NagayamaJapanese From Japanese 永 (nagai) meaning "eternity, long, lengthy" or 長 (nagai) meaning "chief, head, leader" combined with 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
EnysCornish (Rare), Celtic (Rare) Enys is an ancient Celtic word meaning a circle, and island or a clearing in the forest, so it is possible that the first owners took their name from the land.
UnamiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 海南 (unami), a contraction of 海南 (unanami), from 海 (una-) meaning "of the sea; of the ocean" and 南 (nami) meaning "south".
DharmasiriSinhalese Derived from Sanskrit धर्म (dharma) meaning "that which is established, law, duty, virtue" and श्री (shri) meaning "diffusing light, radiance, splendour, beauty".
VatatzisGreek This surname is a diminutive form of the word βάτος, "bramble, briar", perhaps signifying a harsh character. Another possible origin is βατάκι, "ray fish".
PrioreItalian from Italian priore "prior" either a nickname or occupational name which probably most often originated as a metonymic occupational name for a servant of a prior or some important lay dignitary... [more]
PantazisGreek Derived from the Greek wish: πάντα να ζει! (panta na zei!) or πάντα ζεις! (panta zeis!) meaning "live forever!", from the Greek πάντα (panta) meaning "always" and ζεις (zeis) meaning "live"... [more]
MufaroShona Mufaro means "Joy, happiness". It is a name of rejoicing
VongkhamLao From Lao ວົງ (vong) meaning "lineage, family" and ຄຳ (kham) meaning "gold".
ObuchiJapanese Combination of the kanji 小 (o, "small") and 渕 (淵, fuchi, "abyss, edge"). A famous bearer of this surname is Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi (小渕 恵三; 1937–2000).
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.
SikkemaWest Frisian, Dutch Patronymic form of Sikke, a short form of names containing the element sigu "victory", using the Frisian suffix -ma "man of".
SquibbEnglish Nickname for an irascible, unpredictable or petty person, derived from Middle English squibbe meaning "firework, firecracker". A famous bearer is the American actress June Squibb (1929-).
GundiánGalician This indicates familial origin within either of 2 eponymous neighborhoods: the one in the parish of Costantín, Baralla or the one in the parish of A Ponte Ulla, Vedra.
BrasseEnglish Likely derived from the name of the village of Brace in Shropshire, England. The name of the village likely came from the Old English word braec, which was used for small forests and thickets, or the later Old English word braec, which was used for ground broken up for cultivation.
GayCatalan Probably from the Catalan personal name Gai, a variant of Gaius.
TasakiJapanese From Japanese 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape, promontory, peninsula".
RootDutch From Dutch root, a derivative of roten "to ret", a topographic name for someone who lived by a retting place, a place where flax is soaked in tubs of water until the stems rot to release the linen fibers.
SummerEnglish, German From Middle English sum(m)er, Middle High German sumer "summer", hence a nickname for someone of a warm or sunny disposition, or for someone associated with the season of summer in some other way.
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]
AmecheItalian (Anglicized) Americanised form of Amici. A famous bearer was American actor, comedian and vaudevillian Don Ameche (1908-1993). After portraying the title character in the movie The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), his surname led Americans to use the word ameche as a juvenile slang for a telephone.
NisumaaEstonian Nisumaa is an Estonian surname meaning "wheat land".
Van GinkelDutch Means "from Ginkel" in Dutch, the name of a settlement in Gelderland, Netherlands, possibly derived from Old Dutch gengi "accessible, passable" and lo "light forest, forest clearing".
HashitaniJapanese From 橋 (hashi) meaning "bridge" and 谷 (tani) meaning "valley".
RantzauGerman, Theatre This is the surname used in 'I Rantzau' (The Rantzau Family), an opera in four acts by Pietro Mascagni (1892), based on a libretto by Guido Menasci and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, based on the play Les Rantzau (1873) by French writers Erckmann and Chatrian, after their novel (1882) Les Deux Frères (The Two Brothers).
ČelikovićCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian Derived from Serbo-Croatian "čelik", ultimately from Turkish çelik, meaning "steel". The -ović suffix is a patronym.
TeklićCroatian Derived from teklić, a rare form of the word "messenger".
MerriamWelsh Derived from either the personal name Meuric, which is the Welsh form of Maurice, or ultimately from the Latin personal name Mauritius, which means "dark".
PelekanosGreek Means woodpecker" from Greek pelekanos "green woodpecker" (cognate with pelekan "pelican"; both come from pelekys "axe" the pelican because its beak is shaped like an axe the woodpecker because it uses its beak like an axe).
JõekallasEstonian Jõekallas is an Estonian surname meaning "riverbank".
BeaufoyFrench (Anglicized, Rare), English (Rare) Anglicized form of Beaufay. Known bearers of this surname include the English astronomer and physicist Mark Beaufoy (1764-1827) and the British screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (b... [more]
PretoPortuguese comes from the Portuguese word preto meaning "black" or "dark". referring to someone with dark skin and/or hair. possibly a cognate of the spanish surname Prieto
BistolfoItalian Bistolfi has a lineage between Alessandria Casale Monferrato, Acqui Terme and Prasco, Genoa and Savona. Bistolfo may derive from a modified form of the medieval name Guisulfus. In an act of 1327 Gui-sulfus Cottalorda (Mayor of Breil) signed an important peace agreement with Tenda, probably passing by the name Wisulfus, and therefore by common substitution of W with B.
DumalenkoUkrainian Derives from the Ukrainian word дума (duma), meaning "thought" (noun).
TothJewish This surname is a Hungarian surname that has been used by the Jewish population.
MetsäniemiFinnish Finnish surname derived from metsä meaning forest and niemi meaning peninsula.
PäevEstonian Päev is an Estonian surname meaning "day".
CraigieScottish Habitational name from any of several places in Scotland called Craigie, or simply a topographic name derived from Scottish Gaelic creag.
Tôn NữVietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 孫女 (tôn nữ) meaning "granddaughter", originally used as a title for various royal women belonging to the Nguyễn dynasty.
ŠaulisLithuanian Occupational name from Lithuanian šaulys meaning "rifleman".
GoodyearEnglish Probably a nickname from Middle English expression gode ‘good’ (Old English gōd) + year, yere ‘year’ commonly used as an intensifier in questions e.g. ‘What the good year?’... [more]
StekelenburgDutch Derived from Middle Dutch stekel meaning "prickle, stickle, spine, spike" and burg meaning "fortress". A famous bearer is the retired Dutch soccer goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (1982-).
PinFrench A topographic name for someone living by a pine tree or in a pine forest, or a habitational name from a place named with the Old French word pin, meaning "pine, pine tree".