BicanCzech, Slovak, Romanian Nickname for a tall, gangling person, from Old Czech bočan ‘stork’. Compare Bocian. Also a nickname from bocan ‘hammer’ or a derivative of Boc.
BickelGerman, German (Swiss), Jewish German: from bickel ‘pickaxe’ or ‘chisel’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made pickaxes or worked with a pickaxe or for a stonemason. South German: from a pet form of Burkhart... [more]
BickhamEnglish Habitational name from places so named in Devon and Somerset, most of which are most probably named with an Old English personal name Bicca and Old English cumb "valley". The first element could alternatively be from bica "pointed ridge".
BiddleEnglish, Irish Variant of English BEADLE or German BITTEL. The name is now popular in the north east region of America, where it was brought by English and Irish immigrants.
BiddulphEnglish From the name of a town in Staffordshire, England, derived from Old English bī meaning "beside" and dylf meaning "digging" (a derivative of delfan "to dig").
BidwellEnglish Habitational name from any of the places called Bidwell in England or similar, all derived from Old English byden "vat, tub" and wille "spring, stream, well".
BiedermannGerman, Jewish nickname for an honest man from a compound of Middle High German biderbe "honorable" and man "man". Jewish surname adopted because of its honorific meaning from German bieder "honest, upright" and mann "man".
BiedrońPolish Nickname, either from dialect biedron ‘spotted bullock’, or for someone with conspicuous or deformed hips, from a derivative of dialect biedro ‘hip’.
BiehlGerman From Middle Low German bil "hatchet", Middle High German biel; given to someone who made or used hatchets.
BielPolish, Czech, Slovak Nickname for a white- or fair-haired person, from Polish biel, Old Czech bielý, Slovak biely "white".
BielawskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Bielawa.
BielbyEnglish (British) This surname takes its name from the village of Bielby in East Yorkshire. It derives from the Old Norse personal name Beli and the Old Norse býr "farm, settlement"... [more]
BielecPolish Nickname for a man with white hair or a blond beard, from biały meaning "white".
BieleckiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Bielcza, derived from Polish biel meaning "white".
BielerGerman, Jewish Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of the many places in eastern Europe whose name incorporates the Slavic element byel- ‘white’.... [more]
BielińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places named Bielin, Bielina, Bielino or Bieliny, all derived from Polish biel meaning "white".
BierGerman, Jewish from Middle High German bier "beer" German bier Yiddish bir a metonymic occupational name for a brewer of beer or a tavern owner or in some cases perhaps a nickname for a beer drinker.
BierbaumGerman German: topographic name for someone who lived by a pear tree, Middle Low German berbom. Compare Birnbaum.
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]
BieriGerman (Swiss) Derived from a diminutive of the given name Pierre which was also commonly used in German-speaking Switzerland.
BierschbachGerman German habitational name from a lost or unidentified place.
BiesheuvelDutch From Biesheuvel, the name of a small village in the north of the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. It is derived from Dutch bies meaning "bulrush, club rush" (a grasslike plant that grows in wetlands and damp locations) and heuvel meaning "hill"... [more]
BiesiadaPolish Nickname from biesiada meaning "feast", "banquet", probably for someone who liked to feast.
BiesiadeckiPolish Possible name for a person who came from Biesiadki or Biesiadka in Poland.
BiggersScottish, English Possibly related to the Scottish place name Biggar in South Lanarkshire or the English place name Biggar in Cumbria
BigginsEnglish Habitational name from any of the various places in England named with northern Middle English bigging "building" (from Old Norse). This word came to denote especially an outbuilding, and is still used in and around Northumberland and Cumbria.
BiggsEnglish Derived from the ancient word, "bigga", meaning large.
BiglinEnglish (British) German origin, settled by a single farmer in East Yorkshire in 1750. The name comes from the phrase "big land" meaning someone who owns alot of land.
BigotFrench Either from Old French bigot possibly meaning "beggar" or from the Norman interjection bî got ("by God"), used as a pejorative nickname for the Normans... [more]
BilbaoSpanish Spanish: Habitational Name From The City Of Bilbao In Biscay Basque Country.
