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".
MoračaSerbian Morača is a historical region in Montenegro.
MoraczewskiPolish This indicates familial origin within either of 2 Greater Polish villages named Moraczewo.
MorantEnglish, French From the Old French personal name Morant, perhaps from a nickname meaning "steadfast", or alternatively of Germanic origin and meaning literally "courage-raven". A known bearer was the British-born Australian soldier and poet Breaker Morant, original name Edwin Henry Murrant (?1864-1902).
MoranvilleFrench Habitational name from a commune in France named Moranville, probably derived from the personal name Morand and Old French ville "city, town, settlement".
MoratallaSpanish This indicates familial origin within the eponymous Murcian municipality.
MordauntEnglish Recorded as Mordant, Mordaunt (English), Mordagne, Mordant (French) and apparently Mordanti in Italy, this is a surname of French origins. According to the famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley writing in the year 1880, the name was originally Norman, and was brought to England by a follower of Duke William of Normandy, when he conquered England in 1066... [more]
MorehouseEnglish Habitational name from any of various places, for example Moorhouse in West Yorkshire, named from Old English mōr meaning "marsh", "fen" + hūs meaning "house".
MorellRomansh Derived from Latin maurus "Moorish, North African" as well as a derivation from a diminutive of the given name Maurus.
MoreraSpanish, Catalan Means "mulberry" in Spanish and Catalan, denoting a person who lived near a mulberry tree.
MoreschiItalian Nickname for a dark-skinned person, derived from the Medieval Latin word moro, actually from the Latin Maurus, meaning, "dark-skinned".
MoreyIrish, English Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Ó Mórdha, and in English (of Norman origin), derived from the Old French given name Mory, a short form of Amaury (see Emery).
MoriwakiJapanese From Japanese 森 (mori) meaning "forest" and 脇 (waki) meaning "side".
MoriyaJapanese From the Japanese 守 (mori) meaning "watchman, keeper, caretaker, guard, protect, defend" or 森 (mori) meaning "forest" combined with 屋 (ya) meaning "house, dwelling" or 谷 (ya or tani) meaning "valley."
MortEnglish Perhaps from a Norman nickname based on Old French mort "dead", possibly referring to someone with a deathly pallor or otherwise sepulchral appearance.
MortlockEnglish Habitational name denoting someone from Mortlake, Surrey, or from Mortlach, Banff. Mortlake could mean either "Morta’s meadow", from the byname Morta and Old English lag "wet pasture, marshy field", or "salmon stream", from mort "young salmon" and lacu "stream, pool"... [more]
MosbruckerGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a bridge over a swamp, from Middle High German mos meaning "bog", "swamp" + brucke meaning "bridge".
MoscaRomansh Younger form of Muos-cha which was derived from Romansh muos-cha "fly (animal)".
MoscatelliItalian The name Moscatelli has its origins in a type of grape called Moscatel. This grape has its origin in ancient Egypt or Greece, but it was in Italy that it became famous. Here the farmers that planted the grape became known as the Moscatelli.
MoscatoItalian Variant of the personal name Muscato, also Americanized spelling of Greek Moskatos, a metonymic occupational name for a grower of muscat grapes.
MoselGerman Habitational name from any of several places so named. topographic name from the Mosel river in western Germany a tributary of the Rhine that rises in the Vosges and flows through Lorraine and then a deep winding valley from Trier to Koblenz.
MoseleItalian, German (Austrian) This surname is to be found in north-eastern Italy, more specifically in the Vicenza and Verona provinces. Families with this name are certain to be originally from the mountain town of Asiago, situated on a plateau north of Vicenza and now a well-known skiing resort... [more]
MosherEnglish It is one of several variants of the name Mauger, also spelt Moger and Major, which itself comes from the Old French Maugier and Old German Malger, a compound name meaning "council-spear"... [more]
MoskowitzJewish Germanized form of a patronymic surname formed by adding the Slavic suffix "-ovic" meaning "son of" to a Yiddish transformation (Moshke) of the biblical Hebrew personal Moses ("Mosko" was a Polish pet form of the personal name Moses).
