BeeryIrish Anglicized form of Ó Béara. This name was borne by brothers Noah (1882-1946) and Wallace Beery (1885-1949), and Noah's son Noah Beery Jr... [more]
TanChinese From Chinese 谭 (tán) referring to the state of Tan that existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
RidingerGerman A habitational name for someone from a place named Riding or Rieding. It is also possibly an altered spelling of Reitinger, a topographic name from Reit(e), which means ‘clearing’ (Old High German riuti).
WiemannLow German Variant of Weinmann, from Middle Low German, Middle High German winman ‘viticulturalist’, ‘wine merchant’. Variant of Wiedemann... [more]
MatontiEnglish My grandfathers last name from Italy . He grew up in Naples but the name is from a small country village by Tuscany named Matonti. That's all we know so far.
NiinEstonian Niin is an Estonian surname meaning "bast" and "phloem" (the fibrous material from the phloem of a plant, used as fiber in matting, cord, etc.)
SashiharaJapanese From 指 (sashi) meaning "finger" and 原 (hara) meaning "plain, field".
PašalićBosnian, Croatian Derived from paša, meaning "Pasha", which was a high rank in the Ottoman political and military system.
MellodyIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maoiléidigh ‘descendant of Maoléidigh’, a byname composed of the elements maol ‘chief’ + éidigh ‘ugly’.
ClavellFrench, Catalan The first documented records of the surname Clavell appear in Catalunya between 1291 and 1327. The word clavell traces back to the Indo-European words "kleu", later "klawo" meaning a metal tool. In Latin "clavus", it eventually became a surname "Clavell".
KitchenhamEnglish Occupational surname for a person who was in charge of the kitchen in a royal or noble house, or a monastery. From the Anglo Saxon cycene (German: Küche Dutch: kjøkken Latin: cocina Italian: cucina)
CardenEnglish Derived from Middle English cardoon "wild thistle, artichoke thistle". Could be a nickname for someone who carded wool (which was originally done with thistles), for a person who lived near a thistle patch, or for a prickly and unapproachable person... [more]
DeforgeFrench This is a surname of French origins. Introduced into England after the famous Invasion and Conquest of 1066, it is residential, but also possibly occupational. It is a surname which in its different forms is widely recorded heraldically, and particularly in the French regions of Brittany and Normandy... [more]
TjernströmSwedish Combination of Swedish tjärn "tarn" and ström "stream".
SonoraSpanish From Spanish sonoro meaning "sonorous", perhaps a nickname for a loud person.
BorromeoSpanish (Philippines) Nickname derived from Italian buon romeo meaning "good pilgrim", from buono meaning "good" and Romeo meaning "pilgrim (to Rome)".
TorkingtonEnglish From the name of a place in Greater Manchester, originally meaning "Tork's settlement" (Tork being a name or nickname combined with Old English tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town").
PrioreItalian from Italian priore "prior" either a nickname or occupational name which probably most often originated as a metonymic occupational name for a servant of a prior or some important lay dignitary... [more]
LambergFinnish, Swedish Perhaps combination of an unexplained first element (maybe taken from a place name) and Swedish berg "mountain". It could also be of German origin (see other submission).
NorzagaraiBasque (Rare) From the name of a house in the municipality of Álava, Spain, derived from Basque garai "high, tall, top" and an uncertain first element.
KrumreihnGerman Possibly derived from Middle High German krum(b) meaning "crooked" and rein meaning "border of a field, margin", and hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a field with a crooked edge, or perhaps a nickname for a farmer who plowed a crooked furrow... [more]
MiharaJapanese From Japanese 三 (mi) meaning "three" and 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".
HoppeGerman, Dutch Derived from hoppen "to hop", a nickname for an active person. Can also be a variant of Hopp.
NaughtonEnglish Habitational name from a place in Suffolk, named in Old English with nafola meaning "navel" + tūn meaning "enclosure", "settlement", i.e. "settlement in the navel or depression".
ItzsteinGerman Topographic surname that originated from broad regions around the river Itz in Thuringia, Germany. The word "Stein" (German word for stone) historically was also used to describe castles on a hill or at a river, thus a possible meaning of the name is "castle at the river Itz".
HorsleyEnglish Habitational name from any of the various places called Horsley in England, all derived from Old English hors "horse" and leah "woodland, clearing", probably referring to a place where horses were put out to pasture.
