ShakyaNepali, Indian, Hindi From the name of an ancient clan that inhabited parts of present-day Nepal and northern India. The name may have been derived from Sanskrit शाक (shaka) or शक (shaka) referring to the Sakas, a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, or from शक्य (shakya) meaning "possible, capable".
ShalhoubArabic Possibly from a given name based on a word meaning "generous".
ShalitHebrew From Hebrew שליט (shalit) meaning "ruler" or "ruling, governing, dominant".
ShallcrossEnglish Means "person from Shallcross", Derbyshire ("place by the Shacklecross", an ancient stone cross in the High Peak, its name perhaps denoting a cross to which people could be shackled as a penance).
ShamaJapanese (Rare) Combination of Kanji Characters "者" meaning "Person", and "間" meaning "Between", "While". Other Kanji Character Combinations possible.
ShamiArabic Means "Syrian" or "Damascene", derived from Arabic الشام (ash-Sham) referring to both Syria and the Syrian city of Damascus.
ShamirHebrew Derived from Hebrew שָׁמִיר (shamiyr) meaning "thorn, briar, thistle" or "flint, diamond, emery, adamant". It was borne by the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012), whose birth name was either Yitzhak Yezernitsky or Icchak Jaziernicki.
ShamounArabic, Assyrian, Jewish Derived from the given name شامون (Shamʿūn), itself an Arabic form of Simon 1, used mainly among Christians and Jews... [more]
ShanChinese From the place name Shan. Cheng Wang, the second king (1115–1079 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, granted to a son the area of Shan, and the son’s descendants adopted the place name as their surname. It comes from the Chinese word meaning "mountain"... [more]
ShanGujarati, Hindi A Gujarati and Hindi surname with an unknown meaning.
ShanChinese From Chinese 单 (shàn) referring to the ancient state of Shan, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Henan province.
ShanderaCzech (Anglicized, Modern) Shandera is anglicized for Šandera, a patronymic for Alexander (son of Alexander), the euiqvalent of Sandoor in Hungarian or Sanders in English.
ShandyEnglish (Rare) Shandy appears as a rare surname, mostly found in English-speaking countries going back to the 1600s. This name may originate from the English dialect adjective meaning "boisterous" or "empty headed; half crazy", of which the earliest record dates to 1691, though any further explanation for its origins are unknown... [more]
ShanklandScottish Believed to be a locational name derived from a now-lost or unidentified place name. The name is composed of the Old Scots term "schank," meaning "a projecting point of a hill" or "spur," and the suffix "-land," which indicates land or territory.
ShanksEnglish (Modern) Possibly a diminutive of LONGSHANKS, which would be given to a tall or gangly person.
ShaoChinese From Chinese 邵 (shào) referring to the ancient fief of Zhao, which existed during the Shang dynasty in what is now Shaanxi province. The name of the fief, 召, had the same pronunciation as the character 邵.
ShaoChinese From Chinese 韶 (sháo) possibly referring to the ancient town of Shao that existed during the Sui dynasty in what is now Guangdong province.
SharonHebrew From an Old Testament place name, in Hebrew שָׁרוֹן (Sharon), which means "plain", referring to the fertile plain near the coast of Israel.
SharptonEnglish Habitational name from Sharperton in Northumberland, possibly so named from Old English scearp "steep" and beorg "hill", "mound" and tun "settlement".
ShastriHindi, Marathi From a title meaning "scholar", itself derived from Sanskrit शास्त्रिन् (shastrin) denoting a person who was well-versed in the shastras.
SheenEnglish Meaning unknown, though possibly a variant of Sean. A famous bearer of the surname is actor Charlie Sheen.
SheeneIrish (Anglicized) Derived from the Gaelic siodhach which means "peaceful." Most commonly used in Ireland and originated in the county's southwest region.
SheikhArabic, Bengali, Urdu From the Arabic title شَيْخ (šayḵ) meaning "chief, chieftain, head". It is used to denote a political or spiritual leader of a Muslim community.
SheldrakeEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandyish (showy) or vain man, from Middle English scheldrake, the male of a type of duck with brightly-coloured plumage (itself from the East Anglian dialect term scheld "variegated" combined with drake "male duck").
ShelleyEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) Habitational name from any of the three places called Shelley (Essex Suffolk Yorkshire) or from Shelley Plain in Crawley (Sussex)... [more]
ShemtovHebrew (Modern) Means "good name", derived from Hebrew שם (shem) means "name" and טוב (tov) means "good".
ShenChinese From Chinese 沈 (shěn) referring to the ancient state of Shen, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now the Henan province.
ShenChinese From Chinese 慎 (shèn) meaning "cautious, acting sincerely, with care".
ShenbergerEnglish (?) The name Shenberger comes from a common mix up with the archaic Austrian-German surname Schoenberg; meaning "Beautiful Mountain."
ShengChinese From Chinese 盛 (shèng) meaning "flourishing, prosperous", also referring to the ancient state of Sheng which existed during the Zhou dynasty in present-day Shandong province.
ShentonEnglish "Beautiful town" in Old English. Parishes in Leicestershire, and Cheshire.
SheriffEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for a sheriff, derived from Middle English schiref, shreeve, shryve literally meaning "sheriff", or from Old English scir meaning "shire, administrative district" and (ge)refa meaning "reeve"... [more]
SherlockEnglish, Irish Nickname for someone with "fair hair" or "a lock of fair hair."
