McelweeIrish, Scottish Of Gaelic origin, found in Ireland and Scotland. Derives from Mac Giolla Ruaidh, meaning "son of the servant of the red-haired youth", possibly a reference to a Dane or Norseman.
ShinmuraJapanese From 新 (shin, ara, nii) meaning "new, fresh" and 村 (mura) meaning "village, hamlet".
KüttimEstonian Küttim is an Estonian surname derived from "küttima" meaning "to hunt" or "pursue".
WeinbrennerGerman Occupational name for a distiller of brandy, literally 'wine burner'.
GrosjeanFrench, French (Belgian) Derived from French gros "large" and the given name Jean 1. As a nickname, it is sometimes applied to a person who is perceived as stupid.
DatumanongFilipino, Maranao From Datomanong, the name of a character in the Maranao epic Darangen. The name itself means "two-headed lizard" in Maranao.
SwedenborgSwedish Derived from the surname Svedberg (sometimes spelled Swedberg). A notable bearer was Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a Swedish theologian and scientist.
ÕssoEstonian Õsso is an Estonian surname possibly derived from "õsuma" meaning "shear".
MaslovRussian, Jewish Derived from Russian масло (maslo) meaning "butter", originally used as an occupational name for someone who worked as a dairyman or sold dairy products.
ShaoChinese From Chinese 邵 (shào) referring to the ancient fief of Zhao, which existed during the Shang dynasty in what is now Shaanxi province. The name of the fief, 召, had the same pronunciation as the character 邵.
CartierFrench, Norman Original Norman French form of Carter. A notable bearer was Breton-French explorer Jacques Cartier (1491-1557), who is known for discovering the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
ZiółkowskimPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Ziółkowo or Ziółków, both derived from Polish ziółko meaning "herb" with a diminutive suffix.
SolorioSpanish This indicates familial origin within the vicinity of the Sierra de Solorio mountain range that straddles Aragon, La Mancha, & Old Castile.
ArtinoGreek Habitational name for someone from the city of Arta in Epirus.
Vogt Von FreisingMedieval German Toponymic variant of Vogt. Bearers of this surname descend from the Grafen von Scheyern and Grafen von Schweinfurt.
AquinasItalian Aquinas indicates ancestral origins from the Italian county "Aquino." Aquino comes from the latin word "Aquinum" which itself probably comes from the latin word aqua. Aqua means water in English.
L'hernaultMedieval French Originating in Northern France, Rouen River Valley, Normandie, L'Hernault is an Old French word for a "heralder", one who would act as an announcer, diplomat or town crier.... [more]
ShipovmRussian From Russian шип (ship), meaning "thorn, spike". Probably denoted to a person living near thornbushes.
ShenChinese From Chinese 沈 (shěn) referring to the ancient state of Shen, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now the Henan province.
FitzpiersEnglish, Literature Means "son of Peter" in Anglo-Norman, from a medieval form of Peter, Piers. Edred Fitzpiers is a character in the 18th-century novel The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy, who is depicted as a new doctor in the small woodland village of Little Hintock, who took an interest in Grace Melbury, one of the characters, Giles Winterborne's childhood sweetheart.
ConnallyIrish John Connally was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. His surname may have derived from the name Conall "rule of a wolf", from Old Irish cú "hound, dog, wolf" (genitive con) and fal "rule."
WysokińskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Lesser Polish village of Wysokin.
WhitelawScottish Scottish and northern English: habitational name from any of various places in the Scottish Borders called Whitelaw, from Old English hwit ‘white’ + hlaw ‘hill’.
LotsijDutch Apparently a Dutchified form of the Polish surname Illotzki.
SahagúnSpanish Habitational name from Sahagùn in Lleón province.
LeddaItalian, Sardinian Probably from the former Medieval town of Lella, in northern Sardinia. The transformation of -ll- into -dd- is common in Sardinian.
HeygateEnglish From a location which is either "hay gate" (hay + Old English geat) or "high gate" (heáh + geat).
ReinsaluEstonian Reinsalu is an Estonian surname derived from "Rein" (a masculine given name) and "salu", meaning grove; "Rein's grove".
LittmanGerman (East Prussian), German (West Prussian), German, Jewish Derived from Germanized Czech personal names like Litomir (Czech: Ljutomir) and Litobor (Czech: Ljutobor) which ultimately go back to Old Slavic ljutu "grim; fierce; ferocious; wild". One theory suggests, however, that these given names might have been influenced by ljub- "love; dear".... [more]
SammulEstonian Sammul is an Estonian surname meaning "pace" and "step".
LachtrupGerman Probably from a place name using the suffix -trup, related to dorf meaning "village". The first element could be lach "laugh, smile", or a corruption of loch "hole, pit".
ZuberGerman, German (Swiss) German: Metonymic occupational name for a cooper or tubmaker, from Middle High German zuber ‘(two-handled) tub’, or a habitational name from a house distinguished by the sign of a tub. ... [more]
LortonEnglish habitational name from any of the places so named in Cumbria probably so named from an Old English river name Hlóra meaning "the roaring one" and Old English tun "settlement".
YoshitomiJapanese From 吉 (yoshi, kichi, kitsu) meaning "good luck, fortunate" and 富 (tomi) meaning "wealth, abundance".
OsmerEnglish, Low German from an Old English and ancient Germanic personal name composed of Old English Old Saxon os "god" and Old English mære Old Saxon mari "famous" (Middle English Osmer)... [more]
AdelsteinGerman, Jewish Variant of Edelstein. Paul Adelstein (1969-) is an American actor known for his role as Paul Kellerman in the 2005-2017 television series Prison Break.
