KarjalaFinnish Finnish from karja ‘cattle’ + the local suffix -la, or possibly from a word of Germanic origin, harja- ‘host’, ‘crowd’, Old Swedish haer. Historic records suggest that the Germanic inhabitants of the area around Lake Ladoga (in present-day Russia) used this term to refer to the Finns who once lived there.
MesmerGerman Occupational name for a maker of knives from Middle High German messer meaning "knife". A famous bearer was Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), a German doctor known for his theory of "animal magnetism", which was eventually incorporated into the field of hypnosis.
HotzGerman (Swiss), German, Hungarian Of debated origin and meaning; theories include a habitional name for someone from the Hotzenwald, a derivation from any given name containing the Germanic name element hadu "battle, combat" and a derivation from the verb hotzen "to swing, to sway, to tremble".
ItoJapanese Variant transcription of Japanese Kanji 井筒 (see Itō).
LagasseFrench French: nickname from Old French agace, agasse ‘magpie’ + the definite article l’.
MarengoItalian Habitational name from Marengo in Alessandria Province or Marengo-Talloria in Cuneo. From Maréngo, Marénco, meaning Of The Sea, Maritime (Medieval Latin Marincus from Mare ‘Sea’), which were often used as personal names or nicknames in the Middle Ages.
SénécalFrench status name for a seneschal an official in a large household who was responsible for overseeing day-to-day domestic arrangements from Old French seneschal (of ancient Germanic origin composed of the elements sini "old" and scalc "servant")... [more]
RosellSwedish Combination of ros "rose" and the common surname suffix -ell.
De LimaSpanish "de Lima" is the surname given to the people who lived near the Limia River (Lima in portuguese) on the Province of Ourense, an autonomous community of Galicia, located at the northwest of Spain. The root of the name is Don Juan Fernandez de Lima, maternal grandson to the King Alfonso VI de León (1040-1109).
ViluEstonian Vilu is an Estonian surname meaning "cool" and "chilly".
Van WanrooijDutch Means "from Wanroij" in Dutch, the name of a town in North Brabant, Netherlands, probably derived from Middle Dutch wan "bad, insufficient, lacking; un-" and rode "land cleared of trees".
EichenbergGerman Derived from Middle High German eih "oak" and berg "mountain hill" meaning "oak hill, oak mountain"; a topographic name for someone who lived on an oak-covered hillside or a habitational name from any of the places so named... [more]
ChouraquiJudeo-Spanish Means "the one who comes from the east" from Arabic شَرْقِيّ (šarqiyy) meaning "eastern".
ScarduzioItalian From the Italian verb scardare, meaning to husk a hazelnut or chestnut. Possibly a metaphor for a sculptor who 'husked' a sculpture from stone.
VignoneItalian Probably an augmented form of Vigna "vineyard", or derived from the name of a town in Piedmont, Italy, named with the same etymology. Alternatively, could be a nickname for someone from Avignon, a city in France.
BroughEnglish Habitational name derived from any place called Brough, named with Old English burh "fortress" (compare English and Irish Burke).
GalletFrench Either a nickname for a cheerful companion a noun derivative of the Old French verb galler "to enjoy oneself to have fun". Or from a pet form of the personal name Gall.
NairnScottish Means "person from Nairn", Highland region ("(place at the mouth of the river) Nairn", a Celtic river-name perhaps meaning "penetrating one").
AdamthwaiteEnglish Habitational name for a person from a place in Ravenstonedale, derived from the personal name Adam and Old Norse þveit "clearing, pasture".
MurayoshiJapanese Mura means "village, hamlet" or "town" and yoshi means "good luck".
MayerhoferGerman (Austrian) Denoted a person from the municipality of Mayrhof in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.
OkinoJapanese O could mean "big, great" and ki can mean "tree, wood", or it could be spelled as oki meaning "open sea", and no means "field, plain".
KroneckerJewish, German (Austrian) Derived from the place name Kroneck in Austria. A famous bearer of this surname was Leopold Kronecker(1823~1891),the German mathematician who worked on number theory.
