FrascatoreItalian (Rare) Meaning uncertain. It is possibly derived from (or related to) Italian frasca meaning "bough, branch", which might possibly indicate that the surname had first started out as a nickname for someone who worked as a woodcutter or as a forester... [more]
UndurragaBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the municipality of Zeanuri.
BeginBelarusian, Jewish Nickname for a runner, derived from Belarusian бегун (begun) meaning "one who walks quickly". A noteworthy bearer was Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin (1913-1992), who is best remembered for signing a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, for which he and Anwar Sadat were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
FanaraItalian A Sicilian occupational name from Greek φαναράς (fanarás) "lampmaker", ultimately from φανός (fanós) "torch, lamp".
CloudEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near an outcrop or hill, from Old English clud "rock" (only later used to denote vapor formations in the sky).
GallowayScottish Scottish: regional name from Galloway in southwestern Scotland, named as ‘place of the foreign Gaels’, from Gaelic gall ‘foreigner’ + Gaidheal ‘Gael’. From the 8th century or before it was a province of Anglian Northumbria... [more]
ManusNorwegian (Hispanicized) Hispanicized variant of Magnussen. This was the surname of Norwegian World War II resistance fighter Max Manus, whose father spent much of his life living in Hispanophone countries.
GereEnglish Variant of Geer, Gehr or Geary, all related to the Old High German element gēr (Old English gār, Old Norse geirr) meaning "spear, arrow". A famous bearer is American actor Richard Gere (b... [more]
StellrechtGerman Occupational name for a cartwright, from Middle High German stel "framework" and reht (from Old High German wurht-) "maker". Compare English -wright.
RennisonEnglish Patronymic surname meaning "son of Renard". Derived as a shortened form of Reynoldson from the Old French personal name Renart with the -son suffix... [more]
StallardEnglish Byname for a valiant or resolute person, from a reduced pronunciation of Middle English stalward, stalworth "stalwart" (an Old English compound of stǣl "place" and wierðe "worthy").
RoascioItalian (Rare) Derived from Roascio, the name of a municipality in the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roass in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
DukakisGreek Alternate transcription of Greek Δουκάκης (see Doukakis). This name is borne by the American lawyer and politician Michael Dukakis (1933-), who served as Governor of Massachusetts twice... [more]
KaplanGerman, Czech, Jewish Means "chaplain, curate" in German and Czech, ultimately from Latin cappellanus. It is also sometimes used as a Jewish name, from a translation of Hebrew כֹּהֵן (kohen) meaning "priest" (see Cohen).
LuquetteFrench (Quebec) Canadian spelling of French Luquet, derived from a pet form of the given name Luc. It is also a variant of French Loquet, a metonymic occupational name for a locksmith.
TetzelGerman A variant of Tetzlaff and is derived from the bakery Tetzel Prime in Casey, Illinois.
WadsworthEnglish Location name from Yorkshire meaning "Wæddi's enclosure or settlement" with Wæddi being an old English personal name of unknown meaning plus the location element -worth. Notable bearer is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) for whom the middle name was his mother's maiden name.
ZiębaPolish From ‘finch’; a nickname for someone thought to resemble the bird or maybe because a person lived in an area with many finches. Perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a birdcatcher or dealer.
RaskinJewish Derived from the given name Raske which is a pet form of Rachel.
RakuamiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 楽 (raku) meaning "sukha" and 阿弥 (Ami), a dharma name for male followers of Amitabha.
AshcroftEnglish English (chiefly Lancashire) topographic name from Middle English æsc ‘ash tree’ + croft ‘enclosure’, or a habitational name from a minor place named with these elements.
KoduEstonian Kodu is an Estonian surname meaning "home".
FelliItalian Possibly derived from a nickname based on fello "criminal; evil, wretched; angry; sad, gloomy".
JupeEnglish A kind of cloak or cape. It is possible that an ancestor of an individual with this surname was known for their association with these kinds of clothing.
AimScottish Orcadian surname derived from Gaelic aimh "raw".
HerediaSpanish Habitational name from any of various places in Basque Country called Heredia, probably derived from Latin heredium meaning "hereditary estate".
HolzheimGerman The meaning of Holzheim is " wood home". Holz=wood and heim=home. ... [more]
HundertmarkGerman A nickname for a wealthy man, from Middle High German hundert meaning "hundred" + mark, a denomination of coin.
BeerEnglish Habitational name from any of the forty or so places in southwestern England called Beer(e) or Bear(e). Most of these derive their names from the West Saxon dative case, beara, of Old English bearu "grove, wood"... [more]
DialScottish Variant of Dalziel, representing the usual pronunciation of this name in Scotland. Perhaps also an altered form of Irish Dyal.
RauchGerman Perhaps an occupational nickname for a blacksmith or charcoal burner, from Middle High German rouch, German Rauch ‘smoke’, or, in the case of the German name, a status name or nickname relating to a hearth tax (i.e. a tax that was calculated according to the number of fireplaces in each individual home).
LightyearPopular Culture From the English term light-year, a unit of length often used when measuring distances in space. Most often used in everyday speech and non-scientific publications. This is the surname of Buzz Lightyear, a fictional character in the Pixar animated film series 'Toy Story'.
VarblaneEstonian Varblane is an Estonian surname meaning "sparrow".
VeeNorwegian Habitational name from farmsteads named Ve, for example in Hordaland and Sogn, from Old Norse vé "sacred place".
GeneralGerman nickname for a mercenary (employed in royal services).
O'LennonIrish Original form of Lennon. Probably a variant of Ó Leannáin (from a by-name meaning "lover"), but may also be derived from O'Lonain (from lon, "blackbird").
VeermäeEstonian Veermäe is an Estonian surname meaning "border hill/mountain".