GayCatalan Probably from the Catalan personal name Gai, a variant of Gaius.
IzabaBasque From the name of a municipality in Navarre, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Proposed origins include Basque iz "water" combined with aba, which could mean "river, mouth, confluence" and/or be a variant of -aga "place of, abundance of".
HalfpennyEnglish Nickname probably for a tenant whose feudal obligations included a regular payment in cash or kind (for example bread or salt) of a halfpenny. From Old English healf "half" (from proto Germanic halbaz) and penning "penny" meaning "half penny".
SharptonEnglish Habitational name from Sharperton in Northumberland, possibly so named from Old English scearp "steep" and beorg "hill", "mound" and tun "settlement".
TreialEstonian Treial is an Estonian surname meaning "turner".
GarabedianArmenian Means "son of Garabed", an Armenian personal name meaning literally "leader, precursor" and traditionally used as an epithet of John the Baptist in the Armenian church.
YoshihamaJapanese From the Japanese 吉 (yoshi) meaning "fortune, good luck" and 浜 or 濱 (hama) meaning "beach."
HerefordEnglish Habitational name from Hereford in Herefordshire, or Harford in Devon and Goucestershire, all named from Old English here "army" + ford "ford".
CestaroItalian From cesta "basket" and the suffix -aro, an occupational name for a basket maker.
SelassieEthiopian, Amharic, Western African Possibly means "trinity" in Amharic. A notable bearer was Haile Selassie (1892-1975), the regent and emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974.
DickeyIrish Northern Irish: from a pet form of the personal name Dick 1.
BerghorstGerman Topographical name for someone who lived by a wilderness area on a mountain, from Berg 'mountain', 'hill' + Horst 'wilderness' (see Horst).
ZacherEnglish A reference to Sacheverell, a location in Normandy. May also refer to the given name Zacharias, meaning "to remember God," or "the Lord recalled."
KlugGerman (Austrian) First recorded in the early 14th century in present-day Austria (southeastern region of the Holy Roman Empire at that time). The surname was derived from the ancient Germanic word kluoc meaning "noble" or "refined".... [more]
PinchEnglish Nickname for a chirpy person, from Middle English pinch, pink ‘(chaf)finch’. Compare Finch. possibly a metonymic occupational name from Middle English pinche ‘pleated fabric’, from Middle English pinche(n) ‘to pinch (pastry)’, ‘to pleat (fabric)’, ‘to crimp (hair, etc.)’, also ‘to cavil’, ‘to be niggardly’.
JinguJapanese Formed with 神 (shin, jin, kami, kan, kou) meaning "god" and 宮 (kyuu, guu, kuu, miya) meaning "palace, shrine".
BoldtGerman From the Germanic personal name Baldo, a short form of the various compound names with the first element bald ‘bold’.
BykowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Bykowice or Byków.
MerrihewEnglish, Irish Likely an altered form of Welsh Meredith (which is found as Meriday in 16th- and 17th-century English sources; also compare Merridew) or possibly of English Mayhew.
RayamajhiNepali Probably a portmanteau of the Nepali words meaning 'Royal Fishmongers'. A member of the Rajput-Chhetri subcaste of Nepali family names.
ÄärEstonian Äär is an Estonian surname meaning "border" and "boundary".
RoobaEstonian Rooba is an Estonian surname, derived from "roobas", meaning "ditch" or "rut".
RockefellerGerman Means "from Rockenfeld." Some famous bearers include founder of the Standard Oil Company and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), and 41st Vice President of the U.S.A. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908-1979).
GándaraGalician It refers to a type of unproductive wetland, of alluvial origin, rich in gravel and sand.
MalfeytDutch, Flemish Generally a Dutch form (or "dutchization", if you will) of Malfait, with the spelling reflecting the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]
FilkinsEnglish Means either (i) "person from Filkins", Oxfordshire ("settlement of Filica's people"); or "son of Filkin", a medieval personal name meaning literally "little Phil", from Philip.
BourbonFrench habitational name from a village in Allier the site of the (now ruined) castle of Bourbon or from another place called (Le) Bourbon mainly in the southern part of France. The placename is derived from a Celtic and pre-Celtic element borb- denoting a hot spring.
AarabArabic Ethnic name for an Arab, from ʿarab, a collective, meaning literally ‘Arabdom, Arabs’. The surname is most frequent in countries, such as Iran and Algeria, that were not populated by ethnic Arabs in the first millennum; its bearers are both Muslims and Christians.
SouterEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for a cobbler or shoemaker, derived from Middle English soutere, from Old Norse sutare, ultimately derived from Latin sutor meaning "to sew".
MontyFrench, English Topographic name for a mountain dweller, from Old French mont 'mountain' (Latin mons, montis).
AceEnglish, Norman, Medieval French The surname Ace's origin is from a Norman and Old French personal name, Ace, Asse, from Germanic Frankish origin Azzo, Atso, a pet form of personal names containing adal ‘noble’ as a first element.
IioJapanese From 飯 (ii) meaning "cooked grains, cooked rice" and 尾 (o) meaning "tail, end."
BoolEnglish This surname derives from the Old English pre 7th Century bula, or the Medieval English bulle, bolle, meaning "bull", and was given as a nickname to one with great physical strength.
TuudeEstonian Tuude is an Estonian surname possibly derived from the masculine given name "Tuudor".
QuillenIrish The surname Quillen is derived from the personal name Hugelin, which is a diminutive of Hugh. The Gaelic form of the name is Mac Uighilin.