PolidoriItalian Means "son of Polidoro". Famous bearers include John William Polidori (1795-1821), a physician to Lord Byron and author of 'The Vampyre' (1819), and his sister Frances Polidori (1800-1886), the mother of painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet Christina Rossetti, critic William Michael Rossetti, and author Maria Francesca Rossetti.
PolinskiPolish Habitational name from Polinowo in Pila voivodeship or Polinów in Biala Podlaska voivodeship.
PoliteEnglish Derived from the English word polite. This name was most likely given to a person who was considered to be polite.
PolitisGreek Politis derives from the Greek word polis, which means 'city'. Therefore Politis means 'citizen'. According to some historians people with this surname have ancestors who came from Constantinople, which was commonly called Polis in the Byzantine era.
PolitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Habitational name derived from any one of several places called Police (known as Pölitz in German) in the Czech Republic. Hugh David Politzer (1949-) is an American theoretical physicist who, along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek, discovered asymptotic freedom.
PomanteItalian An occupational name for someone who farms or sells fruit, from Italian pomo "apple", descended from Latin pomum "fruit, fruit tree".
PomerantzGerman Occupational name for an importer or seller of bitter (Seville) oranges, Middle High German pomeranz (medieval Latin pomarancia, composed of the elements arancia, the name imported with the fruit.
PomerantzJewish From the Yiddish word פּאָמעראַנץ (pomerants) meaning "orange (fruit)".
PonceSpanish, English The Ponce name was carried into England after the migration from Normandy following the Norman Conquest of 1066.'Ponce' is derived from 'Ponsoby',a place in Cumberland, where the family settled. The Ponce motto is 'Pro rege, lege grege' meaning "For the King, law, and people"
PonceSpanish Derived from Latin Pontius. Could be originated from an Ancient Roman town named "Italica" near another town named "Santiponce" in Seville, Spain.
PoolEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a pool or pond, Middle English pole (Old English pōl), or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word, as for example Poole in Dorset, South Pool in Devon, and Poole Keynes in Gloucestershire.
PoolEstonian Pool is an Estonian surname meaning "at", "to", "towards", as well as "half". Derived from the location in which one lived.
PooleyEnglish Habitational name from Pooley Bridge in Cumbria, so named from Old English pol ‘pool’ + Old Norse haugr ‘hill’, ‘mound’. topographic name from Middle English pole ‘pool’ + ey ‘low-lying land’ or hey ‘enclosure’
PorcelliItalian From Italian porcello, meaning "piglet". Used to denote someone who worked as a swineherd, or perhaps a nickname for someone who resembled a piglet in some way.
PortanovaItalian, Portuguese, Galician Habitational name from a place or locality called Portanova "new gate" from the elements neos "new" and porta "door".
PorteFrench from Old French porte "gateway entrance" (from Latin porta) hence a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town (typically the man in charge of them).
PorteousScottish A topographic surname for someone who lived in the lodge at the entrance to a manor house, derived from Middle English port, meaning "gateway" or "entrance", and hous meaning "house". It can also be an occupational name with similar meaning, derived from Latin portarius meaning "porter"... [more]
PorteraItalian Occupational name for a female servant, from Spanish portera.
PortisEnglish (American) A famous bearer is the American basketball player Bobby Portis (1995-).
PortmanEnglish Status name meaning "townsman, burgher, citizen" in Middle English, derived from Old English port "port, harbour" (from Latin portus) and mann "person, man".
PortmannGerman Occupational name for a gatekeeper, derived from Middle Low German port(e) meaning "gate" and man, or a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a fortified town.
PortnoyJewish, Belarusian, Ukrainian Occupational name for a tailor from Russian portnoj (an adjective derivative of port "uncut cloth").
PortocarreroSpanish, Spanish (Latin American) Possibly a Spanish form of Porto Carreiro, an old municipality in Galicia, from Galician porto "port, harbour" and carreiro "path, pathway".
PortreyJewish Origin uncertain. Perhaps an altered form of Jewish Portnoy of North German Portner.
PortugalSpanish, Portuguese, English, Catalan, French, Jewish Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, English, French, and Jewish surname meaning ethnic name or regional name for someone from Portugal or who had connections with Portugal. The name of the country derives from Late Latin Portucale, originally denoting the district around Oporto (Portus Cales, named with Latin portus ‘port’, ‘harbor’ + Cales, the ancient name of the city)... [more]
PoseyEnglish, French Derived from the Greek word "desposyni." The Desposyni is a term referring to a group of people that are allegedly direct blood relatives to Jesus. They are mentioned in Mark 3:21 and Mark 3:31. American actress Parker Posey is a famous bearer.
