SlackEnglish, Dutch Nickname for an idle person, from Middle Dutch slac "slow, loose", Middle English slak "lazy, careless". Alternatively, the Dutch form could derive from Middle Dutch slecke "snail, slug", with a similar implication of idleness.
SlackEnglish Means "small valley, shallow dell", derived from Old Norse slakki "a slope", a topographic name for someone who lived by such a landform, or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word, for example near Stainland and near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.
SlaughterEnglish occupational name from Middle English slaughter "butcher" a derivative of Middle English slaught "butchery" and the suffix er or from a shortened form of the synonymous Middle English slaughterer a derivative of slaughter "butchery" and the suffix er.
SleighEnglish A sled drawn by horses or reindeer, especially one used for passengers.
SlimEnglish A characteristic name for someone noted for being thin.
SlingerEnglish Travelled with the army's a user of Slings for war. The variant Slingo is a misspelling only appeared after the English civil war. YDNA between the two matches.
SłomińskiPolish This indicates familial origin within either of 2 Masovian villages named Słomin.
SłomkowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from places called Słomków, Słomkowa, or Słomkowo, all named with słomka meaning "little straw".
SlonimJewish Habitational name from Slonim, a city in Belarus.
SlotDutch Means "lock, clasp" in Dutch, an occupational name for a locksmith.
SlotnickJewish (Anglicized, Modern) A Polish, Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian surname, meaning 'goldsmith'. Also a Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) occupational name for a goldsmith. Variant/anglicization of Polish Zlotnik, Ukrainian Zlotnyk.
SloughEnglish A very rare surname, possibly of German origins.
SlowikPolish, Jewish Nickname for someone with a mellifluous voice or a night-time reveler. From Polish slowik "nightingale".
SlowinskiPolish Habitational name for someone from Slowin in Gorzów voivodeship. From the adjective slowinski, denoting a member of the Slowincy, a Slavic people living in Pomerania.
SmalleyEnglish, Cornish (?) Locational surname from places in Derbyshire and Lancashire, so called from Old English smæl ‘narrow’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. This may also be a Cornish name with an entirely separate meaning.
SmileyScots, English From elements small and lea meaning "a small clearing" or as a nickname may refer to a person of happy disposition known for smiling.
SmithwickEnglish habitational name from Smethwick in Staffordshire Smethwick Green near Brereton Heath (Cheshire) or a lost place called Smithwick in Southover (Sussex). The place name means "the farm of the smiths" from Old English smiþ "smith" and wic "dwelling specialized farm"... [more]
SmockEnglish From Middle English smoc, smok meaning "smock", "shift", hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or sold such garments, or a nickname for someone who habitually wore a smock (the usual everyday working garment of a peasant).
SmokerEnglish Derived from the Old English word "smoc," meaning "smock" or, literally, "woman's undergarment." The name was most likely originally borne by someone who made or sold smocks.
SmoutDutch, Flemish Means "oil, lard, melted animal fat" in Dutch, an occupational name for someone who sold fat or lard, or a nickname for someone who ate – or who could afford to eat – large amounts of food containing it.
SnapeEnglish (British), Scottish An old, now rare surname, with various origins in Suffolk and Yorkshire in England and Lanarkshire in Scotland, derived from Middle English snaipen, “to injure; to nip (of sleet or snow); to criticize, rebuke, revile”, from Old Norse sneypa, “to disgrace, to dishonor, to outrage”... [more]
SnapperDutch From Middle Dutch snappen meaning "to chatter, babble, snap" or "to snatch, grab, seize", a nickname for a talkative person, or perhaps a thief. Compare Schnapp.
SnipeEnglish Derived from a given name; from Old English snip or Old Norse snípr. It is habitational surname from a place so called in the historic county of Northumberland, North East England.
SnowEnglish, Jewish (Anglicized) Nickname denoting someone with very white hair or an exceptionally pale complexion, from Old English snaw "snow".... [more]
SnowdenEnglish Habitational name from Snowden, a place in West Yorkshire named from Old English snāw ‘snow’ + dūn ‘hill’, i.e. a hill where snow lies long.
SnowdonEnglish Variant spelling of Snowden, a surname initially used by the Border Reivers. Comes from the mountain in Wales.
SoKorean Although there are two Chinese characters for the So surname, one of these is extremely rare and can be discounted (there are only about two hundred people in Korea who use this rare character). Some records indicate that the more common character for So has as many as 165 clans, but only eleven of them can be documented... [more]
SobalvarroSpanish Sobalvarro/Sobalbarro is a surname with known origins in the Iberian Peninsula. The first record of the name appears in the Basque regions of Spain. The name was purportedly constructed by combining the family name of Soba with the newly given Christian name, Alvarro.
SobanskiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Sobanice, in Ciechanów voivodeship.
SobolewskiPolish Locational surname that means a person from places in Poland called Sobolew or Sobolewo, both derived from the Polish sobol, meaning "sable".
SolankiIndian, Gujarati, Marathi From a vernacular name for the Chaulukya, a dynasty that ruled parts of northwestern India (in what is now Gujarat and Rajasthan) between the 10th and 13th centuries, of uncertain meaning.
SolanoSpanish, Aragonese From various Spanish place names, which are derived from Spanish solano meaning "place exposed to the sun" (from Late Latin solanus "pertaining to the sun", a derivative of sol "sun")... [more]
SolarSpanish (Rare), Catalan, Aragonese, Asturian Spanish, Catalan, Aragonese, and Asturian-Leonese: topographic name from Latin solarius ‘ancestral home’ (a derivative of solum ‘ground’, ‘floor’), perhaps denoting someone who lived near or at the house of an important family.