BilderbackGerman (Modern, Archaic) German: habitational name from any of the three places in northern Germany named Billderbeck, formerly Bilderbeck.... [more]
BilekCzech Nickname for a fair-haired person, from bílek "whiteness", a derivative of bílý "white".
BilenTurkish Means "knowing, cognizant" in Turkish.
BillinghurstEnglish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous village in West Sussex.
BillingsEnglish It comes from the old English bil, meaning "sword or halberd", though the word later came to refer to a pruning hook used to harvest fruit. It's also possible that the name comes from a location in ancient England called Billing, which would've gotten its name from the same source.
BillingslyEnglish Habitational name from a place in Shropshire named Billingsley, from Old English Billingesleah, probably 'clearing (Old English leah) near a sword-shaped hill'
BinettiItalian Comes from a diminutive of Bino. Italianized form of French 'Binet'. Habitational name from a place called Binetto (named with Latin vinetum ‘vineyard’) in Bari province.
BingelGerman A topographic name derived from a diminutive of Middle High German binge, which means "depression", "ditch", or "pit". May also be derived from pingel, which is a Westphalian nickname for a pedantic person.
BingerEnglish Derived from the Old English name Binningas, which was a name for someone who lived near stables.
BinghamEnglish Ultimately deriving from the toponym of Melcombe Bingham in Dorset. The name was taken to Ireland in the 16th century, by Richard Bingham, a native of Dorset who was appointed governor of Connaught in 1584... [more]
BingleyEnglish Habitational surname for someone originally from the town of Bingley in West Yorkshire, England. The name is either derived from the given name Bynna combined with the suffix -inga meaning "the people of" or from the Old English elements bing meaning "hollow" and leah meaning "woodland, clearing".
BiniItalian Comes from the given name Albino and other names ending with -bino ending.
BinkEnglish Topographic name for someone living by a bink, a northern dialect term for a flat raised bank of earth or a shelf of flat stone suitable for sitting on. The word is a northern form of modern English bench.
BirchEnglish, German, Danish, Swedish (Rare) From Middle High German birche, Old English birce, Old Danish birk, all meaning "birch". This was likely a topographic name for someone living by a birch tree or a birch forest... [more]
BirchallEnglish Probably a habitational name from Birchill in Derbyshire or Birchills in Staffordshire, both named in Old English with birce "birch" + hyll "hill".
BircherGerman (Swiss) South German and Swiss German topographic name for someone who lived by a birch tree or in a birch wood, from Middle High German birche "birch" + the suffix -er denoting an inhabitant.
BirkelandNorwegian Derived from Old Norse birki "birch" and land "farm, land". This was the name of several farms in Norway.
BirkenfeldGerman From the name of various places in Germany, like the one in Rhineland-Palatinate, all derived from Old High German birka "birch tree" and feld "field"... [more]
BirnbaumGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a pear tree, from Middle High German bir "pear" and boum "tree".
BirneyEnglish Scottish: habitational name from a place in Morayshire, recorded in the 13th century as Brennach, probably from Gaelic braonach 'damp place'.
BirnieScottish Part of the clan MacInnes from the Scottish highlands. It was originally the name of a church (Burn-nigh) which became Birnie or Birney.
BirtwistleEnglish From the names of various places in England or similar, all derived from Old Norse bjǫrk "birch tree" and Old English twisel "fork, bifurcation".
BissonnetteFrench (Quebec) North American spelling of French Bissonet, a topographic name from a diminutive of Old French buisson meaning "bush, scrub".
BiswasBengali Derived from Sanskrit विश्वास (viśvāsa) meaning "trust, confidence, faith".
BitarArabic Means "farrier, blacksmith, smith" in Arabic.
BitoJapanese From 美 (bi) meaning "beauty" or 尾 (bi) meaning "end, tail, foot of a mountain" combined with 藤 (to) meaning "wisteria".
BitsillyNavajo Means "his younger brother", from Navajo bi- meaning "his" and atsilí meaning "younger brother".
BitsuieNavajo From bitsóí meaning "his grandchild", a commonly adopted surname when the BIA required Native Americans to take surnames for the purpose of official records.
