ŻakPolish A nickname given to youthful or studious people. Comes from the Polish żak, meaning "student" or "schoolboy". It originally meant "novice" or "candidate for the priesthood", and so in some cases it is perhaps a nickname for someone who had been destined for holy orders.
LafleurFrench, French (Caribbean) from la fleur "the flower" used as a soldier's name and also as a servant's name; it was one of the most common nicknames (noms de guerre) among French soldiers.
BarkwayEnglish Derived from the locality of Barkway 'Birch Road'.
SaładajczykPolish A Polish surname consisting of 3 elements: sała or сала a word of East Slavic origin meaning "salo" or "slanina", daj meaning "give" and czyk meaning "son of". The name means "the son of the one who gives the salo".
BuckmanEnglish Occupational name for a goatherd (Middle English bukkeman) or scholar (Old English bucman "book man"). It could also be a shortened form of Buckingham or a variant of BUCKNAM.
LepistuEstonian Lepistu is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "lepitus" meaning "conciliation" and "arrangement".
MullinixFrench A locational name "of de Moloneaux" probably from the noble family who trace their descent from William the Conqueror, from Molineaux-sur-Seine, near Rouen. The name came to England during the wake of the Norman Conquest... [more]
BirdsonAfrican American It means son of Bird and most likely came from someone who was given the name Bird. The word bird is found in all English language dictionaries and was not intended to be a name.
HareIrish (Anglicized), English (American) Irish (Ulster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÍr, meaning ‘long-lasting’. In Ireland this name is found in County Armagh; it has also long been established in Scotland.... [more]
ChanthalangsyLao From Lao ຈັນທະ (chantha) meaning "moon" and ລັງສີ (langsi) meaning "ray, beam".
KahyaTurkish Means "butler, steward, housekeeper" in Turkish.
WhitelockEnglish It is believed to be a habitational surname derived from Whitlock in Shropshire, England.
WęglarzPolish Means "Charcoal burner". Uncommon, mostly popular in voivodship of Małopolska (Lesser Poland) in places like Szczawnica, Kraków or Mszana Dolna.
RatherGerman, Jewish 1. Occupational name for a counsellor or nickname for a wise person, from Middle High German rater ‘adviser’. ... [more]
BrokerEnglish Name given to someone who worked as a broker, an agent for the sale and purchase of goods and services. Further research revealed that the name is derived from the Anglo-French word brocour, which has the same meaning as the English word broker
KoiralaNepali From the name of the village of Koirali in Nepal.
TroiaItalian Could derive from the name of a town in Foggia, or be a nickname derived from Italian troia "sow, female pig", which has a slang meaning of "slut".
MartiranoItalian Likely a habitational surname from a place in Catanzaro province in the Calabria region of Italy.
AgrbaAbkhaz Most likely derived from Abkhaz агыруа (ā́gər-uā) meaning "Mingrelian, farm labourer, serf", historically used to refer to the Mingrelians, an ethic sub-group of the Georgians. Alternatively, it could be from Abkhaz агара (āgārā) meaning "to take" or "to bring"... [more]
NalbandyanArmenian Means "son of the farrier" from dialectal Armenian նալբանդ (nalband) meaning "farrier" (of Persian origin).
KilcommonIrish Indicated a person who was from Kilcommon, Erris, County Mayo in Ireland. The place name Kilcommon derives from the Gaeltacht phrase Cill Chomáin, meaning "church of St. Comán."
ElgezabalBasque From the name of a neighborhood in the municipality of Zornotza, Spain, derived from Basque elge "field, cultivated land" and zabal "wide, broad, open".
TestaburgerPopular Culture Wendy Testaburger is one of the reoccurring characters on the animated TV series South Park
KozueJapanese (Rare) This surname is used as 梢, 小梢 or 梢江 with 梢 (shou, kusunoki, kozue) meaning "treetops, twig", 小 (shou, o-, ko-, sa-, chii.sai) meaning "little, small" and 江 (kou, e) meaning "bay, creek, inlet."... [more]
YoshiuraJapanese From Japanese 吉 (yoshi) meaning "good luck" and 浦 (ura) meaning "bay, coast".
AtlanJudeo-Spanish From an Arabic word originally meaning "noble" but later taking on the pejorative meaning of "spoiled, worthless" or "crippled, infirm".
LallyIrish (Anglicized) A shortened form of Mullally, an Anglicized form of Ó Maolalaidh. A famous bearer includes James Lally, an Irish landowner and politician from Tuam, County Galway.
