Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
LeholaEstonian Lehola is an Estonian surname derived from the name of a village in ancient Sakala County.
LehtoFinnish Finnish: from lehto ‘grove’; either a habitational name, recorded since the 17th century, from any of the farms in eastern Finland named for their location by a grove, or in other cases a more recent ornamental adoption... [more]
LehtomäkiFinnish Lehto means "grove" and Mäki means "hill" in Finnish. This type of surname (combination of two nature related words) is very common in Finland.
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]
LeinbachGerman German topographic name from any of several streams called leinbach, from Middle High German lin ‘flax’ or Middle Low German leie (genitive leien) ‘rock’, ‘stone’ + bach ‘stream’.
LeinbergGerman Habitational name for someone in Bavaria, or a topographic name from Middle High German lin meaning "flax" and berg meaning "mountain".
LeiningerGerman Smeone from any of several places called Leiningen.
LeithEnglish From the name of a Scottish town (now a district of Edinburgh), which is derived from Gaelic lìte "wet, damp". It is also the name of the river that flows though Edinburgh.
LembergJewish Habitational name from the city of Lviv in Ukraine, from its German name Lemberg.
LembergGerman Habitational name from a place called Lemberg in Silesia, originally Löwenberg, from Middle High German lewe, löwe "lion" and berg "mountain".
LeminenFinnish Derived from the the name of the municipality of "Lemi" in Finland
LemmingDanish Derived from any of the places in Denmark called Lemming where the first element lem "lamb" is combined with the suffix -ing denoting a place.
LemsaluEstonian Lemsalu is an Estonian surname, possibly derived from the masculine given name "Lembit" and "salu", meaning "grove"; "Lembit's grove".
LesińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of the places called Lesin Lesina or Leśna named with les dialect form of standard Polish las ‘forest’.
LessardFrench Name for someone who lived in a clearing, derived from French l'essart meaning "the assart" (a term for cleared forest land used for agriculture). It is also a habitational name for someone from any of various locations named Lessard or Lessart, of the same origin and meaning.
LesterEnglish Habitational name from Leicester which is recorded as Ligeraceastre in the 10th century. The placename derives from an Old English folk name Legore "the dwellers by the river Legor (a lost river name)" and Old English ceaster "city Roman fortification" (from Latin castrum) "camp fortress".
LeszczyńskiPolish Name for someone from any of various places called Leszczyna, Leszczyno, Leszczyny or Leszczynek, all derived from Polish leszczyna meaning "hazel".
LeusinkMedieval Dutch Descendants from farmers from the Overijssel Province in the Netherlands. History can be traced to the middle ages, perhaps to a farm called Lossyng in the village of Neede.
LevaiJewish Comes from the Levitic surnames of 'Levi' and 'Levy', signifying the descendants from the Tribe of Levi. All bearers today are of Hungarian–Jewish descent.
LevandiEstonian Levandi is an Estonians surname meaning the "Levant".
LevantEnglish Derived from the Italian word levante, meaning "rising" and the French word levant, meaning "to rise". The term entered the English language in 1497 and was used to describe the "Mediterranean lands east of Italy" by referring to the rising of the sun in the east... [more]
LeverFrench, English Nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from Old French levre ‘hare’ (Latin lepus, genitive leporis). It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of hares... [more]
LevertonEnglish This surname combines the Old English personal female name Leofwaru or the Old English word læfer meaning "rush, reed" with another Old English word tún meaning "enclosure, field, farm, dwelling." The etymology with the female name addition fits in with the town of the same name in Berkshire while the etymology with the word addition fits in with the one in Lincolnshire.
LickfoldEnglish Derives from a hamlet in West Sussex, England. All known holders, worldwide, of this rare surname can be traced back to Lickfolds who lived within 20 miles of Lickfold in the 16th century.
LiconaSpanish Habitational name from a place called Likoa in Basque Country.
LiddellEnglish From the Liddel river, which takes its name from Okd English hl̄de “loud” + dæl “valley”.