SherpaNepali From the name of the Sherpa people of Nepal, India and Bhutan, itself derived from Tibetan ཤར (shar) meaning "east" and the nominalising particle པ (pa).
SherrardEnglish Probably from a medieval nickname based on Middle English shere "bright, fair", with the derogatory suffix -ard.
SherrellEnglish This surname is of English locational origin, from the place in Devonshire called Shirwell. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sirewelle, and by 1242 as Shirewill... [more]
ShindeIndian, Marathi Meaning unknown; this was also the name of a Indian dynasty from Maharashtra.
ShindōJapanese From Japanese 新 (shin) meaning "new", 進 (shin) meaning "advance, progress", 信 (shin) meaning "trust, faith", or 真 (shin) meaning "truth, reality" combined with 藤 (dō) meaning "wisteria" or 堂 (dō) meaning "temple, shrine".
ShinglerEnglish An occupational name for someone who laid wooden tiles, or shingles on roofs, from an agent derivative of Middle English schingle ‘shingle’. ... [more]
ShinnEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a Skinner, from Old English scinn, Middle English shin ‘hide’, ‘pelt’. In Middle English this word was replaced by the Norse equivalent, skinn.
ShiotaniJapanese From Japanese 塩 (shio) meaning "salt" and 谷 (tani) meaning "valley".
ShiozakiJapanese From Japanese 塩 (shio) meaning "salt" and 崎 (saki) meaning "peninsula, cape".
ShipEnglish This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is an occupational surname for "a mariner", or perhaps, occasionally a "ship or boat-builder". The derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century scip, ship, in Middle English schip
ShipleyEnglish (Rare) English: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Derbyshire, County Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, Sussex, and West Yorkshire, so called from Old English sceap, scip ‘sheep’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
ShipmanEnglish Occupational name for a mariner, or occasionally perhaps for a boatbuilder, from Middle English "schipman". One notable person is known evildoer Harold Shipman. He was an English general practitioner who is believed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history.
ShippEnglish nickname for a mariner or perhaps a boatbuilder from Middle English schip "ship". Compare Shipman . in addition the name may occasionally also have been topographic or habitational referring to a house or inn distinguished by the sign of a ship.
ShipperGerman, Jewish, English German and Jewish Cognate and English variant of Schipper. occupational name from Middle English shippere "shipman sailor seaman" (Old English scipere) perhaps also with the sense "skipper" (Middle Low German schipper).
ShiptonEnglish From Old English scip "sheep", and tun "enclosure; settlement".
ShiraiJapanese Means "Purple Thunder". From Japanese 紫 (shi) meaning "purple" and 雷 (rai) meaning "thunder". Notable bearers are joshi wrestlers Mio Shirai and Io Shirai.
ShiromaOkinawan (Japanized) Japanese form of the Okinawan surname 城間 (Gushikuma), derived from Okinawan 城 (gushiku) meaning "castle" and 間 (ma) meaning "among, between".
ShishidoJapanese Japanese: habitational name taken from a district in Hitachi (now Ibaraki prefecture), written with a variant character for ‘flesh’ and ‘door’. It is found mostly in northeastern Japan.
ShishidoJapanese From Japanese 宍 (shishi) meaning "meat, flesh" and 戸 (to) meaning "door".
ShishkinRussian From Russian шишка (shishka) meaning "cone, pinecone".
ShockleyEnglish (i) perhaps "person from Shocklach", Cheshire ("boggy stream infested with evil spirits"); (ii) perhaps an anglicization of Swiss German Schoechli, literally "person who lives by the little barn"
ShoesmithEnglish occupational name for a blacksmith who either specialized in shoeing horses (a farrier) or in making and fitting iron blades known as shoes such as the tips of spades and the plowshares on plow moldboards from Middle English sho "shoe" (Old English scoh) and smith "smith" (Old English smiþ).
ShremHebrew The surname “Shrem” is of Halabi-Jewish origin. It is an acronym for “Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Yom Tov, and Moed”.
ShresthaNepali Means "excellent" in Nepali, ultimately from Sanskrit श्रेष्ठ (shreshtha) meaning "best, most excellent".
ShresthaNewar From Sanskrit श्रेष्ठ (śrēṣṭha) meaning "important; most excellent; great" in Sanskrit. This is originally used by the Shrestha caste but is now adopted by many castes.
ShreveEnglish Altered English variant of Sheriff. In some cases, this surname may have arisen from a nickname.
ShrewsburyEnglish From Shrewsbury, a market town and the county town of Shropshire, England, derived from Old English scrobb meaning "scrub, brushwood" and burg meaning "fortified place".
ShrimptonEnglish Probably referring to the unknown "Estate of Shrimp"
ShroffIndian, Hindi, Gujarati, Arabic, Urdu, Indian (Parsi) Originally an occupational name for a cashier, money changer or banker, derived from Gujarati સરાફ (saraf) meaning "bullion merchant", itself ultimately derived from Arabic صراف (sarraf) meaning "teller".
ShropshireEnglish Regional name from the county of Shropshire, on the western border of England with Wales.
ShroutGerman This surname is related to the German surname Schroder which means cut as in a wood cutter etc.