O’tooleIrish O'Toole, along with Toole, comes from the Irish O Tuathail. This derives from the personal name Tuathal, meaning "ruler of the people", used by many Irish kings and heroes and accordingly incorporated into a surname in a number of distinct areas, among them south Ulster, Mayo and Kildare.
TsukishimaJapanese The character 月 means moon or month, and is pronounced “tsuki.” The character 島 means island and is pronounced either “shima” or “jima.”
DakurigeJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 駄栗毛 (Dakurige) meaning "Dakurige", a division in the area of Sawane in the city of Sado in the prefecture of Niigata in Japan.
PymEnglish Recorded in several forms including Pim, Pimm, Pimme, Pym, and Pymm, this is a surname which at various times has been prominent in the history of England... [more]
CababaSpanish Spanish (Cabaña) and Portuguese: habitational name from a place named with Spanish cabaña ‘hut’, ‘cabin’ (Late Latin capanna , a word of Celtic or Germanic origin).
MilanésSpanish habitational name for someone from Milan in Italy (see Milano) from milanés an adjectival form of the place name. Variant of Milan.
RectorEnglish Status name for the director of an institution, in particular the head of a religious house or a college. Also an anglicized form of Richter.
DemskyPolish, Jewish Derived from Polish dab and demb meaning "oak", which is either a habitational name from a place with the same name or an ornamental name with reference to the tree and its qualities of strength and durability.
AlduateBasque (Rare) From the name of a location in Urraulbeiti valley, Navarre, possibly derived from Basque altu "tall, high" combined with either una "pasture" or une "place" and -eta "place of, abundance of"... [more]
BonsallEnglish (British) This is a locational name which originally derived from the village of Bonsall, near Matlock in Derbyshire. The name is Norse-Viking, pre 10th Century and translates as 'Beorns-Halh' - with 'Beorn' being a personal name meaning 'Hero' and 'Halh' a piece of cultivated land - a farm.
BusDutch Possibly derived from Middle Dutch busse meaning "firelock" or "round box, tin", an occupational name for someone who made containers or firearms.
RensDutch From the personal name Rens, a reduced form of Laurens. Could also derive from a given name containing the element regin "advice, counsel", such as Reinoud.
CaanScottish, German, Jewish Altered spelling of Jewish Cohen, or probably denoted a person from the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Famous bearers of this surname include American actor James Caan (1940-2022), as well as his son Scott Caan (1976-), also a noted actor.
PrynneEnglish Derived from an Anglo-Norman form of the Late Latin name Primus. A fictional bearer is Hester Prynne, the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel 'The Scarlet Letter' (1850).
TotsuJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 十 (to) meaning "10" and 都 (tsu) meaning "all; everyone".
DunfordEnglish Derived either from Dunford Bridge in Yorkshire (named after the River Don and the English word “Ford”), or from Dunford House in Yorkshire (named after “Dunn’s Ford”). One known bearer is US General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
LarivièreFrench (Modern) From the region of Bourgoigne, in France, meaning 'the river'. The name is likely a topographic reference to the physical location, likely a river in this case.
AffleckGalician, Scottish Variation of Auchinleck, a town near Dundee, Scotland... Ben & Casey Affleck are famous bearers of the name. Auchinleck appears to have been one of those places where the ancient Celts and Druids held conventions, celebrated their festivals, and performed acts of worship... [more]
LattanzioItalian From the given name derived from Latin Lactantius, which could derive from the minor Roman agricultural deity Lactans, or directly from the Latin word lactans "suckling, milking".
MiyoshiJapanese From Japanese 三 (mi) meaning "three" and 好 (yoshi) meaning "fond, pleasing" or 芳 (yoshi) meaning "perfume; balmy; favorable; fragrant".
CordascoItalian Possibly derived from a dialectical form of Italian cordesco "late-born lamb", or in Old Italian "of or pertaining to cows or sheep".
CrenshawEnglish The derivation of this surname is from the Old English pre 7th Century "Crawa", a crow, with "sceaga" a grove, thus "Crowswood". The earliest recording of this placename is in the Lancashire Inquests of 1324 and appears as "Croweshagh".
ChernookyRussian Derived from Russian черноокий (chernooky) meaning "black-eyed, having dark brown eyes". This surname has Polish, Ukrainian or Belarusian noble origin.
SardinaItalian, Spanish, Galician, Mexican From sardina Galician sardiña "sardine" used for someone as a catcher or seller of the fish or a nickname for a thin person.
OrpinEnglish Means "herbalist" (from Middle English orpin "yellow stonecrop", a plant prescribed by medieval herbalists for healing wounds). A variant spelling was borne by British painter Sir William Orpen (1878-1931).
AbitbolJudeo-Spanish Means "father of drums" (figuratively referring to a drum maker) from Arabic أَبُو (abū) meaning "father" and طَبْل (ṭabl) meaning "drum".
SobalvarroSpanish Sobalvarro/Sobalbarro is a surname with known origins in the Iberian Peninsula. The first record of the name appears in the Basque regions of Spain. The name was purportedly constructed by combining the family name of Soba with the newly given Christian name, Alvarro.
KamiyuiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 神 (kami) meaning "God, spirit" and 結 (yui) meaning "connection", referring to the event of someone praying for the descent of God.
KodairaJapanese Ko means "small" and daira is a form of taira meaning "peace, level". ... [more]
WinsininskiPolish (Anglicized) Winsininski is an anglicized version of the name "Wisniewski", which is from multiple places in Poland called Wisniewo, Wisniew, and Wisniewa. These names all have "wisna" which means cherry, or cherry tree.... [more]
ChampionEnglish, French Derived from the Middle English and Old French words campion, champiun and champion all meaning "athlete" such as a wrestler or boxer; also "warrior hired to do battle in single combat on behalf of others" (from Late Latin campio genitive campionis a derivative of campus "plain field of battle")... [more]
SakurajimaJapanese From Japanese 桜 or 櫻 (sakura) both meaning "cherry blossom" combined with 島 (jima) meaning "island". This surname comes from 桜島 (Sakurajima), an active stratovolcano located in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan... [more]
OwsleyEnglish Habitational name form a now lost place name in Southern England. Possibly derived from the name of the river name Ouse and Old English -leah meaning "wood".
MaghribiArabic (Maghrebi) Derived from Arabic المغرب (al-Maghrib) meaning "the west", also referring to the country of Morocco. It could be used to refer to a Moroccan person or (in English) someone from the Maghreb region of Northern Africa.
MacapagalPampangan From Kapampangan makapagal meaning "tiring, exhausting". A notable bearer is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (1947-), who served as the 14th president of the Philippines.
SchmeichelGerman Nickname for a flatterer, derived from Middle High German smeichen literally meaning "to flatter". Famous bearers of this surname include Peter Schmeichel (1963-) and his son Kasper Schmeichel (1986-), both of whom are Danish soccer goalkeepers.
MatsooEstonian Matsoo is an Estonian surname possibly derived from the Danish/Germanic surname "Madsen" or "Matsen".
AxelDutch (Rare), Flemish (Rare) Habitational name for someone from either of two places, Aksel in East Flanders or Axel in Zeeland, both possibly derived from a relative of Old High German ahsala "shoulder", referring to an elevated piece of land.
ChaitJewish Jewish occupational name derived from the Hebrew word חייט meaning "tailor".