PlayfairEnglish From a medieval nickname for an enthusiastic competitor in sports and games (from Middle English pleyfere "companion in play, playmate"), or else a different form of Playford (from a Suffolk place-name meaning "ford where sports are held")... [more]
KidderEnglish English: possibly an occupational name from early modern English kidd(i)er ‘badger’, a licensed middleman who bought provisions from farmers and took them to market for resale at a profit, or alternatively a variant of Kidman... [more]
WellerEnglish, German Either from the Olde English term for a person who extracted salt from seawater, or from the English and German "well(e)," meaning "someone who lived by a spring or stream."... [more]
KivirüütEstonian Kivirüüt is an Estonian surname meaning "stone plover".
DžambasRomani Meaning "herdsman, horse trader", from Persian ganbas, which translates as "herdsman". In the Turkish language, this term has the same meaning as... [more]
GoldsmithEnglish Occupational name for a worker in gold, a compound of Old English gold "gold" and smið "smith". In North America it is very often an English translation of German or Jewish Goldschmidt.
PreshawEnglish (British, Rare) This surname is a habitational name from a locality near Upham on the slopes of the South Downs. It is entirely within a private estate and has its own chapel.
TôVietnamese Vietnamese form of Su from Sino-Vietnamese 蘇 (tô).
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.
WanhataloFinnish From the Finnish "vanha talo." With the "vanha" meaning old or aged and "talo" being a place of living mostly a house. The most common translation is "old house".
TalloranGerman (Modern, ?) It is unknown whether Talloran is a real surname or not. However, the surname means "brave" and is given to James Talloran, a fictional character working for the SCP Foundation. The SCP Foundation is a secret organization that studies the paranormal... [more]
SuttEstonian Sutt is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "sült" meaning "brawn" and "meat jelly/head cheese".
LedgerEnglish From the given name Leodegar or Legier. Alternatively, could be an occupational name for a stonemason, ultimately derived from Old English lecgan "to put, place, lay (down)".
PedajasEstonian Pedajas is an Estonian surname meaning "pine".
YanagimiJapanese Yanagi means "willow" and mi means "viewpoint, outlook".
NongChinese, Vietnamese From Chinese 农 (nóng) meaning "farming, agriculture, cultivation", also referring to the ancient official position Nong Zheng (農正) meaning "agriculture officer". It is also used as a simplified variant of Vietnamese Nông, which is of the same origin.
SinissaarEstonian Sinissaar is an Estonian surname meaning "blue island".
ReshetnikovRussian Occupational name for a maker of sieves or gratings, derived from Russian решетник (reshetnik) meaning "sheathing, grate, sieve".
PinnEnglish (British) A topographic or habitational name from a place named with Middle English pinne, meaning "hill" (Old English penn).
WardenEnglish Occupational name for a watchman or guard, from Old French wardein meaning "protector, guard". It was also used as a habbitational name for someone from any of the various locations in England named Warden... [more]
PalfreyEnglish Occupational surname for a man who works with saddle-horses, from Middle English palfrey, a kind of small saddle horse used in the Middle Ages.
EyreEnglish Derived from Middle English eyer, eir "heir", originally denoting a man who was designated to inherit or had already inherited the main property in a particular locality. The surname was borne by the heroine of Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' (1847).
BechtleGerman The surname Bechtle was first found in Hessen, where the family contributed greatly to the development of an emerging nation. The earliest bearers of this name to be mentioned in ancient chronicles were Bechtold of Fulda in 1387, BechtoldSuleffel of Frankfurt in 1442, and TibertiusBechtolf of Frankfurt in 1568... [more]
ZangievOssetian, Soviet, Russian, Popular Culture The Russified Soviet and Modern Russian form of the Ossetian surname Зæнджиаты Zændžiaty. A famous user of it is wrestler Victor Zangiev, himself the inspiration for Zangief of Street Fighter fame.
EmajõeEstonian Emajõe is an Estonian surname meaning "mother river" (a genitive form of "ema jõgi"). The Emajõgi is a 100km river flowing through Estonia.
CroitoruRomanian Croitoru is a Romanian-language surnames derived from the occupation of croitor, meaning "tailor".
TofteNorwegian Named after the village of Tofte in the Halstoy district of Norway. The town of Tofte, Minnesota, United States, was founded by Norwegian immigrants with the surname.
CorneyEnglish A habitational surname from places in Cumbria and Hertfordshire named Corney, derived from either Old English corn "grain, seed" or a metathesized form of cran "crane (bird)" combined with eg "island, dry land in a marsh"... [more]
WrayeEnglish Variant of the habitational name Wray or Ray, from any of various minor places in northern England named Wray, Wrea, or Wreay, from Old Norse vrá ‘nook’, ‘corner’, ‘recess’.
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]
TorgEnglish Possibly from the Old Norse word “torg” meaning “marketplace”.
GabaratyOssetian Derived from Алгуз (Alguz), an earlier Ossetian family name of unknown meaning. Historically, the last of the Alguz family migrated to the village of Zalda (located in present-day South Ossetia), where most members of the family presently reside.
AubineFrench (Rare) Derived from the medieval French feminine given name Aubine, which was the French form of Albina. But in other words, you could also say that Aubine was the feminine form of Aubin.
FloNorwegian Famous bearers include Norwegian footballers and relatives Tore Andre, Håvard, and Jostein Flo of the Norwegian national team that upset Brazil twice in both a friendly in 1997 and a 1998 World Cup group match.
FuchinoueJapanese Fuchi means "abyss, pool, deep end", no is a possessive particle, and ue means "upper, top, above".
MarxGerman From a short form of the given name Markus. A famous bearer was Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher known for his work in socioeconomic theory.
CiaramitaroItalian From Sicilian ciaramidaru "roof tile maker, potter", ultimately from Ancient Greek κέραμος (keramos) "potter's clay, pottery, tile".
VerhofstadtDutch, Flemish Means "from the farmstead" or "from the homestead" in Dutch. A notable bearer is the Flemish politician Guy Verhofstadt (1953-), a Prime Minister of Belgium.
CitrineJewish An invented Jewish name based on Yiddish tsitrin "lemon tree".
CiceroItalian From Sicilian cìciru "chickpea", an occupational name for someone who grew or sold chickpeas, or perhaps a nickname for someone with notable pimples or skin sores.
PipoloItalian Possibly derived from a Latin word meaning "nothing, insignificant; a thing without value", perhaps a nickname for an unimportant or disliked person. Alternatively, it could be from a pet form of the given name Pippo, a diminutive of Filippo.
ZanussiFriulian, Italian Zanussi is best known as the surname of an influential Italian inventor from Brugnera in Friulia. The name likely comes from zanuso meaning ‘sedge’ in Italian.
RohrGerman, Jewish Topographic name for someone who lived in an area thickly grown with reeds, from Middle High German ror. Also a habitational name from one of the several places named with this word.
TaffeEnglish Of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic surname "Ó Táth," meaning "descendant of Táth." It's believed to have originated as a personal name, possibly meaning "poet" or "philosopher."
FlandersEnglish Given to a person who was from Flanders in the Netherlands (compare Fleming).
BarajasSpanish Habitational name from any of several places in Spain, of uncertain etymology. Coincides with Spanish barajas meaning "playing cards" or "quarrels".