LiddiardEnglish From Celtic place names in England meaning "gray hill".
LiddingtonEnglish, Scottish (Rare) This surname is derived from a geographical locality. "of Liddington", a parish in Rutland, near Uppingham; a parish in Wiltshire, near Swindon.
LiellEnglish (British) Meaning: from the isle, from an island. Early versions of the name can be traced back to the Norman invasion in 1066, and a variation (de Insula) can be found in the Domesday Book... [more]
LiemDutch Habitual surname for Lieme in Eastphalia, which is from lim meaning "mire".
LieshoutDutch Originally indicated a person from the village of Lieshout in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. It is derived either from Dutch lies meaning "great manna grass" (a grasslike plant that grows near riverbanks and ponds) or Middle Dutch lese meaning "track, furrow", combined with hout meaning "forest".
LietzenGerman Lietzen is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany.... [more]
LighthallEnglish A habitational name from a place called Lightollars in Lancashire, so named from Old English leoht ‘light-colored’ + alor ‘alder’. The surname, however, is not found in current English sources.
LigiEstonian Ligi is an Estonian surname meaning "near" or "accessible".
LilienthalGerman habitational name from any of the places called Lilienthal in Schleswig-Holstein Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemburg named with Middle High German liljen "lilies" (from Latin lilium) and tal "valley".
LiljedahlSwedish, Norwegian Ornamental name derived from Swedish lilje, a genitive form of lilja "lily" used in compounds, and the archaic word dahl (Old Norse dalr) meaning "valley"... [more]
LillardBelgian Habitational name from either of two places called Li(e)laar, in Gavere and Sint-Maria-Oudenhove, East Flanders.
LillingstoneEnglish It indicates familial origin within either of 2 villages in Buckinghamshire: Lillingstone Dayrell or Lillingstone Lovell.
LimaPortuguese Topographic name for someone who lived on the banks of the Lima River in Portugal, most likely derived from Indo-European *léymō meaning "lake".
LimanowskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Lesser Polish town of Limanowa.
LimbMedieval English Rare name of medieval English origin. A dialectal variant of the locational name 'Lumb', from places so called in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, and derives from the Old English pre-7th Century 'lum(m)'... [more]
LimbachGerman Derived from any of numerous places in Germany named with Germanic lindo meaning "lime tree" and bach meaning "stream". Several of these places are in areas such as the Palatinate, which contributed heavily to early German immigration to the United States.
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.
LindellEnglish Derived from various places in England named with Old Norse lind "lime tree" and dalr "valley".
LindenbaumGerman, Jewish topographic name for someone who lived by a lime tree Lindenbaum or a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a lime tree. Derived from the elements linta "linden" and boum "tree".
LindenbergGerman, Jewish, Dutch As a German and Jewish name, it is derived from any of numerous places called Lindenberg in Germany, composed of Middle High German linde meaning "lime tree" and berg meaning "mountain, hill"... [more]
LindenmeyerGerman Habitational name for the tenant of a farm identified by a lime tree, derived from Middle High German linde meaning "lime tree" and meier meaning "tenant farmer".
LinderGerman Derived from the German word linde, which means lime tree.
LindleyEnglish, German English habitational name from either of two places in West Yorkshire called Lindley, or from Linley in Shropshire and Wiltshire, all named from Old English lin ‘flax’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘glade’, with epenthetic -d-, or from another Lindley in West Yorkshire (near Otley), named in Old English as ‘lime wood’, from lind ‘lime tree’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’... [more]
LinekerEnglish From a place name composed of Old English lin meaning "flax" and æcer meaning "field". A famous bearer is retired English soccer player Gary Lineker (1960-).
LinfordEnglish habitational name from Great and Little Linford in Buckinghamshire or Lynford in Norfolk. The former may have Old English hlyn "maple" as its first element; the latter is more likely to contain lin "flax" or alternatively the first element may relate to the river Lynn... [more]
LinklaterScottish Scottish (Orkney) habitational name from either of two places named Linklater (in South Ronaldsay and North Sandwick).