SteinmeierGerman Distinguishing name for a tenant farmer (Meyer) whose farm was on stony ground or was distinguished by a conspicuous rock formation (Middle High German stein 'rock').
MosbruckerGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a bridge over a swamp, from Middle High German mos meaning "bog", "swamp" + brucke meaning "bridge".
LeidmaEstonian Leidma is an Estonian surname meaning "find".
ClavelFrench Metonymic occupational name for a nail maker, ultimately from Latin clavellus "nail", but in some cases possibly from the same word in the sense "smallpox, rash". A fictional bearer is Miss Clavel, a nun and teacher in Ludwig Bemelmans's 'Madeline' series of children's books (introduced in 1939).
ŚwiętosławskimPolish Patronymic from given name Świętosław suffixed with -ski based on habitational names. It could also be a habitational name for a person from villages called Świętosław or similar.
CilliërsAfrikaans Brought to South Africa by settlers of French decent some time in the past 300 years. Sometimes also a given name for boys.
AndertonEnglish, Irish habitational name from any of the three places so named in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Devon. Those in Cheshire and Lancashire are named with the personal name Eanred (Old English) or Eindriði (Old Norse) and Old English tun "settlement"... [more]
LukerGerman Luker see also Lucher or Luchre, meaning money more specifically money obtained by nefarious means.
KnausGerman Comes from Middle High German knuz ‘proud’, ‘arrogant’, ‘daring’, hence a nickname for a haughty person. In Württemberg knaus (and in Switzerland knus) also meant ‘gnarl’, hence a nickname for a short, fat, gnarled person; topographic name for someone living on a hillock, from knaus ‘hillock’ in the Swabian and Alemannic dialects of German
CadillacFrench From the name of a city in France, of origin I am not sure of (anyone who knows the name's etymology edit this). This is most notably the name of the car company of the same name, named after Detroit, Michigan founder Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac.
ChabashiraJapanese (Rare) From 茶 (cha) literally meaning "green tea" and 柱 (hashira) meaning "pillar". A tea pillar is considered good luck in Japanese culture.
SmokerEnglish Derived from the Old English word "smoc," meaning "smock" or, literally, "woman's undergarment." The name was most likely originally borne by someone who made or sold smocks.
GatlinGerman Possibly an altered spelling of German Göttling, from a Germanic personal name formed with god ‘god’ or god ‘good’ + -ling suffix of affiliation, or, like Gättling (of which this may also be an altered form), a nickname from Middle High German getlinc ‘companion’, ‘kinsman’.
BeiChinese From Chinese 贝 (bèi) referring to the ancient fief of Bei, which was part of the state of Jin during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Hebei province.
De MarniItalian From Italy, most likely Northern Italy. One theory is that De Marni or a similar sounding name was the name of an orphanage, but it's origin is unknown.
CabanissFrench Variant spelling of Cabanis, a habitational name from any of various places in Gard named Cabanis, from Late Latin capannis ‘at the huts’, ablative plural of capanna 'hut'... [more]
ArderEstonian Arder is an Estonian surname meaning, possibly a corruption of "ader", meaning "plow".
TabetaJapanese In eastern Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands, its often written as 田 (ta) meaning "rice paddy, field" and 端 (beta) meaning "edge, end". However, tabe has also been spelled with 多 (ta) meaning "many" and 部 (be) meaning "part, section".
SamarakkodySinhalese Derived from Sanskrit समर (samara) meaning "conflict, struggle" combined with Sinhala කොඩිය (kodiya) meaning "flag, banner" (of Tamil origin).
AlmondEnglish From the Middle English personal name Almund, from Old English Æthelmund, "noble protection" and variant of Allman, assimilated by folk etymology to the vocabulary word denoting the tree.
SankEnglish Possibly taken from a pet form of the given name Samuel.
NogitaJapanese From 野 (no) meaning "field, plain" and 北 (kita) meaning "north".
TrifilettiSicilian Topographic name from a diminutive of Greek triphyllon "trefoil".
YouensScottish comes from the Gaelic personal name Eógan, which comes from the Latin name, Eugenius, which means well born. Youens is a patronymic surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames.
AcquavivaItalian From an Italian place name meaning "running water, spring", literally "living water".
GiamattiItalian (Anglicized) Americanized form of Giammattei. Famous bearers include brothers Paul Giamatti (1967-) and Marcus Giamatti (1961-), both American actors.
FinkGerman, Slovene, English, Jewish Nickname for a lively or cheerful person, Jewish ornamental name derived from the Germanic word for "finch", and German translation of Slovene Šinkovec which is from šcinkovec or šcinkavec meaning "finch".
RekovRussian From Russian река (reka) meaning "river".
TesauroItalian metonymic occupational name for a treasurer or person in charge of financial administration from Old Italian tesauro "treasure treasury" (from Latin thesaurus "hoard"). It may also be from the personal name Tesauro with the same origin.
RuskykhUkrainian, Russian (Ukrainianized) Means "a Russian", from Ukrainian руський (rus'kyy) "Russian". It can also derived from the Russian word русский (russkiy), with the same meaning.
BriscoeEnglish From any of the various places of this name or similar, derived from Old Norse bretar "Briton, Welsh" or birki "birch" and skógr "forest, wood".
SaytoJapanese (Russified) Alternate transcription of Saitō more commonly used by ethnic Japanese living in parts of the former Soviet Union and Sakhalin Japanese residing on Sakhalin Island in Russia.
RathGerman 1 German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): descriptive epithet for a wise person or counselor, from Middle High German rāt ‘counsel’, ‘advice’, German Rat ‘counsel’, ‘advice’, also ‘stock’, ‘supply’.... [more]