CombèsFrench Either a topographic name from combe "narrow valley ravine" (see Combe ) or a habitational name from any of various places in southern France for example in Hérault named Combes.
TuveriItalian Possibly from Sardinian Campidanese tuvera, meaning "pipe of the bellows", indicating someone who worked at a forge.
Van OmmerenDutch Means "from Ommeren", a small village in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
MacduffScottish Gaelic From the ancient Scottish Gaelic Mac duib meaning "son of the black/dark man." This name may have originated as a ethnic term about the native Scots used by Viking conquestors during the later half of the First Millenium... [more]
WestermannLow German From Middle Low German wester meaning "westerly" and man meaning "man", making it a topographic surname for someone who lived west of a settlement or a regional surname for someone who had moved to the west... [more]
NatsumeJapanese From Japanese 棗 (natsume) meaning "jujube". Natsume was a large village in the former district of Sakai, but the surname could also be from the former name for the area of Ishishimbo.
MahrezArabic (Maghrebi) From Arabic مُحْرَز (maḥraz) meaning "accomplished, achieved, attained". A notable bearer is Riyad Mahrez (1991-), an Algerian footballer.
KeränenFinnish Possibly from Keräpää, a nickname for a bald person or someone with a round head and/or with closely cropped hair, combined with the common surname suffix -nen. In eastern Finland the name dates back to the 16th century.
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.
LehmkuhlGerman, Low German topographic or occupational name for someone working or living by a clay pit from Middle Low German lēm "clay" and kule "pit" a habitational name from any of several places called with this term for example Lehmkuhlen near Kiel.
PalumaaEstonian Palumaa is an Estonian surname meaning "sandy heath/heathy wood land".
KraanveltEstonian (Rare) Possibly derived from Middle High German krane "crane (bird or machine)" and velt "field". Pre-dates widespread use of surnames in Estonia.
CookinhamJewish (Americanized) This has the form of an English habitational name; however, there is no record of any such place name in the British Isles, and the surname does not appear in present-day records. It is probably an Americanized form of Jewish Guggenheim .
HaabmaEstonian Haabma is an Estonian surname derived from "haab" (aspen) and "maa" (land).
BejarSpanish From the town of the same name in Spain
KastratiAlbanian Derived from the name of the Kastrati tribe inhabiting the region of Malësia in northern Albania.
BankheadScottish, Northern Irish Topographic name for someone who lived at the top or end of a bank or hill, derived from Middle English bank meaning "bank" and hed meaning "head". There are several minor places in Scotland so called, but the most likely source of the surname is one on the border between the parishes of Kilmarnock and Dreghorn in Ayrshire, Scotland.
RivabellaItalian Derived from the Italian word riva meaning "bank (shore, riverbank, lakebank)" (from Latin ripa) and bella meaning "beautiful"... [more]
De RomaMedieval Spanish (Rare) A Spanish locational surname meaning “Of Rome”, perhaps for a Spaniard who lived in Rome or an Italian expat who immigrated to Spain
KarpińskimPolish Derived from karp, the Polish spelling of "carp." Historically, the Karpiński family was part of the royal Clan of Korab, one of the twelve noble tribes of Poland.
CianciItalian The surname Cianci is a name for a person of small financial means. The surname Cianfari is derived from the Italian words cianfrone and cianferone, which referred to a type of medieval coin.
HowesEnglish Pronounced to rhyme with hose, a variant of Howe with plural or post-medieval excrescent -s. Hose (Leicestershire), recorded as Howes in 1086, is named with the plural of Old English hōh ‘hill spur’.... [more]
MacnicolScottish A Scottish surname meaning "Son of the conquering people"
CespedesSpanish From the plural of cesped "peat", "turf" (Latin caespes, genitive caespitis), applied as a habitational name from a place named Céspedes (for example in Burgos province) or named with this word, or a topographic name for someone who lived by an area of peat, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for someone who cut and sold turf.
BiedrońPolish Nickname, either from dialect biedron ‘spotted bullock’, or for someone with conspicuous or deformed hips, from a derivative of dialect biedro ‘hip’.
SpierEnglish An English surname, meaning "the one who watches".
CostainEnglish, Scottish, Manx When originating in Scotland Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man the surname is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Austain, meaning "son of Austin"... [more]
QuetzGerman German family name originating from the town of Quetz (today Quetzdölsdorf).... [more]