LugoSpanish Galician and Spanish habitational name from Lugo, a city in Galicia. This was a Roman settlement under the name of Lucus Augusti ‘grove or wood of Augustus’, but that may have been no more than an adaptation of an earlier name derived from that of the Celtic god Lugos.
HočevarSlovene Originally indicated a person from Kočevje (Gottschee County), a city and municipality in southern Slovenia.
SonejiAmerican Gary Soneji (also known as Gary Murphy) is the antagonist in James Patterson's 1993 crime thriller novel, Along Came a Spider, which was later adapted into a movie of the same name.
GulyayevmRussian From Russian word гулять (gulyat'), meaning "to walk".
UmanodanJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 馬 (uma) meaning "horse", ノ (no), a possessive particle, and 段 (dan) meaning "step", referring to a place with horses and a stepped landscape.... [more]
BelgraveEnglish Aristocratic surname from French, meaning "beautiful grove"; comes from a place name in Leicestershire. A famous namesake is British polar explorer Belgrave Ninnis, who perished in Antarctica on a 1912 expedition.
DoeEnglish Indicated a person from Eu in northern France, itself possibly derived from Frankish *auwju "floodplain, island" or a reduction of Latin Augusta.
HadjadjArabic (Maghrebi) From Arabic حجاج (hajjaj) meaning "arguer, one who argues" or "pilgrim".
BrakhageGerman Possibly from the Old German word 'brak' meaning 'uncultivated field,' or from the Middle German word 'brachen' meaning 'to till the soil.' ... [more]
MappEnglish From a variant of the medieval female personal name Mabbe, a shortened form of Amabel. A fictional bearer is Elizabeth Mapp, busybodyish spinster in the 'Mapp and Lucia' novels of E.F. Benson.
BlesseEnglish (British), Filipino, Indian, French The last name Blesse was first discovered in Oxfordshire and held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. In the Philippines, Blesse means "a blessing in the family." In India, Blesse means "bless you."
LemireFrench From Old French "Mire" (From Latin medicus, meaning physician), with French definite article "Le".
LangarikaBasque (Rare) From the name of a hamlet in Álava, Spain, of uncertain etymology. Possibly derived from Basque langarri "arable, cultivatable", or from an uncertain given name.
McCalveyIrish Either an Anglicized form of Mac an Chalbhaigh, possibly derived from Irish calbhach "big-headed" or "bald-headed", or an altered form of McKelvey.
SpalloneItalian From spalla "shoulder, back", indicating someone who carried things on their shoulders. The modern translation is "smuggler". Alternately, may be an elaboration of Spalla.
SarkeesianArmenian Variant of Sarkisian. Anita Sarkeesian is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture.
BrancacciaItalian (Rare) Derived from the medieval Italian given name Brancazia, which is the feminine form of the masculine given name Brancazio. For more information, please see the entry for the patronymic surname Brancazio... [more]
DayalIndian, Hindi, Punjabi From Sanskrit दयालु (dayālu) meaning "kind, compassionate, merciful".
GoedhartDutch Means "good heart" in Dutch, a nickname for a kind person. Could also be an altered form of the given name Gotthard
GaltEnglish An early member was a person with a fancied resemblance to the wild boar.
ElmiEstonian Elmi is an Estonian surname, possibly derived from "helmikas" meaning "melick" (perennial grasses of the genus Melica, related to fescue).
ThanosGreek From a short form of the personal name Athanasios, literally "immortal". This was the name of several saints venerated in the Greek Orthodox Church, the most important of them being Athanasios the Great (293–373), theologian and patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt.
ChrysantheFrench From the Greek Χρύσανθος (Chrysanthos), meaning "golden flower". This surname was first given to children found on October 25, the feast day of Saint Chrysanthos.
YokobeJapanese From Japanese 横 (yoko) meaning "beside, next to" and 部 (be) meaning "part, section".
HebronEnglish (British) Habitational name from Hebron in Northumberland, which possibly derives from Old English hēah meaning “high” + byrgen meaning “burial place, tumulus.” See also Hepburn.
StokholmDanish, Norwegian (Rare) Combination of Norwegian skyta "to shoot" (indicating a protruding piece of land like a cape or headland) and holme "islet".
TsukadaJapanese From Japanese 塚 (tsuka) meaning "hillock, mound" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
FolsomEnglish One who came from Foulsham (Foghel’s homestead), in Norfolk.
ChakravartiMarathi, Hindi Derived from Sanskrit चक्रवर्तिन् (chakravartin) meaning "world-ruler, emperor, monarch" (literally "wheel-turner" or "one who's wheels are turning"), from चक्र (chakra) meaning "wheel, circle" and वर्तिन् (vartin) meaning "abiding, moving, turning"... [more]
ŌharaJapanese From Japanese 大 (o) meaning "big, great" and 原 (hara) meaning "field, plain".
CourvilleFrench Derived from either of two communes in the departments of Marne and Eure-et-Loir in France. It is named with Latin curba villa, denoting a settlement in the curve of a road.
AladeYoruba Means "owner of the crown, he who wears the crown" from ọní meaning "owner of" and adé meaning "crown".
TurbaItalian Possibly from Italian turbare, "to disturb, to trouble", itself from Latin turba, "turmoil, disturbance; mob, crowd". Alternately, it could be from the German surname Turba, of uncertain meaning.
RashleighEnglish From a location in Devon, derived from Old English rá "roe buck" + léah "clearing".
ReeseLow German, Dutch, German Variant of Riese or Reus, from risi meaning "giant". Alternatively, could be a patronymic form of the Germanic given name Razo, derived from rēdaz "counsel, advise", or a habitational name from places called Rees or Reese in Rhineland and Lower Saxony.
MeghnagiJewish, Northern African Sephardic Jewish, originating from the Libyan Jewish community. Most were from Tripoli, with a much smaller contingent from Benghazi.
LindeGerman, Dutch, Jewish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish Derived from Middle Hugh German, Dutch linde or Scandinavian lind "lime tree". Almost exclusively ornamental in Swedish, otherwise probably habitational. There are also a number of feminine names containing the element lind, for example Linda, Dietlinde and Gerlinde, and it's possible that the surname is derived from any of those names.
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.
ZhelevmRussian From железо (zhelezo), meaning "iron".
MossmanEnglish This interesting name is a variant of the surname Moss which is either topographical for someone who lived by a peat bog, from the Old English pre 7th Century 'mos' or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example Mosedale in Cumbria or Moseley in West Yorkshire.
Van GoolDutch Means "from Goirle" in Dutch, the name of a town in North Brabant, Netherlands, derived from Middle Dutch goor "filth, dirty; swampy forest floor" and lo "forest clearing, light forest".
FeiChinese From Chinese 费 (fèi) referring to the ancient state of Fei, which existed during the Xia and Zhou dynasties in what is now Shandong province. Alternately it may come from Feiyi (費邑), the name of a fief that existed in the state of Lu (during the Zhou dynasty) in what is now Shandong province.
EessaarEstonian Eessaar is an Estonian surname meaning "fore island".