BjörnSwedish Means "bear" in Swedish. Either taken directly from the given name (see Björn) or from a nickname for a big, hairy person. It may also be derived from a place named with the element björn.
BjörnbergSwedish Ornamental name derived from Swedish björn meaning "bear" and berg meaning "mountain".
BlaauwDutch, South African Archaic spelling of Dutch blauw "blue", a nickname referring to the bearer’s eye colour, clothes, or possibly a pale and sickly complexion. It could also be an occupational name for someone who made blue dye, or bluing for laundry.
BlachPolish Alternatively perhaps a metonymic occupational name from Old Polish blach ‘skeet iron’, ‘metal fittings’.
BlacherFrench Mainly used in Southern France. Topographic name for someone who lived by an oak grove, originating in the southeastern French dialect word blache ‘oak plantation’ (said to be of Gaulish origin), originally a plantation of young trees of any kind.
BlacksmithEnglish Occupational name for a blacksmith, a smith who work with iron. The name is rare in England and mostly found in North America, suggesting that it's a translation of a non-English name meaning "blacksmith" (see Kowalski, Raudsepp and Lefèvre for example).
BlagaRomanian Probably related to several places named Blaga in Romania.
BlagdenEnglish Derived from any of several places across England called Blagden, Blackden, or Blagdon, which can varyingly derive from Old English blæcdun ("black hill") or blæcdenu ("black valley").
BlakewayEnglish Literally means "black way", thus referring to a black road near which the original bearer must have lived. A famous bearer of this surname was Jacob Blakeway (b. 1583-?), the biological father of Mayflower passenger Richard More (1614-1696).
BlakewoodMedieval English Derived from the Old English words blaec, which means black, and wudu, which means wood, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a dark, wooded area.
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]
BlandfordEnglish Habitational name from Blandford Forum and other places called Blandford in Dorset (Blaneford in Domesday Book), probably named in Old English with bl?ge 'gudgeon' (genitive plural blægna) + ford 'ford'.
BlaneyIrish Topographic name from Welsh blaenau, plural of blaen "point, tip, end", i.e. uplands, or remote region, or upper reaches of a river.
BlankGerman, Dutch, Jewish Means "white, pale, bright", a nickname for a person with white or fair hair or a pale complexion. As a Jewish name, it’s ornamental.
BlankeGerman, English, Dutch Nickname for someone with a fair complexion. From Old High German blanc meaning "white".
BlankenshipEnglish Variant of Blenkinsop, a surname derived from a place in Northumberland called Blenkinsopp. The place name possibly derives from Cumbric blaen "top" and kein "back, ridge", i.e. "top of the ridge", combined with Old English hōp "valley" (compare Hope).
BlantonScottish (Americanized, Modern) An americanized version of the old Scottish name Ballantine (other forms being Ballantyne, Bannatyne, Ballanden).
BlaseyFrench The name may have been associated with a 4th century (316) French saint Blasius of Armenie (Armienes,) and later introduced into and adopted by Yorkshire people as their saint of wool-combers from a Norman noble.
BlasioliItalian Ancient and illustrious Benevento family, called Blasi or Di Blasi, of clear and avita nobility.
BlasiusGerman, French From the Latin personal name Blasius. This was a Roman family name, originating as a byname for someone with some defect, either of speech or gait, from Latin blaesus "stammering, lisping", itself from Ancient Greek βλαισός (blaisos) "bent, crooked; bow-legged".
BlasquezSpanish From the medieval diminutive Velasco, from the Basque word 'bela' meaning "crow", and the diminutive suffix 'sko'.
BlattGerman, Jewish Ornamental name derived from German blatt and Yiddish blat meaning "leaf", or a topographic name for someone who lived at a farm on a ledge on a mountainside, derived from Middle High German blate meaning "flat surface, ledge, plateau".
BlaumGerman German last name, likely a variant of the last name Blom or Blum, referring to the word flower/blooming.
BlaumanGerman, Jewish From German Blau meaning "blue" and Mann meaning "man". It can be a nickname for a person who wears blue clothes.
BlausteinGerman, Jewish Ornamental name from German blau "blue" and Stein "stone", i.e. lapis lazuli.