BuglassEnglish Possibly from the Booklawes region near Melrose, Roxburgshire, originally spelt "Buke-Lawes" (lit. "buck/stag" combined with "low ground"); otherwise from the Gaelic words buidhe - "yellow" and glas - "green".
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.
BaumeisterGerman Occupational name for a "builder" in German; from Middle High German 'buwen' 'to build' + meister 'master'.... [more]
ErlanderSwedish Derived from the personal name Erland. A famous bearer was Swedish politician Tage Erlander (1901-1985), Prime Minister of Sweden between 1946 and 1969... [more]
CristEnglish From Old English Crīst meaning "Christ, the Messiah" (see Christos 1). May have been a nickname for someone who played the part of Christ in a pageant, or a short form of a given name containing it as an element, such as Christian or Christopher.
SugaharaJapanese From 菅 (suga) meaning "sedge" and 原 (hara) meaning "plain, field".
DistelGerman, Low German, Dutch Means "thistle" in German and Dutch, a topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of ground overgrown with thistles, or perhaps a nickname for a "prickly" person.
PewterschmidtPopular Culture Comprised of the English word pewter, which is a metal alloy made mostly of tin, and the German element schmidt 'smith' (see Schmidt). This surname is obviously intended to be of Germanic origin... [more]
St-gelaisFrench (Quebec) From the French place name Saint-Gelais which was allegedly named for a 5th-century bishop of Poitiers. The name Gelais is a variant of Gélase.
BhargavaIndian From Sanskrit bhārgava ‘(descendant) of Bhrigu’. Bhrigu is the name of one of the great sages of Hindu legend.
McVeighScottish, Irish Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Bheatha or Mac an Bheatha, themselves derived from Gaelic Mac Beatha meaning "son of life" (see MacBeth).
EssenDutch, German From any of several places called Essen, probably derived from asc "ash tree".
SyngeEnglish (British) First found in Shropshire where they had been anciently seated as Lords of the Manor of Bridgenorth, from the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 A.D.
CarabantesSpanish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
WildinEnglish The former placename is composed of the Olde English pre 7th Century words "wilg", willow, and "denu", a valley; while the latter place in Worcestershire is derived from the Olde English personal name "Winela", plus the Olde English "dun", a hill or mountain.
VallmitjanaCatalan From the name of a valley near the town of Taradell in Catalonia, Spain, composed of Catalan vall meaning "valley" and mitjana "middle, middle-sized".
TsukuneJapanese (Rare) Possibly from 築 (tsuku) meaning "construction, building" and 根 (ne) meaning "root, basis, foundation".
GharbiArabic (Maghrebi) Means "westerner, one from the west" from Arabic غرب (gharb) meaning "west, occident". In Tunisia it is typically used as a name for someone originally from Algeria or Morocco (being the two westernmost countries in North Africa).
CabaleiroGalician 'Knight' derived from an occupation, Galician origins.
AlcalayJudeo-Spanish Derived from Arabic القلعة (al-qal'ah) meaning "the citadel, the fortress".
OlinSwedish Combination of the unexplained element o-/oh- and the common surname suffix -lin. A notable bearer is Swedish actress Lena Olin (b. 1955).
DaskalakisGreek Comes from the Greek root word of "Daskalalos" (Δάσκαλος) that means "teacher", with the adittion of the ending "akis" (ακης) that usually shows a connection with the island of Crete
SakurakōjiJapanese From Japanese 桜 (sakura) meaning "cherry blossom", 小 (kō) meaning "small" and 路 (ji) meaning "road, path, journey" or 寺 (ji) meaning "Buddhist temple". A famous bearer is Kanoko Sakurakōji (surname written 桜小路), a Japanese manga artist.
KhandakarBengali Means "teacher, scholar" (literally "one who reads"), derived from Persian خواندن (khandan) meaning "to read, to study" and the occupational suffix گار (kar).
RizalFilipino, Tagalog, Cebuano From Spanish ricial meaning "green field" or "rice field". A notable bearer was José Rizal (1861-1896), a Filipino nationalist and national hero.
NavarreFrench The name means "By the sea". Originally a country of its own, located between Spain and France, Navarre became a part of France in 1284 when the Queen of Navarre married King Philip IV of France. After much war, becoming independent once again, and falling into Spanish rule, the Kingdom of Navarre is now split between Spain and France.
MiyamizuJapanese From Japanese 宮 (miya) meaning "temple, shrine, palace" combined with 水 (mizu) meaning "water". A fictional bearer of this surname is Mitsuha Miyamizu (宮水 三葉) from the 2016 anime movie Your Name/Kimi no Na wa.
SedarisGreek David Sedaris, author of Calypso and others, and Amy Sedaris, actress and comedienne, are two well-known siblings with the surname.
LawlerIrish, Scottish This Irish surname is of Gaelic language origin. The surname derives from the original Gaelic 'O'Leathlobhair' meaning 'descendant of leathlobhair'. Leathlobhair derives from 'Leath' meaning 'Half' and 'Lobhar' meaning 'leper'.... [more]
OroscoSpanish, Basque Variant of Orozco. Means "place of the holly trees" from oros meaning "holly tree" and the suffix -ko signifying a place. Also believed to have been derived from Latin orosius meaning "the son of bringer of wisdom".
NavalnyymUkrainian Means "stormy, cloudy" in Ukrainian. Aleksey Navalnyy was a Russian political dissident of partially Ukrainian origin. He died on 16 February 2024. The more common transcription is Navalny.
