TelferScottish, English, Italian From a personal name based on a byname for a strong man or ferocious warrior, from Old French taille or tailler "to cut" + fer "iron" Latin: ferrum "iron" (see Tagliaferro).
TelfordEnglish From the words taelf meaning "plateau" and ford meaning "river crossing"... [more]
TelleriaBasque This indicates familial origin within either of 2 eponymous neighborhoods: the one in Leioa, Comarca of Bilbo or the one in Urdazubi, Comarca of Baztan.
TéllezSpanish from the given name Tello which is the Spanish form of the name Tellus, meaning "earth" in Latin
TempestEnglish (British) English (Yorkshire): nickname for someone with a blustery temperament, from Middle English, Old French tempest(e) ‘storm’ (Latin tempestas ‘weather’, ‘season’, a derivative of tempus ‘time’).
TempestaItalian Originally a nickname for a person with a blustery temperament, from Italian tempesta meaning "storm, tempest" (compare Tempest).... [more]
TempleEnglish, French Occupational name or habitational name for someone who was employed at or lived near one of the houses ("temples") maintained by the Knights Templar, a crusading order so named because they claimed to occupy in Jerusalem the site of the old temple (Middle English, Old French temple, Latin templum)... [more]
TemplerEnglish Templer is an Old English surname denoting either a servant of one of the Knights Templar, or a person living near or serving at a church. The meaning is “church attendant”.
TeneyckDutch (Americanized) From Dutch ten eik meaning "at the oak tree", a topographic name for someone who lived by a prominent oak tree. This has been a prominent family name in Albany, NY, area since the 1630s.
TengChinese From Chinese 滕 (téng) referring to the ancient state of Teng, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
TengChinese Alternate transcription of Deng as well as the Hokkien and Teochew romanization of the name.
TennantEnglish, Scottish The Strathclyde-Briton people of ancient Scotland were the first to use the name Tennant. It is a name for someone who works as a tenant farmer. The name was applied to those who paid for the rent on their land through working the fields and donating a percentage of the take to the landlord... [more]
TerrienFrench Topographic name from an adjectival derivative of terre "land", denoting someone who lived and worked on the land, i.e. a peasant. It is Americanized frequently as Landers, and occasionally as Farmer.
TerwilligerEnglish An anglicized version of the Dutch surname, Der Willikeur, meaning "a by-law; a statute". Also, Der willige-waar, means "serviceable ware", or "ware that sells well" and could be related as well.
TerzisGreek From the Italian surname Terzi 1 ultimately from the Italian given name Terzo, meaning the third given usually name to the third child.
TesauroItalian metonymic occupational name for a treasurer or person in charge of financial administration from Old Italian tesauro "treasure treasury" (from Latin thesaurus "hoard"). It may also be from the personal name Tesauro with the same origin.
TesoroSpanish, Italian from tesoro "treasure" (from Latin thesaurus "hoard") applied as a metonymic occupational name for a treasurer. In some cases this may be a habitational name from El Tesoro in southern Spain... [more]
TessierFrench Occupational Name For A Weaver, From Old French Tissier (From Late Latin Texarius, A Derivative Of Texere ‘To Weave’). It Is Also Found In England As A Surname Of Huguenot Origin. Compare Tacey.
TesterEnglish From the Old French nickname testard, essentially meaning "big head", for a know-it-all.
TetleyEnglish habitational name from Tetlow in Manchester. The placename derives from the Old English male personal name Tetta or female Tette annd Old English hlaw "mound hill"... [more]
TewksburyEnglish Derived from Tewkesbury, a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is named with the Old English given name Teodec and burg meaning "fortification".
ThackerayEnglish Famous bearer is William Makepeace Thackeray, author of the novel Vanity Fair. ... [more]
ThackeryEnglish English (Yorkshire) habitational name from Thackray in the parish of Great Timble, West Yorkshire, now submerged in Fewston reservoir. It was named with Old Norse þak ‘thatching’, ‘reeds’ + (v)rá ‘nook’, ‘corner’.
TháiVietnamese Vietnamese form of Cai, from Sino-Vietnamese 蔡 (thái).
ThainScots, English Occupational surname meaning a nobleman who served as an attendant to royals or who was awarded land by a king.
ThanosGreek From a short form of the personal name Athanasios, literally "immortal". This was the name of several saints venerated in the Greek Orthodox Church, the most important of them being Athanasios the Great (293–373), theologian and patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt.
ThaoHmong From the clan name Thoj associated with the Chinese character 陶 (táo) (see Tao).
ThapaNepali, Indian, Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Odia From an ancient military rank used in the Khasa Kingdom, which ruled parts of South Asia from the 11th to 14th centuries.
TheronSouthern African, Afrikaans, Occitan Habitational name for someone from any of various locations in Occitanie named Théron or Thérond, ultimately from Latin torus meaning "elevation, height, embankment". A famous bearer is South African and American actress Charlize Theron (1975-).
TherouxFrench (Quebec) Southern French (Théroux): of uncertain origin; perhaps a topographic name for someone living by "the wells", from a plural variant of Occitan théron "well".
ThistleEnglish Derived from Middle English thistel "thistle", this was either a nickname or a topographic name for someone who lived near a place overgrown with thistles.
ThistlethwaiteEnglish A surname found in Lancashire in north west England, taken from the name of a minor place in the parish of Lancaster which meant "meadow overgrown with thistles" from Middle English thistle and thwaite "meadow" (cf... [more]
ThomaGerman, German (Swiss) German and Swiss German: variant of Thomas. Greek: genitive patronymic from Thomas. Genitive patronymics are particularly associated with Cyprus.
ThornburgEnglish The name Thornburg comes from the Old English thorn broc, because the original bearers lived near a "stream by the thorns" in Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire.
ThornhillEnglish Habitational name from any of various places named Thornhill, for example in Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire, from Old English þorn "thorn bush" + hyll "hill".
ThornleyEnglish Derived from Thornley, which is the name of three villages in England (two are located in the county of Durham, the third in Lancashire). All three villages derive their name from Old English þorn "thorn" and Old English leah "clearing (in a wood), glade", which gives their name the meaning of "the thorny glade"... [more]
ThorsbyEnglish habitational name from North and South Thoresby (Lincolnshire) Thoresby in Carperby (North Yorkshire) or Thoresby in Perlethorpe cum Budby (Nottinghamshire). The Lincolnshire and Yorkshire placenames derive from the Old Norse personal name Thorir (genitive Thoris) + Old Norse býr "farmstead village"... [more]
ThulinSwedish Meaning uncertain. Possibly derived from thule, an ancient Greek and Roman term for an area in northern Europe which some believe to be the Nordic countries.
ThunbergSwedish Combination of Swedish tun (from Old Norse tún) "enclosure, courtyard, plot, fence" and berg "mountain".
ThundercloudEnglish This was the last name of a person I saw on YouTube. It was actually their last name. I am not joking at all. According to this site, it ranks 128,249 out of 162,253. It's a pretty badass last name... [more]
ThursbyEnglish habitational name from a place in Cumbria so named from the Old Norse personal name Thorir a derivative of Thor and Old Norse býr "farmstead settlement"... [more]
TiddEnglish This Old English Surname was derived from a hill named after its resemblance to a teat or tead (mammary gland) of which Tidd is a variant. That name became a name for the locale and further by extension for its people.
TiffanyEnglish From the medieval female personal name Tiffania (Old French Tiphaine, from Greek Theophania, a compound of theos "God" and phainein "to appear"). This name was often given to girls born around the feast of Epiphany.