PosthumusDutch, Low German From a personal name which was given to a posthumous child, i.e., one born after the death of his father, derived from Latin postumus "last, last-born" (superlative of posterus "coming after, subsequent") via Late Latin posthumus, which was altered by association with Latin humare "to bury", suggesting death (i.e., thought to consist of post "after" and humus "grave", hence "after death"); the one born after the father's death obviously being the last.
PóvedaSpanish habitational name from any of the places called Poveda in the provinces of Cuenca Ávila Salamanca and Soria or from Póveda de la Sierra in Guadalajara.
PoznanskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name from the city of Poznan in west-central Poland, or possibly from other places of this name, in Katowice and Siedlce voivodeships.
PresbiteroFilipino Borrowed from Spanish presbítero meaning "presbyter", an elder or priest in various Christian Churches. A notable bearer of this name is Filipino singer Thaddeus Presbitero Durano Jr... [more]
PresleyScottish From Persley, a small Scottish hamlet on the River Don, Aberdeenshire, now a suburb of the much larger city of Aberdeen, named perhaps with the Pictish word *pres-, meaning 'bushes' or 'undergrowth'.... [more]
PressEnglish, Jewish A nickname for a pious individual from the Middle English form of "priest" or possibly someone employed by a priest. In the Jewish sense, one whose occupation was to iron clothes.
PrestwoodEnglish habitational name from any of several places called from Middle English prestpriest "priest" and wode "wood" (Old English preostwudu) meaning "dweller by the priest's wood"
PretoPortuguese comes from the Portuguese word preto meaning "black" or "dark". referring to someone with dark skin and/or hair. possibly a cognate of the spanish surname Prieto
PreusGerman/Norwegian Unknown, but may have come from Prussia or be Jewish. It could mean to jabber. Maybe the same as Preuss, but eliminated the S when immigrating to America.
PrevotFrench A prevot was a govenment position during the Ancient Régime
PrewettEnglish The surname Prewett is derived from the Middle English word prou, meaning "brave," or "valiant," with the addition of either of two common diminutive suffixes: -et or -ot. As such, this name is thought to have originally been a nickname for someone small but brave.
PrideauxCornish Means "person from Prideaux, earlier Pridias", Cornwall (perhaps based on Cornish prȳ "clay"). The modern Frenchified spelling is based on the idea that the name comes from French près d'eaux "near waters" or pré d'eaux "meadow of waters".
PridmoreEnglish unexplained; perhaps a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place. Pridmore has long been a Leicestershire name.
PriestEnglish Derived from the occupation priest, which is a minister of a church. It could also be a nickname for a person who is / was a priest.
PrieurFrench from prieur Old French prior "prior" a monastic official immediately subordinate to an abbot (from Latin prior "superior") hence an occupational name for a servant of a prior or an ironic nickname... [more]
PrimroseScottish From the name of Primrose in Fife, Scotland, a place originally named Prenrhos, literally "tree-moor" in Welsh. This is the family name of the Earls of Rosebery.
PrinceEnglish, French Nickname from Middle English, Old French prince (Latin princeps), presumably denoting someone who behaved in a regal manner or who had won the title in some contest of skill.
PríncipeItalian, Spanish From principe "prince, heir" (Latin princeps, genitive principis, from primus "first" and capere "to take"), applied probably as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces or for someone in the service of a prince.
PrinsDutch, Jewish Means "prince" in Dutch, but almost never a surname for a prince. Instead, it's an occupational surname for someone in the service of a prince or a nickname for someone who acted in a regal manner. The surname is also Jewish Dutch and is used as an ornamental adoption of Dutch prins still meaning "prince".
PrinslooAfrikaans Prinsloo is an Afrikaans surname. The name is derived from the dutch word Prins (meaning prince), and a loo suffix meaning clearing in the forest. Variant spellings include Prinzloo and Prinslo.
PriorEnglish Occupational surname for a prior (a high-ranking official in a monastery), ultimately from Latin prior meaning "superior, first".
PriorIrish Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Mac an Phríora meaning "son of the prior".
PrioreItalian from Italian priore "prior" either a nickname or occupational name which probably most often originated as a metonymic occupational name for a servant of a prior or some important lay dignitary... [more]
PrivettFrench, English, Welsh (?) French, from the given name Privat (see Privatus). Also an English habitational name from a place so named in Hampshire, derived from Old English pryfet "privet".
ProcidaItalian Habitational name from Procida, one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy.
