BernadotteFrench, Swedish Possibly from the name of a historical province in Southern France named Béarn. This was originally a French non-noble surname. French general Jean Baptise Bernadotte (1763-1844) became the king of Sweden as Charles XIV John (Swedish: Karl XIV Johan) in 1818 and founded the current royal house in Sweden, House of Bernadotte.
KatzenJewish (Ashkenazi) Katzen is a variant of Kotzen, or a shortened version of Katzenellenbogen. Its origins can also be traced back to a habitational form of Katzenelnbogen. There is no clear answer of where this surname exactly came from... [more]
WigginEnglish Either (i) from the Germanic male personal name Wīgant, literally "warrior", introduced into England by the Normans; or (ii) from the Breton male personal name Wiucon, literally "worthy-noble", introduced into England by the Normans.
WagaharaJapanese Waga is possibly from waka meaning "young" and hara means "plain, field".
KelavaCroatian Possibly derived from Turkish kel, meaning "bald".... [more]
StrindbergSwedish Likely a combination of Strinne, the name of a village in Multrå parish, Ångermanland, Sweden, and berg "mountain". A well known bearer of this name was Swedish playwright and novelist August Strindberg (1849-1912).
AppelGerman, Dutch From the personal name Appel, a pet form of Apprecht (common especially in Thuringia and Franconia), itself a variant of Albrecht... [more]
PernierItalian A famous bearer is the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier (1874 - 1937), who discovered the mysterious Phaistos disc on the Greek island of Crete.
SchaumburgGerman, Belgian Habitational name from any of the places called Schaumburg or Schauenburg in Germany, or Schauwberg in Brabant, Belgium. Derived from schūm "slag, cinder" and burg "mountain, hill".
HellenbrandGerman Derived from germanic: hildtja = battle, brandt = sword, or prandt = burning wood/torch. Other view: Hilda is the Nordic Queen of the Underworld, Goddes of Death, so Sword/Torch of Hilda.... [more]
GaudinFrench From the Old French personal name Gaudin Norman French Waldin Waudin a pet form of ancient Germanic names based on the element wald "rule power".
AbersLatvian This name is from the fiords and was given to the people that lived there and mainly were fishermen. Now people that have the last name can be anyware in Latvia (or other country) but most likely had ancestors from the fiords.
MäesaluEstonian Mäesalu is an Estonian surname meaning "hill grove".
SpellingEnglish, Irish, Jewish Occupational name for a scholar, speaker or a story teller, derived from Middle English spellan meaning "to tell or relate". It could also be a variant of Irish Spillane or Jewish Spellman... [more]
ZamlochGerman (Austrian) Altered, likely Americanized or Germanized, version of the Czech surname Zemlicka. Zemlicka derives from žemle, meaning "bread roll," and was a name given to bakers.... [more]
ValladOjibwe Name given to dozens of a First Nations Anishinaabek at residential schools.
RanganathanHinduism Means ‘lord of mirth’. It is an epithet of Lord Krishna.
OlivaItalian, Spanish Of uncertain origin: derived either from a nickname to those who picked, worked with or sold olives, or from the given name Oliva.
SebronEnglish Exact origins unknown. It could possibly be from "Seabourne", from a patronymic name ("the son of Sebern"), from William Sebrin, Normandy 1180, or possibly even from Norman or Scandinavian origin.
SwitserEnglish Either (i) from the medieval nickname Swetesire (literally "sweet sir, amiable master"), applied sarcastically either to someone who used the expression liberally as a form of address or to someone with a de-haut-en-bas manner; or (ii) an anglicization of Schweitzer (from Middle High German swīzer "Swiss person").
HavardWelsh Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from the name of the city of Hereford in England or the port city of Le Havre in France.
KolkmannGerman Kolk is an old German word that means '' man who lives by the river'' and Mann is German for 'man'. The name Kolkmann comes from a man who lived by the North Rhine.
KimigafukuroJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 君ケ袋 (Kimigafukuro) meaning "Kimigafukuro", a former large village in the district of Kami in the former Japanese province of Rikuzen in parts of present-day Miyagi, Japan and Iwate, Japan.
SetonScottish It has been claimed in the past that the name Seton is Norman in origin, however evidence points to it being Flemish. Various suggestions have been put forward regarding the derivation of the name but nothing proved conclusively; it probably means "town by the sea" and possibly derives from the "sea town" of Staithes in modern day North Yorkshire... [more]
AventEnglish From a shortened form of the Anglo-Norman personal name or nickname Avenant or Avaunt, derived from Old French avenant meaning "beautiful, agreeable, fitting".
YuKorean Korean form of Liu, from Sino-Korean 劉 (yu).
NerenbergJewish Variant of the Ashkenazic Jewish surname Nierenberg, which is derived from Nirnberg, the Yiddish form of Nuremberg (German Nürnberg), hence becoming an Ashkenazic Jewish habitational surname for someone living in that city.
AràbiaItalian, Spanish Ethnic name for someone from Arabia or some other Arabic-speaking country or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with one of these countries.
FoucaultFrench Derived from the Germanic given name Folcwald, which was composed of the elements folk "people" and walt "power, leader, ruler"... [more]
QiuChinese From Chinese 邱 or 丘 (qiū) referring to a place called Yingqiu that existed in the state of Qi in what is now Shandong province. The name was originally written with the character 丘 until its usage was prohibited during the Qing dynasty in order to avoid a taboo caused by using the character of Confucius's given name, 丘... [more]
SilerEnglish Anglicized form of Seiler, an occupational name for a rope maker, from German Seil ‘rope’
Ó HannáinIrish Hundreds of years ago, the Gaelic name used by the Hannant family in Ireland was Ó hAnnáin, which means "descendant of hAnnáin".... [more]
OvechkinRussian Patronymic derived from Russian овечка (ovechka) meaning "lamb". A famous bearer is the Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin (1985-).
SarsourArabic Means "cockroach" or "roach" in Arabic.
MeesterDutch, Flemish, German Occupational name for a teacher, lecturer or a master craftsman, or a nickname for someone who had a bossy demeanor, derived from Dutch meester meaning "master". A famous bearer of this surname is the American actress, singer and model Leighton Meester (1986-).