LinleyEnglish This surname can be derived from a place of the same name in Shropshire, which is derived from Old English lín meaning "flax, linen" and leah meaning "clearing." As a modern surname, it can also be a variant of Lindley (Lindley is used in 2 places in Yorkshire), which is derived from Old English lind meaning "lime tree" and leah.
LipowskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Lipowo, Lipowa, or Lipowe, named with an adjectival derivative of Polish lipa meaning "lime tree".
LippincottEnglish A habitational name meaning "of Luffincott," a parish in Devon, England. Named from Old English uncertain first element + cot ‘cottage’.
LippsGerman Derived from Lippe, a place in Westphalia, Germany. The name is a variant of the first name Philipp.
LipschitzGerman, Jewish The name is derived from the Slavic "lipa," meaning "linden tree" or "lime tree." The name may relate to a number of different place names: "Liebeschitz," the name of a town in Bohemia, "Leipzig," the name of a famous German city, or "Leobschutz," the name of a town in Upper Silesia.
LipskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Lipie, Lipsk, Lipsko, Lipy, etc., all named with Polish lipa meaning "lime tree".
LisHmong The name may come from the Chinese who gave Hmong names during the 18th century depending on the place they were in. It's a possible clan surname.
ListratFrench From Occitan "listrat" meaning "chopped off, striped" or from "Listrac", a commune in the Gironde department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwest France.
LiszewskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Lisewo (also Liszewo), named with Polish lis meaning "fox".
LivelyEnglish A modern English surname possibly derived from a lost village called Laefer-leah which would give it the meaning "the farm by the lake".... [more]
LivingstonEnglish, Scottish This surname is thought to be derived from Middle English Levingestun meaning "Leving's town" or "Leving's settlement."
LivingstoneScottish, Irish, Jewish Scottish: Habitational name from a place in Lothian, originally named in Middle English as Levingston, from an owner called Levin (Lewin), who appears in charters of David I in the early 12th century.... [more]
LizárragaBasque Habitational name from any of three places called Lizarraga, in Navarra and Alava and Guipuzcoa provinces, which are named from Basque lizarr (or le(i)zar) "ash tree" and the locative suffix -aga.
LlapashticaKosovar, Albanian, Serbian Derived from the name of Kosovan villages named Llapashticë e Poshtme or Llapashticë e Epërme. It could also denote a person from Serbian villages called Donja Lapaštica or Gornja Lapaštica.
LlongoriaAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the parish of Samartín de Llodón in the municipality of Balmonte.
LoaizaBasque Topographic name from Basque loa meaning "mud", "mire", with the suffix -tza denoting abundance.
ŁobaczewskiPolish This indicated familial origin within either Łobaczew Duży or Łobaczew Mały, 2 Polesian villages in Gmina Terespol.
LoberaSpanish Either a topographic name from lobera "wolf pack" or "wolves' lair" or a habitational name from any of several places called La Lobera. variant of Lovera.
LochGerman From German Loch "hole", ultimately derived from Middle High German loch "hole, hollow, valley".
LocheFrench From the Old French word loche meaning "freshwater fish."
LochheadScottish Topographic name for someone who lived at the head of a loch, derived from Scottish Gaelic ceann meaning "head (land)" and loch meaning "loch".
LochnerGerman Means "a place where rivers meet with a partial obstruction from a wooden dam. "
LockEnglish, Dutch, German Habitational name from any of various places called Loock, from look ‘enclosure’.
LockleyEnglish Refers to the region of Loxley in Staffordshire, England.
LodgeEnglish Local name for someone who lived in a small cottage or temporary dwelling, Middle English logge (Old French loge, of Germanic origin). The term was used in particular of a cabin erected by masons working on the site of a particular construction project, such as a church or cathedral, and so it was probably in many cases equivalent to an occupational name for a mason... [more]
LoduEstonian Lodu is an Estonian surname meaning "marsh" or "fen".
