FollowillEnglish Of Norman origin - from Folleville Somme in northern France. The placename Ashby Folville in Leicestershire derives its affix from the de Folevill family who held the manor from the 12th to 14th centuries.
SaarsaluEstonian Saarsalu is an Estonian surname meaning "island grove".
StellatoItalian Stellato, which is the modern Italian word for "starry", as in "starry sky", translates to "by the stars" from the Latin word Stella. As so many Italians were navigators on ships and navigated "by the stars," and since so many surnames were derived from occupations... [more]
AtrdaeIranian Avestan originating surname meaning either "giving fire" or "creating fire".... [more]
WurðingtunEnglish Habitational name from places in Lancashire and Leicestershire named Worthington; both may have originally been named in Old English as Wurðingtun "settlement (Old English tun) associated with Wurð", but it is also possible that the first element was Old English worðign, a derivative of worð ‘enclosure’.
BiałyPolish Means "white" in Polish, denoting a person who had blond or white hair or a pale complexion.
PrytulyakUkrainian From Ukrainian притуляк (prytulyak), meaning "refugee" in Ukrainian, literally "shelter person, person who seeks shelter". It is not the common term for a refugee (біженець, bizhenets').
SchwanzGerman Form of Schwan. Also means tail in German.
CámaraSpanish Occupational name for a courtier or servant who could access the private quarters of a king or noble, from Spanish cámara meaning "room, chamber".
SeinfeldGerman, Jewish From the German word sein "to be" and the word of German Jewish origin feld which means "field". It was a name given to areas of land that had been cleared of forest.
SaldañaSpanish Habitual surname for a person from any of the locations in Spain named Saldaña. The name itself comes from the older name Gili-Zalan, which is of uncertain meaning.
KmetSlovene, Serbian, Croatian, Slovak Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovak status name for a type of peasant. In Slovenia this denoted a peasant who had his own landed property. In Serbia and elsewhere it was a status name for a feudal peasant farmer who cultivated the land of his lord instead of paying rent or doing military service... [more]
GardeIndian Found among the Konkanasth Brahmins, probably from Marathi gəṛda ‘belch’.
RooväliEstonian Rooväli is an Estonian surname meaning "cane/reed field".
AusterlitzGerman (Austrian), Jewish Derived from Slavkov u Brna (historically known as Austerlitz in German), a town located in Vyškov District, in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. This was real surname of the American actor and dancer Fred Astaire (1899-1987), as well as his sister Adele Astaire (1896-1981), an actress, singer and dancer.
KeokanyaLao From Lao ແກ້ວ (keo) meaning "jewel, gem" and ກັນຍາ (kanya) meaning "September" or "Virgo (the constellation)".
HwangKorean, Chinese Korean form of Huang, from Sino-Korean 黃 (hwang). It is also an alternate transcription of the Chinese name.
NoyEnglish Either (i) from the medieval male personal name Noye, the English form of the Hebrew name Noach "Noah 1"; or (ii) an invented Jewish name based on Hebrew noy "decoration, adornment".
SträngSwedish Probably taken directly from Swedish sträng "strict, stern, harsh, grim". although it could also be derived from the name of the city Strängnäs.
HerediaSpanish Habitational name from any of various places in Basque Country called Heredia, probably derived from Latin heredium meaning "hereditary estate".
ZemlyanovmRussian From Russian земля (zemlya) meaning "earth, land, soil".
CowardEnglish Occupational name for a cowherd, from Old English cuhierde.
AbercrombieScottish Derived from a surname. It is the name of a parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Frith of Forth, whence the possessor took his surname; from Aber, marshy ground, a place where two or more streams meet; and cruime or crombie, a bend or crook... [more]
SiglerMiddle High German (Americanized) Occupational name, derived from the Middle High German sigel, meaning "seal." It refers to a maker of seals and signet rings or an official keeper of a seal.... [more]
NawabUrdu, Punjabi From a title traditionally used by Muslim officials in South Asia who acted as local governors and rulers of deputy states. It is ultimately derived from Arabic نائب (na'ib) via Persian.
HelsingSwedish Denoted a person who came from the Swedish province Hälsingland.
EstleEnglish From the name of the town of Astley, Warwickshire, which translates to "east wood".
EllenderGerman Respelling of German Elender, a nickname for a stranger or newcomer, from Middle High German ellende ‘strange’, ‘foreign’, or a habitational name for someone from any of twenty places named Elend, denoting a remote settlement, as for example in the Harz Mountains or in Carinthia, Austria.