MosleyEnglish Habitational name from any of several places called Mos(e)ley in central, western, and northwestern England. The obvious derivation is from Old English mos "peat bog" and leah "woodland clearing", but the one in southern Birmingham (Museleie in Domesday Book) had as its first element Old English mus "mouse", while one in Staffordshire (Molesleie in Domesday Book) had the genitive case of the Old English byname Moll.
MosquedaSpanish Mosqueda comes from the Spanish word 'Mosca' meaning house fly.
MosqueraSpanish, Catalan Spanish topographic name for someone who lived in a place that was infested with flies or mosquitos from a derivative of mosca "fly" (from Latin musca)... [more]
MossbergSwedish Combination of Swedish mosse "bog" and berg "mountain".
MossingNorwegian Habitational name from a farm name in Trøndelag, probably named with mose meaning "moss" + vin meaning "meadow".
MossmanEnglish This interesting name is a variant of the surname Moss which is either topographical for someone who lived by a peat bog, from the Old English pre 7th Century 'mos' or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example Mosedale in Cumbria or Moseley in West Yorkshire.
MostGerman Metonymic occupational name for a producer or seller of must, i.e. unfermented grape juice, from Middle High German most, ultimately derived from Latin mustum vinum meaning "young (i.e. fresh) wine"... [more]
MostPolish, Jewish Topographic name from Slavic most meaning "bridge", or a habitational name from any of several places named with this word.
MotelFrench Topographic name from a derivative of Old French motte ‘fortified stronghold’.
MothEnglish From a nickname derived from Middle English mothe meaning "moth". Known bearers include New Zealand photojournalist Margaret Moth (1951-2010), British artist Charlotte Moth (1978-), and British Roman Catholic bishop Richard Moth (1958-).
MotherwellScottish Means "person from Motherwell", North Lanarkshire ("Our Lady's well"). American artist Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was a known bearer.
MotleyEnglish This surname may come from a nickname for someone wearing parti-coloured clothes (from Anglo-French motteley, which may come from Old English mot meaning "speck").
MotoyamaJapanese Combination of Kanji Characters 本 meaning "Book", and 山 meaning "Mountain".
MottEnglish The surname Mott was first found in Essex, where the family held a family seat from very early times, having been granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Moate (Irish: An Móta) is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland... [more]
MotteFrench, Walloon, Flemish, German from old French motte "motte" a word of Gaulish origin denoting a man-made protective mound or moat surrounding a castle or other fortified strongholds; or a habitational name from any of the various places in France and in Belgium named with this word.... [more]
MoulderEnglish Derived from the Middle English word molder which means "to shape or mold something." It could refer to a person who shaped or molded dough or other ingredients into loaves of bread or other baked goods... [more]
MoultonEnglish Derived from various places with the same name, for example in the counties of Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and North Yorkshire in England. It is either derived from the Old English given name Mūla, the Old Norse name Múli or Old English mūl meaning "mule" and tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".
MountjoyEnglish Habitational surname for a person from Montjoie in La Manche, France, named with Old French mont "hill", "mountain" + joie "joy".
MouraPortuguese Derived from the Portuguese word "Mouro", which refers to an individual from the Moor people. This is the feminine form of the word, often used in legends of enchanted moor women, which very common in Portugal... [more]
MoutonFrench Nickname from Old French mouton "sheep" used for a docile mild-mannered person for someone easily led or perhaps for a curly-haired man... [more]
MowatScottish From medieval female given name, Mohaut, a variant of Maud.
MowbrayEnglish Ultimately from the name of a place in Normandy meaning "mud hill" in Old French.
MöwerGerman (Rare) Possibly derived from Middle High German moven "to torment, trouble, burden".