GothamEnglish English: habitational name from Gotham in Nottinghamshire, so named from Old English gat ‘goat’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘water meadow’.
CalderaSpanish Derived from Spanish caldera meaning "basin, crater, hollow", ultimately from Latin caldarium or caldaria both meaning "hot bath, cooking pot". The word also denotes a depression in volcanoes, and it is commonly used as an element for surnames denoting streams or mountains.
SiqueiraPortuguese Habitational name from numerous places called Siqueira or Sequeira in Portugal or Galicia, derived from sequeira meaning "arid land" (ultimately from Latin siccus "dry").
PröömEstonian Prööm is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "krööm" meaning "grain".
ImanalievKyrgyz Derived from Arabic إِيمَان (ʾīmān) meaning "faith, creed, religion" (see Iman) combined with the given name Ali 1.
van MelleDutch, Flemish Means "from Melle". Habitational name for someone hailing from Melle in East Flanders, Belgium.
CastleberryUpper German Anglicized form of the German surname Kesselberg and a habitational name for places located in Rhineland and Bavaria named Kesselberg. This surname is rare in Germany.
BainFrench Habitational name probably derived from Old French bain "bath". In some cases, the toponym might instead be derived from the Ancient Roman given name Baenus or Balnus.
McgonagleAmerican Irish (Donegal) and Scottish (Glasgow): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Conghail, a patronymic from the personal name Conghal, composed of Celtic elements meaning 'hound' + 'valor'.
MæhleNorwegian, Danish (Rare) Denoted someone from a farm in Norway named Mele, ultimately derived from Old Norse melr meaning "dune, sandbank, gravel bank". Alternatively taken from the name of a farm named Male whose name was derived from Old Norse mǫl "pebbles, gravel".
FuenokazeJapanese Borne by character Ren Fuenokaze (笛の 風錬) in the fake visual novel adventure game 'Danganronpa 4K: Hopeless Rising', made up of the nouns 笛 (fue) meaning "flute", の (no) meaning "of the", and 風 (kaze) meaning "winds".... [more]
LehnerGerman Status name for a feudal tenant or vassal, from an agent derivative of Middle High German lehen 'to hold land as a feudal tenant'. variant of Leonhardt.
RabinowiczJewish Polish Jewish name meaning son of rabbi from the root rabi meaning "rabbi" combined with the Polish patronymic suffix -owicz "son of"
HatsuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 初 (hatsu) meaning "first, start, beginning, initial, new". Notable bearers of this surname is Akiko Hatsu (Japanese manga artist) and a bearer of the first name form is Hatsu Hioki (Japanese wrestler).
LaveryIrish, Northern Irish From the Gaelic Ó Labhradha, "descendants of Labhradha" (speaker, spokesman, the father of Etru, chief of the Monagh of the Irish over-kingdom of Ulaid); the name of an ancient family originating from Magh Rath (present-day Moira, County Down, Northern Ireland)... [more]
LabontéFrench (Quebec), Haitian Creole, Mauritian Creole From French la bonté meaning "(the) kindness, (the) goodness", originally used as a soldier's name and perhaps also as a nickname for a benevolent person. This surname is rare in France.
MannerheimFinland Swedish (Rare) Swedification of the German surname Marhein. A famous bearer was Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951), a Finnish military leader, statesman and the 6th President of Finland... [more]
SchwerinGerman, Jewish habitational name from any of the places called Schwerin in Mecklenburg Brandenburg and Pomerania.
StanwoodEnglish (American) From Old English stan meaning "stone, rock" and weald meaning "forest, wooded area".
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".
PaixãoPortuguese Means "passion" in Portuguese, a reference to the Passion, the final period before the death of Jesus commemorated during Holy Week. It was originally used as a nickname for someone born on that day or for someone who had completed a pilgrimage on that day.
SilverthorneEnglish (Rare) Silverthorne, Silverthorn comes from the Old English seolfor "silver" and þorn "thorn bush" and means the family that lived by the "silver or white thorn tree".