AzzopardiMaltese Possibly derived from the Hebrew term סְפָרַדִּי (s'faradí) used to refer to Jews originating from Iberia (called Sephardim or Sephardic Jews). It may also be of Greek origin from a word meaning "black, Mauritanian" or "soldier" with a connection to Middle Persian spʿh "army" used to refer to a person of African descent or someone who worked as a mercenary... [more]
MackinawIrish First found in County Monaghan located in the Northern part of the Republic of Ireland in the province of Ulster, at Truagh where they were known as the Lords of Truagh.... [more]
SchaalGerman, Dutch, French, Jewish Either a nickname for a braggart or a market crier, (derived from Middle High German schal meaning "noise, bragging"), an occupational name for someone who made dishes for scales and vessels for drinking, (from Middle Low German and Dutch schale "dish"), a habitational name from Schaala in Thuringia or the Schaalsee lake near Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, or a topographic name for someone living on marshy land, (from Dutch schald "shallow")... [more]
KawaeiJapanese From 川 (kawa) meaning "river, stream" and 栄 (ei) meaning "glory, honour, flourish, prosper".... [more]
ShrapnelEnglish A different form of Carbonell. Shrapnel (i.e. metal balls or fragments that are scattered when a bomb, shell or bullet explodes) is named after General Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), a British artillery officer who during the Peninsular War invented a shell that produced that effect.
NerzGerman From the German word Nerz meaning "Mink".
CouricFrench Originally a nickname given to a short person, derived from Middle Breton corr, korr meaning "dwarf, midget". A well-known bearer of this surname is the American journalist, television host and author Katie Couric (1957-).
CuervoSpanish Means "raven, crow" in Spanish, ultimately from Latin corvus. From a nickname for a man with strikingly glossy black hair or with a raucous voice. Alternatively, a habitational name from places containing this word (e.g. El Cuervo, Teruel).
SzeligaPolish Habitational name from places called Szeliga or Szeligi. It is not clear whether there is any connection with the Polish vocabulary word szeliga ‘coat-of-arms’.
TranmerEnglish Habitational name from Tranmere, a district within the borough of Birkenhead, Cheshire, or Tranmires, an area in Hackness, North Yorkshire. Both toponyms derive from Old Norse trani "crane (bird)" and melr "sandbank, dune".
BirkenfeldGerman From the name of various places in Germany, like the one in Rhineland-Palatinate, all derived from Old High German birka "birch tree" and feld "field"... [more]
MakhmalbafPersian Means "velvet weaver" from Persian مخمل (makhmal) meaning "velvet" (of Arabic origin) and باف (bāf) meaning "to weave, to braid".
BoccafuscaItalian Possibly means "dark mouth", from bocco "mouth" and fosco "dark, gloomy", a nickname for someone who often spoke ill of others, or perhaps given to foundlings.
SaradaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 皿 (sara), an assigned character to 更 (sara) meaning "new; unused" and 田 (da), the joining form of 田 (ta) meaning "rice paddy, cultivated field", referring to unused farmland.
ArczyńskiPolish Patronymic from a name beginning with Jaro- (meaning "strong; robust") such as Jarosław, Jaromir or Jarogniew, suffixed with -yński based on habitational surnames.
DodgeEnglish Possibly a nickname from Middle English dogge "dog" (Old English docga, dogga).
BrandeisJewish Derived from Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav (known as Brandeis-Altbunzlau or Brandeis an der Elbe in German), a town located in the Prague-East District, in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic... [more]
HedströmSwedish Combination of Swedish hed "heath, moor" and ström "stream, river".
LaasEstonian Laas is an Estonian surname meaning "greenwood" (wood that has been recently cut) and "woodland".
BandasackLao From Lao ບັນດາ (banda) meaning "all, entire, whole" and ສັກ (sack) meaning "power, authority".
KoopmeinersDutch, German Perhaps derived from koop "purchase, buy" and meiners "mine." An alternate interpretation is that "meiners" could be derived from the German word miner.
TardifFrench, French (Quebec) From Latin tardivus, "slow". Given its unusually frequency as a family name and derivatives like Tardieu or Tardivel, it may have been a medieval given name.
WitschgeDutch Dutch cognate of Witzke. Famous bearers of this surname include brothers Rob (1966-) and Richard Witschge (1969-), both of whom are former Dutch soccer players.
TshuvaHebrew Means "answer" or "returning" in Hebrew. The term חוזר בתשובה which means "returning to the faith", reffers to a person who becomes more religious person in Judaism.
VasaOld Swedish, Swedish (Archaic) Swedish noble and former royal family. Possibly from vase meaning "bundle" or "withy". The name is believed to be a reference to the family's coat of arms. The most notable member of the family was Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1496-1560), later known as Gustav I of Sweden (in modern times known exclusively as Gustav Vasa)... [more]
VærnesNorwegian Værnes is a village in the municipality of Stjørdal in Nord-Trøndelag county in Mid-Norway. The original spelling of the village's name was Vannes and it is a combination of var "calm, quiet" and nes "headland"... [more]
GooseEnglish, Norman Occupational name for a goose-herd (a person who tends to geese) or a medieval nickname for a person who resembled a goose in some way. It could also be a English (of Norman French origins) cognate of Gosse.
BlesseEnglish (British), Filipino, Indian, French The last name Blesse was first discovered in Oxfordshire and held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. In the Philippines, Blesse means "a blessing in the family." In India, Blesse means "bless you."