ProcopioItalian Italian (Calabria) and Greek (Prokopios): from the personal name Procopio, Greek Prokopios, from pro ‘before’, ‘in front’ + kopē ‘cut’, actually an omen name meaning ‘success’, ‘prosperity’ but as a Church name taken to mean ‘pioneer’ as it was the name of the first victim of Diocletian's persecutions in Palestine in AD 303... [more]
ProctorEnglish Occupational name from Middle English prok(e)tour "steward" (reduced from Old French procurateour, Latin procurator "agent", from procurare "to manage"). The term was used most commonly of an attorney in a spiritual court, but also of other officials such as collectors of taxes and agents licensed to collect alms on behalf of lepers and enclosed orders of monks.
ProiaItalian From the name of a place in Italy. The meaning is uncertain, but it might be derived from Greek πρωία (proía) "morning".
ProiettiItalian From Latin proiecto "abandoned, thrown away", given to foundlings and children abandoned at orphanages. The name may have been taken from la ruota dei proietti, or "foundling wheel", that some orphanages and religious institutes in Italy installed for infants to be anonymously abandoned in.
ProphetEnglish, Scottish, French, German Scottish, English, French, and German: nickname from Middle English and Old French prophete, Middle High German prophet ‘prophet’, ‘seer’, ultimately from Greek prophetes ‘predictor’, from pro ‘before’ + a derivative of phemi ‘to speak’... [more]
ProrokPolish The meaning of prorok is prophet. It was the maiden name of my maternal grandmother. It is not a common name. Her family was from the southeastern part of Poland.
ProvencherFrench From the French word for the flower periwinkle. (pervenche) Brought to Canada from France in 1660 by Sebastien Provencher.
ProvidenceEnglish From the name of the capital city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, derived from Middle English providence meaning "divine guidance, care", ultimately from Latin providentia.
ProvostEnglish, French Derived from the Middle English provost; referring to the person who heads a religious chapter in a cathedral or educational establishment. It was also used as a nickname for a self-important person and is a French variant of Prevost.
ProwseEnglish Nickname for a person who was proud, haughty, brave or valiant, derived from Old French prous, prou, preux, proz and prouz meaning "proud, brave, valiant". A famous bearer was David Prowse (1935-2020), an English bodybuilder, weightlifter and character actor who portrayed the villain Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.
PrudeEnglish (American) This surname comes from the English word prude. The definition for the word prude is a person who is or claims to be easily shocked by matters relating to sex or nudity.
PrudeAfrican American This surname came from the English word prude. The definition of the word prude is a person who is or claims to be easily shocked by matters relating to sex or nudity.
PrudhommeFrench, English, Norman, Medieval French French (Prud’homme) and English (of Norman origin): nickname from Old French prud’homme ‘wise’, ‘sensible man’, a cliché term of approbation from the chivalric romances. It is a compound of Old French proz, prod ‘good’, with the vowel influenced by crossing with prudent ‘wise’ + homme ‘man’... [more]
PrueEnglish, French English: nickname for a redoubtable warrior, from Middle English prou(s) ‘brave’, ‘valiant’ (Old French proux, preux).... [more]
PruettEnglish Derived from the Middle English word "prou," meaning "brave," or "valiant," with the addition of either of two common diminutive suffixes: "-et" or "-ot." As such, this name is thought to have originally been a nickname for someone small, but brave.
PruittEnglish, French French and English: nickname from a pet form of Old French proux ‘valiant’, ‘brave’, or ‘wise’ (see Proulx, Prue).
PrunaSpanish (Rare) Possibly a habitational name from a place so named in Spain. It could also be derived from Catalan pruna "plum".
PrusinowskiPolish (Rare) Habitational name for someone from any of various Polish places called Prusinow, Prusinowo, or Prusinowice, named with the ethnic name Prus, meaning 'village of the Prussians'.
PrussEstonian Pruss is an Estonian surname meaning "beam" and "rafter".
PrymakBelarusian Derived from Belarusian прымак (prymak) meaning "live-in son-in-law (man who marries and lives with his wife's family)".
PrysWelsh From the Welsh personal name Rhys, which also took the forms Rice and Rees. This name was originally derived from the Old Welsh forename Ris, which means ardour.
PrzybylskiPolish A derivative of 'Przybyla', ‘new arrival’, ‘foundling’, with the addition of the surname suffix -ski.
PsailaMaltese Derived from Maltese basla meaning "onion", ultimately from Arabic بَصَل (baṣal).
PtacekCzech A name given to a small, birdlike individual, meaning literally "little bird".