VoborníkCzech, Slovak Příjmení Voborník vzniklo dle svého bydliště, tedy z obory. Oborníky mívali naši předkové, byli to správcové nebo strážcové obor, lesní a hajní v oborách (slovo toto žije v příjmení Oborník, Voborník)... [more]
SnipesEnglish Variant spelling of or a patronymic from Snipe. A famous bearer is American actor Wesley Snipes (1962-).
CowdellEnglish (British) Cowdell is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Coldwell' (v. Caldwell), a township in the union of Bellingham, Northumberland Also of Colwell, a township in the union of Hexham, same county.
AbeggGerman, German (Swiss) Topographic name for someone who lived near the corner of a mountain, from German ab meaning "off" and Egg, dialect form of Eck(e) meaning "promontory", "corner".
FivelandNorwegian (Rare) From the name of a farm in Norway named with the word fivel possibly meaning "cottongrass, bog cotton". This plant grows in abundance in the marshy land near the location of the farm.
PitsenbargerGerman Probably an altered spelling of Bezzenberger, which is derived from Boizenburg, a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
DukelowEnglish This surname is of Old French origin. It was initially introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and subsequently by French Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecutions in their own country... [more]
RalphEnglish From a Middle English personal name composed of Germanic rad "counsel, advice" and wolf "wolf". This was first introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers in the Old Norse form Ráðulfr, and was reinforced after the Conquest by the Norman form Ra(d)ulf... [more]
LoitEstonian Loit is an Esotnian surname meaning "flare". Also, probably from "loits", meaning "incantation" or "spell".
TynerIrish An Anglicized version of the Gaelic name O Teimhneain, which is derived from the word teimhean, meaning "dark."
ElfordMedieval English From the Old English personal name Ella, from the word oelf meaning "elf" or from the Old English alor/elre, meaning "alder tree." The name in full would mean "alder tree by a ford" or "Ella who lives by a ford".... [more]
CacioppoItalian, Sicilian Derived from Sicilian cacioppu meaning "dried tree trunk", presumably applied as a nickname for someone with wizened skin, or from caciopu meaning "short-sighted" (derived from Greek kakiopes, literally meaning "having bad eyes").
WhitlowEnglish white hill” place name from east side of country in lower Northumbria perhaps? Or perhaps next lower shire.
KalthoffGerman German (Westphalian): habitational name from a place named as 'the cold farm', from Middle High German kalt "cold" + hof "farmstead", "manor farm’, "court".
StradivariItalian Italian surname of uncertain origin, either from the plural of Lombard stradivare meaning "toll-man" or from strada averta meaning "open road" in the Cremonese dialect. A famous bearer was Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), a violin-maker of Cremona.
TamayoSpanish from a town in the burgos region in spain.
SkipworthEnglish From the name of Skipwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The place name was recorded as Schipewic in the Domesday Book of 1086; as Scipewiz in the 1166 Pipe Rolls of the county; and as Skipwith in the 1291 Pipe Rolls, and derives from the Old English sceap, scip "sheep", and wic "outlying settlement"; hence, "settlement outside the village where sheep were kept".
HatchEnglish English (mainly Hampshire and Berkshire): topographic name from Middle English hacche ‘gate’, Old English hæcc (see Hatcher). In some cases the surname is habitational, from one of the many places named with this word... [more]
BureOld Swedish, Swedish This was the name of an influential family in 16th century Sweden. The name originated from the village Bure (now known as Bureå) in Skellefteå parish in Northern Sweden. The village got its name from the nearby Bure River (Swedish: Bure älv, Bureälven) whose name was derived from the Swedish dialectal word burra "buzz, rumble".
BielawskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Bielawa.
DeslauriersFrench (Quebec) A topographic name for someone living among laurels, a combination of the fused preposition and plural definite article des ‘from the’ + the plural of Old French lorier ‘laurel’.
AguIgbo Agu is an Igbo surname; the word Agu means Tiger in Igobo language.
NõmmEstonian Nõmm is an Estonian surname meaning "heath".
TorvaldssonSwedish Swedish patronymic meaning "son of Torvald". It was the surname name of Erik the Red (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, anglicized as Erik Thorvaldsson or Erik Torvaldsson), father of Viking explorer Leif Erikson.
TourvilleFrench The name Tourville is a very old, and in one case, very famous name. One of the Marshall's of France was named Anne Hilarion de Cotentin de Tourville. This reads: Anne Hilarion of/from Cotentin, Comte (Count) of Tourville... [more]
AkuzawaJapanese From Japanese 阿久沢 (Akuzawa), a variant spelling of 悪沢 (Akuzawa) meaning "Akuzawa", a division in the area of Azuma in the city of Midori in the prefecture of Gumma in Japan.... [more]