TakebeJapanese From Japanese 武 (take) meaning "military, martial", 竹 (take) meaning "bamboo", or 建 (take) meaning "build, construct", and 部 (be) meaning "part, section".
MaytwayashingOjibwe Unknown meaning, most commonly found in Anishinaabe communities in Manitoba. A notable bearer is Clifford Maytwayashing, a legendary fiddle player.
NandasenaSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit नन्द (nanda) meaning "joy, delight" and सेना (sena) meaning "army".
Van HelmontBelgian, Dutch Possibly a variant of Van Helmond. Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580-1644) was a Belgian chemist, physiologist, and physician, considered as the founder of pneumatic chemistry.
BiarujiaTaneraic This is the only existing surname derived from Javant Biarujia’s constructed personal language, Taneraic, which he created over several decades. The meaning is unknown.
MarchenaSpanish This indicates familial origin within either of 4 Andalusian localities or 1 Murcian locality.
BatchelorEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for an unmarried man, a young knight or a novice, ultimately from medieval Latin baccalarius "unenfeoffed vassal, knight with no retainers".
DurwardEnglish, Scottish Occupational name meaning "doorkeeper, porter", derived from Old English duru "door" and weard "guard, guardian". In Medieval Scotland, this was a hereditary title for the warden of the king’s door.
St AubinFrench Either a habitational name from any of several places in France called Saint-Aubin (from the dedication of their churches to Saint Albinus), or else a nickname with Saint as an (ironic) prefix to the personal name or surname Aubin.
MulveyIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maoilmhiadhaigh "descendant of Maoilmhiadhach", a personal name meaning "honorable chief".
LiebmanJewish Variant of German Liebmann, itself a variant of Libman and derived from the Yiddish personal name Lipman, from Middle High German liep "dear, beloved" and man "man"... [more]
AlmiraSpanish, Spanish (Philippines) Occupational surname meaning "admiral", referring to the highest rank in the navy, derived from the Spanish almirante meaning "admiral"
SvanidzeGeorgian Means "son of a Svan". The Svans are a subethnicgroup of the Georgians. Ekaterine "Kato" Svanidze was Stalin's first wife.
EntwistleEnglish Habitational name for a person from the village of Entwistle in Lancashire, from Old English henn "hen" or ened "duck, coot" and twisel "fork, bifurcation".
PereiriCeltic (Latinized, Archaic) Pereiri or Pereiro is a Galician surname in the north of Spain. It's a last name belonging to ancient Celtic tribes.
RamageFrench, Scottish From a medieval Scottish nickname for a hot-tempered or unpredictable person (from Old French ramage "wild, uncontrollable" (applied to birds of prey)).
PellegrinFrench Unknown. Possibly a variant of Pellegrino. This surname was given to the Chilean named Raúl Alejandro Pellegrin Friedmann (1958-1988; nicknamed JoséMiguel).
YaxleyEnglish Meant "person from Yaxley", Cambridgeshire and Suffolk ("glade where cuckoos are heard").
RasilaFinnish A variant of the finnish word (rasi) for a forest that has been cleared for slash and burn but has not yet been burnt for agricultural means. The suffix "-la" is usually added to the stem of the word to indicate a location... [more]
CarrenderEnglish (American) Probably from Scottish kerr meaning "rough, wet ground" combined with ender (possibly related to the end of something). It probably denoted someone who lived between rough, wet ground and normal ground.
BryerEnglish Variant spelling of Brier, or perhaps sometimes an Americanized form of German Breuer.
PyrgosGreek Means "tower" in Greek. Pyrgos is a city in the northwestern Peloponnese, Greece, capital of the regional unit of Elis.
TerraccianoItalian Derived from Italian terrazzano "inhabitant of a walled city or castle; fellow countryman, villager, peasant", ultimately derived from Latin terra "land, earth, country".
CrestaItalian, Romansh Derived from Italian and Romansh cresta "crest" (ultimately from Latin crista). This name was perhaps applied as a topographic name for someone who lived by the crest of a mountain or as a nickname with reference to the comb of a rooster.
VilavongLao From Lao ວິລະ (vila) meaning "hero, brave, courage" and ວົງ (vong) meaning "lineage, family".