TkaczJewish Occupational name for a weaver, Polish tkacz, a noun derivative of tkać "to weave".
SaikiaIndian, Assamese From a military title used during the Ahom Kingdom that indicated an official who commanded 100 soldiers. The title itself is derived from Assamese শ (xo) meaning "hundred".
HustedGerman The name was originally spelled "Hustedt" and means "homestead." The family name originated in northern Germany. One branch of the family migrated to England, and a branch of that family to the United States.
PortocarreroSpanish, Spanish (Latin American) Possibly a Spanish form of Porto Carreiro, an old municipality in Galicia, from Galician porto "port, harbour" and carreiro "path, pathway".
CerqueiraPortuguese Habitational name from any of various places named Cerquerira, in most cases from a Latin derivative of quercus "oak". The family name also occurs in Sicily, probably of the same origin.
KlepperGerman A metonymic name for someone who bred or kept horses, from Middle High German klepper "knight’s horse", possibly derived from kleppen "to strike rapidly, to ring sharply" in reference to bells on their harness... [more]
NikaidoJapanese (Rare, ?) From japanese kanji 二 (ni) meaning "two", 階 (kai) meaning "floor, storey" combined with 堂 (dō) meaning "temple". The last name is a name of a clan of Japanese samurai that ruled the Iwase District of Mutsu Province during the Sengoku period during the Kamakura era... [more]
AmigasayaJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 編笠屋 (Amigasaya) meaning "Amigasa Store", from 編笠 (amigasa) meaning "braided hats", referring to a store that sells braided hats.
BombadilLiterature In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", the surname of Tom Bombadil, an enigmatic character not present in Peter Jackson's movie adaptation.
KasepõldEstonian Kasepõld is an Estonian surname meaning "birch field".
RosholtNorwegian Norwegian: habitational name from either of two farms called Røsholt in southeastern Norway, named with Old Norse, either ross ‘mare’ or ruð ‘clearing’ + holt ‘grove’, ‘wood’.
GrijalvaSpanish, Central American Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called Grijalba in particular the one in Burgos province. The placename is from iglesia 'church' + Old Spanish alva 'white'.
EgiarretaBasque (Rare) From the name of a neighbourhood in Arakil, Navarre, possibly derived from Basque (h)egi "side, slope, bank; edge, border" combined with (h)arri "stone, rock" and -eta "place of, abundance of".
AlomarCatalan From the given name Alomar, used especially in the Balearic Islands, itself derived from the Old German name Aldemar. This is borne by the Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Alomar (1968-).
FialkaCzech Means ''violet'' (the flower) in Czech.
MagnumEnglish Possibly derived from the given name Magnus. It is borne by the fictional character Thomas Magnum, the protagonist on the American television series Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988).
EllerveeEstonian Ellervee is an Estonian surname meaning "Eller water", but of undetermined origin. Possibly from the German "Eller". Possibly a corruption of the surname "Ellerbee" or "Ellerby".
VrátilCzech Derived from the past participle of the verb vrátit "to return". The name was perhaps used to denote a person who came back to his home following a long absence.
TombrosGreek From the Slavic word (dobr), good, honest.
ElfordMedieval English From the Old English personal name Ella, from the word oelf meaning "elf" or from the Old English alor/elre, meaning "alder tree." The name in full would mean "alder tree by a ford" or "Ella who lives by a ford".... [more]
SiracusaItalian, Sicilian From the name of the city of Syracuse in Sicily, Italy (siracusa in Italian and sarausa in Sicilian).
EnnoJapanese En means "garden" and no means "wilderness, plain, field."
RoverEnglish, German (Anglicized) This surname is derived from Middle English roof (from Old English hrof) combined with the agent suffix (i)er, which denotes someone who does/works with something. Thus, the surname was originally used for a constructor or repairer of roofs.... [more]
MacapagalPampangan From Kapampangan makapagal meaning "tiring, exhausting". A notable bearer is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (1947-), who served as the 14th president of the Philippines.
BareillesFrench, Occitan Derived from the place name Bareilles, a village in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitania region of France. A famous bearer is the American musician and actress Sara Bareilles (1979-).
BettanyEnglish Variant of Betteley in the West Midlands and variant of Beatley in East England with /n/ substituted for /l/.
NooniEstonian Nooni is an Estonian surname meaning "nones".
HettiarachchiSinhalese From Sinhala හෙට්ටි (hetti) referring to the Chetty caste (primarily composed of merchants and traders) combined with the colonial-era title ආරච්චි (arachchi) used to denote a village headman or leader.
RekovRussian From Russian река (reka) meaning "river".
NijibayashiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 虹 (Niji) meaning "Rainbow" and 林 (Bayashi) meaning "Forest". A notable bearer of this surname was academic author Kei Nijibayashi.
ErreyEnglish This uncommon and intriguing name is of Old Norse origin, and is found chiefly in the north western counties of England, reflecting the dense settlement of Scandinavian peoples in those areas. The surname is locational, from places such as Aira Beck or Aira Force near Ullswater in Cumberland, or some other minor or unrecorded place also named with the Old Norse term "eyrara", meaning "gravel-bank stream river”.
LeibnizGerman The German surname Leibnitz emerged in the lands that form the modern state of Lower Saxony, which is presently bordered by the North Sea, the Hartz mountains and the Elbe and Ems rivers. Lower Saxony was previously a medieval dukedom... [more]