpanish Denoted a person from one of the various places of this name in Castile and León, Spain, which may derive from a diminutive of Old Spanish cuba meaning "barrel", ultimately from Latin cupa (see Cuba)... [more]
CulindrisCantabrian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
CypressEnglish Translation of German Zypress, a topographic name for someone living near a cypress tree or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a cypress, Middle High German zipres(se) (from Italian cipressa, Latin cupressus), or possibly of any of various Greek family names derived from kyparissos ‘cypress’, as for example Kyparissis, Kyparissos, Kyparissiadis, etc.
CyrusEnglish From the given name Cyrus. A notable bearer is American singer and songwriter, Miley Cyrus (1992-).