SibounheuangLao From Lao ສີ (si) meaning "majesty, glory, splendour" or "color", ບຸນ (boun) meaning "happiness, prosperity, goodness" and ເຮືອງ (heuang) meaning "bright, clear, beautiful".
KoelewijnDutch Derived from Dutch koel "cool, cold" and wei "whey", a metonymic occupational name for a dairy farmer. Altered by folk etymology to mean "cool wine". Can also derive from a place name.
KadakasEstonian Kadakas is an Estonian surname meaning "juniper".
KarpPolish From Middle High German karp(f)e Middle Low German karpe or Slavic (Russian and Polish) and Yiddish karp ‘carp’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a carp fisherman or seller of these fish or a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish.... [more]
El-shafeiArabic It means "the intercessor (which refers to the Prophet of Islam, who will hopefully intercede on one's behalf before God on the day of judgement)".
LøkkenNorwegian Habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads so called. Derived from Old Norse lykkja "enclosure".
OcampoSpanish, Galician From the Galician toponym O Campo meaning "the field", also used as a habitational name from a town of the same name in Lugo, Galicia.
PremasiriSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit प्रेम (prema) meaning "love, affection" and श्री (shri) meaning "diffusing light, radiance, splendour, beauty".
JagodzińskiPolish Name for someone from a place called Jagodno, Jagodziny, Jagodzinek or Jagodziniec, all derived from Polish jagoda meaning "berry".
al-GhoulArabic (Mashriqi) Perhaps from the Arabic folklore tradition of the ghoul. In the English speaking world, this name is probably known from the Batman comic/movie characters Ra's al Ghul and Talia al Ghul.
KilroyEnglish "Kilroy was here" was a phrase widely written up on walls by American service personnel in the UK during World War II. The identity of the probably mythical Kilroy has been much debated (one theory is that he was a shipyard inspector of Quincy, Massachusetts, who chalked the phrase on material he had checked).
SwigertGerman (Americanized) Americanized form of German Schweigert or Zweigert, an occupational name for a gardener or tender of plants, from an agent derivative of Middle High German zwigen, meaning "to graft" or "to plant".
KudouJapanese From 久 (ku) "long time" and 遠 (tou/dou) "distant" OR from 工 (ku) "construction" and 藤 (dou) "wisteria."
KingsmoreEnglish Derived from several places named Kingsmoor or King’s Moor, in Somerset, Sussex, and Essex, England.
DerricottEnglish Habitational name, possibly a variant of Darracott, from Darracott in Devon. However, the present-day concentration of the form Derricott in the West Midlands and Shropshire suggests that this may be a distinct name, from a different source, now lost.
FältskogSwedish Combination of Swedish fält "field" and skog "forest". Agnetha Fältskog (b. 1950) is a Swedish singer and former member of ABBA.
BateerChinese Most likely of Outer Mongolian origin.
LasbyEnglish (Hellenized, Rare), French (Quebec) Likely derived from a place in England. Associated with the Old English terms "laes" and "by", meaning pasture or village. Now rare in England, most people with this surname are American or Canadian, and are descended from a group of French Canadian furtrappers.
BesalúCatalan This indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
BenčićCroatian Habitational name for someone from Benčići, Croatia.
CaduffRomansh Derived from Romansh casa "house" and, by extension, "household, family" and the given name Duff, itself a diminutive of Rudolf.
ChamberlinFrench, English French cognate and English variant of Chamberlain. Occupational name for an official in charge of the private chambers of his master from Old French chamberlenc "chamberlain".
KingsburyEnglish Habitational surname derived from several places in England with the same name, for example in northwest London (formerly Middlesex), Somerset, and Warwickshire. These are mostly named in Old English as cyninges burh meaning "the king’s stronghold", but the last mentioned is cynesburh meaning "stronghold of Cyne" (cyne is a short form of any of various compound names with cyne- meaning "royal" as the first element).
BalcomEnglish Altered spelling of English Balcombe, a habitational name from Balcombe in West Sussex, which is named with Old English bealu "evil, calamity" (or the Old English personal name Bealda) combined with cumb "valley".
BäckströmSwedish Combination of Swedish bäck "brook, small stream" and ström "stream".