MowerEnglish Occupational name for someone who cut hay or grass.
MoxleyEnglish From the name of a settlement in Staffordshire, England, probably derived from the Old English given name Mocc and hlaw "mound, small hill".
MoxonEnglish Means "son of Magge", a pet-form of Margaret, a female personal name which came into English via French from Late Latin Margarita, literally "pearl".
MoyanoSpanish Habitational name for someone from Moya, from an adjectival form of the place name.
MoyesEnglish From the medieval personal name Moise, a vernacular variant of Moses (the biblical name of the Hebrew prophet who led the Children of Israel out of captivity).
MoyleCornish, Welsh Cornish and Welsh: descriptive nickname meaning ‘bald’, from Cornish moyl, Welsh moel.
MroczkowskiPolish Name for someone from any of various places called Mroczkowa, Mroczków or Mroczkowice, all derived from Polish mroczek meaning "house bat".
MrózPolish From a nickname for a white-haired man or alternatively for one of an icy and unsociable disposition, from Polish mróz "frost". Also can be from a short form of the personal name Ambroży
MrozińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of several places called Mrozy.
MrozowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from Mrozowo in Bydgoszcz voivodeship, or from any of several places called Mrozy.
MuChinese Chinese : in the state of Song during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) there existed a leader who was posthumously given the name of the duke of Mu. His descendants adopted Mu as their surname... [more]
MudaliarTamil "Mudaliar" is a combination of a Tamil word "Mudali" which means "First" and "yar" which is an honorific suffix. So the surname means "First People" or "Elite People" in Tamil.
MuddEnglish Either (i) "person who lives in a muddy area"; (ii) from the medieval female personal name Mudd, a variant of Maud (variously Mahalt, Mauld, Malt, vernacular versions of Anglo-Norman Matilda); or (iii) from the Old English personal name Mōd or Mōda, a shortened form of various compound names beginning with mōd "courage".
MudgeEnglish A location surname for someone who lives or dwells near the swamps. A famous bearer of this surname is Angela Mudge, a champion fell runner and trail runner from Scotland.
MuehlhauserOld High German The German surname Müehlhauser is derived from the Middle High German words "mülle" and "hûs" which respectively mean mill and house. It is roughly translated to mean "mill-house" and is believed to have evolved from an individual who was either the owner of a mill or lived in a house attached to a mill in earlier times.
MuffettScottish A different form of Moffatt. 'Little Miss Muffett' is a traditional nursery rhyme: Little Miss Muffett / Sat on a tuffet, / Eating her curds and whey; / There came a big spider, / Who sat down beside her / And frightened Miss Muffet away. It has been speculated that 'Miss Muffett' is Patience Muffet, the daughter of the physician and entomologist Dr Thomas Muffet (1553-1604).
MughalUrdu Means "Mughal, Moghul" in Urdu, derived from Persian مغول (moghul) meaning "Mongol". This was the name of the dynasty (of Mongol origin) that ruled much of South Asia from the 16th to 19th centuries.
MuirScottish Topographic name for someone who lived on a moor, from a Scots form of Middle English more moor, fen.
MuirheadScottish Derived from many places in southern Scotland with the same name, from northern Middle English muir meaning "moor" and heid meaning "head, end".
MulkerinIrish The Irish surname Mulkerin is an anglicied rendering of the Gaelic surname O'Maoilchiarain which means ,literally, "descendant of a follower of Saint Ciaran", the Irish saint who founded the great monastery at Clonmacnois... [more]
MullScottish Scottish, Irish, or English: Probably comes from the Scots language, as the Scots word for "headland" or comes from the geographical term, which is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Maol, a term for a rounded hill, summit, or mountain bare of trees... [more]
MullarkeyIrish From Irish Gaelic Ó Maoilearca "descendent of the follower of (St) Earc", a personal name meaning literally either "speckled one" or "salmon".