SolariItalian Habitational name from any of various places called "Solaro" or "Solara", from solaro 'site', 'plot', 'meadow', literally "land exposed to the sun".
SoldanoItalian, Sicilian from soldano "sultan" (earlier sultano from Arabic sulṭān "ruler") used as a nickname for someone who behaved in an outlandish or autocratic manner.
SoldnerGerman German surname meaning mercenary. German spelling has umlaut over the O, but American spelling is Soldner or Soeldner.
SoldoItalian, Croatian Nickname from soldo "penny cent" also "military pay wage" (from Latin solidus "solid" the name of a gold Roman coin). From a short form of a compound personal name ending with -soldo such as Ansoldo... [more]
SolidayAmerican Reportedly German and Dutch background? Never have really known. The history that has been told my siblings and I is that three brothers came from Germany to the US in late 1800 and went into business in Phila - they eventually argued and split up and two of them changed the spelling of their last name and scattered throughout PA - When I left home in 1963 - mY Father James Edward Soliday, son of John Soliday and Martha Freidline Soliday and us children were the only ones in our area... [more]
SoliéFrench Notable bearers include French cellist Jean-Pierre Solié, who was originally named Jean-Pierre Soulier, possibly making it a variant of Soulier.
SolinasItalian Meaning uncertain; could be related to Latin solum, from which comes Italian suolo "earth, ground, soil" and suola "sole (of the foot or shoe)", or from Italian salina "salt pan, salt marsh".
SolorioSpanish This indicates familial origin within the vicinity of the Sierra de Solorio mountain range that straddles Aragon, La Mancha, & Old Castile.
SolórzanoSpanish Habitational name for someone originally from the municipality of Solórzano in Cantabria, Spain.
SomKhmer Means "moon" or "air, wind, sky" in Khmer, ultimately from Sanskrit सोम (soma).
SomIndian, Bengali Derived from Sanskrit सोम (soma) meaning "moon".
SomKhmer Means "moon" or "air, wind, sky" in Khmer, ultimately from Sanskrit सोम (soma).
SōmaJapanese From Japanese 相 (sō) meaning "appearance" and 馬 (ma) meaning "horse".
SomaJapanese Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 相馬 (see Sōma).
SomaiJapanese A notable bearer is Shinji Somai (1948-2001). He was a film director.
SomanIndian Indian (Kerala, Tamil Nadu): Hindu name from Sanskrit soma ‘moon’ + the Tamil-Malayalam third-person masculine singular suffix -n. This is only a given name in India, but has come to be used as a family name in the U.S.
SõmerEstonian Sõmer is an Estonian surname meaning "grainy" or "mealy".
SoneJapanese From Japanese 曾 or 曽 (so) meaning "great- (as in great-grandparent)" or 素 (so) meaning "plain, basic" combined with 根 (ne) meaning "plant root, foundation, base".
SoniHindi A Suryavanshi Khatri family, the surname originating from the Punjab region of India. In India the term caste creates a crucial distinction between Varna and Jāti, even though jati does not fit into any of the four varnas and is more often referred to as Sudras.
SönmezTurkish Means "eternal, inextinguishable, unquenchable" in Turkish.
SoomroPakistani, Sindhi From the name of the city of سامراء (Sāmarrāʾ) in present-day Iraq. This is the name of a Sindhi tribe in southeastern Pakistan, along with a historical regional dynasty in India (the Soomra).
SoonEstonian Soon is an Estonian surname meaning "vessel" and "vein".
SørbøNorwegian Habitational name from any of several places in Norway, derived from Old Norse Saurbœr, composed of saurr "mire, mud, dirt" and bœr "farm, settlement". Cognate to Sowerby.
SorboItalian Means "sorb apple, service tree" (species Sorbus domestica) in Italian.
SorensonJewish Means "son of the son of Sore", a Yiddish female personal name (from Hebrew Sara, literally "princess"), with the addition of the Slavic possessive suffix -in and German Sohn "son".
SorlieNorwegian From any of several places in Norway called Sørli, derived from Norwegian sør "south" and li "slope, hillside" (see Old Norse suðr and hlíð).
SorokaUkrainian, Jewish From the nickname Soroka meaning "magpie", which indicates a thievish person or a person with a white streak of hair among black hair.
SorokinRussian From Russian сорока (soroka) meaning "magpie", referring to the Eurasian magpie.
SotaJapanese From Japanese 颯 (sō) meaning "sudden, sound of the wind" and 太 (ta) meaning "thick, big, great". This name can also be formed of other kanji combinations. There is a character in Danganronpa used as a surname, but it's not actually used as a surname and it's originated from a boy's name from Japanese.
SotakSlovak Habitational name from Soták, an eastern Slovak region near Humenné.
SoteloSpanish From any of various places in Galicia named Soutelo, derived from Galician souto meaning "grove, plantation".
SottileItalian Southern Italian: nickname from sottile ‘delicate’, ‘refined’, also ‘lean’, ‘thin’ (from Latin subtilis ‘small’, ‘slender’).
SottoSpanish (Philippines) Variant of Soto. This spelling variation arose during the American occupation of the Philippines, possibly by the influence of Italian American surnames.