LolokhoevIngush (Russified) Russified form of an Ingush surname derived from the name of an Ingush teip (clan), itself derived from Lyalakh, the name of a mountain village. The village's name itself is of unknown meaning.
LomasEnglish, Scottish, Scottish Gaelic Variant spelling of "Lomax", meaning a steam pool devoted from Lumhalghs, Lancs. Also variant spelling of "Lennox", meaning Elmwood in Gaelic.
LomaxEnglish Lomax is a territorial surname, derived from the hamlet of Lumhalghs, near Bury, Greater Manchester, and meaning "pool nook" or "recess". Notable persons with the surname Lomax include: Alan Lomax (1915–2002) American musicologist, son of John Avery Lomax... [more]
LombardFrench, English, South African French and English cognate of Lombardi, or derived from the given name Lambert. A famous bearer of this name was the American actress Carole Lombard (1908-1942), born Jane Alice Peters.
LomholtDanish From the name of a farm/estate in Vejlby Parish, Denmark.
LongbottomEnglish, Literature, Popular Culture English (West Yorkshire) topographic name for someone who lived in a long valley, from Middle English long + botme, bothem ‘valley bottom’. Given the surname’s present-day distribution, Longbottom in Luddenden Foot, West Yorkshire, may be the origin, but there are also two places called Long Bottom in Hampshire, two in Wiltshire, and Longbottom Farm in Somerset and in Wiltshire.
LongleyEnglish Geographic name referring to multiple places by the same name in Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the word "long" plus Old English leáh "meadow".
LonsdaleEnglish Habitational name from the district of Lonsdale (straddling Lancashire Yorkshire and Westmorland) and also from Lonsdale in Great Ayton (North Yorkshire). The district takes its name from the river Lune (of uncertain origin) annd Old English dæl "valley"... [more]
LooEstonian Loo is an Estonian surname; from a few geographic names in Estonia. Most notably, the small borough of Loo in Harju County.
LorraineFrench, English, Scottish Habitational name from Lorraine a region in the northeastern part of France. Its name derives from the name of the medieval kingdom of Lothari Regnum which in turn was named for its sovereign Lothar (a personal name composed of the elements hlud "famous renowned" and hari/heri "army").
LosadaSpanish, Portuguese topographic name for someone who lived by an area paved with flagstones Spanish losada (from losar "to pave" a derivative of losa a word of pre-Roman origin meaning a "flat stone slab").
LothropEnglish Habitational name from Lowthorpe in East Yorkshire named with the Old Norse personal name Logi and þrop "outlying farmstead".
LottFrench From the Department (Region/State)in France, "Lot" and "Lot-et-Garrone"; also a river in France (Lot). Brought to the British Isles, Holland (Netherlands) and later the United States, Canada and South Africa, by French Huguenots.
LouChinese From Chinese 娄 (lóu) referring to the 16th constellation of the Twenty-Eight Mansions in traditional Chinese astronomy. It may also refer to the ancient state of Zhu Lou, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province, or the ancient fief of Lou, which existed in the ancient state of Chu in present-day Shandong province.
LoudonScottish, English (Canadian) This surname is Scottish, although also recorded in England. It is believed to be locational from the village of Loudoun, in the district of Cunningham, in the county of Ayrshire. The placename is composed of the Northern English word "low", meaning a flame or beacon, itself from the pre 7th century Norse word "loge", plus the Gaelic "doun", meaning a hill... [more]
LoughtyScottish Uncommon Scottish surname meaning 'by a lake'. It is derived from the Scottish word 'loch', meaning lake, combined with the suffix 'ty', in this case signifying 'by'.
LouisvilleEnglish From the name of the largest city of Louisville in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The city was named for the 18th-century King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were then aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War.
LõunaEstonian Lõuna is an Estonian surname meaning "south".
LourenzáGalician This indicates familial origin within any of various eponymous places in Galicia.
LourinhoPortuguese Possibly from Lourinhã, a portuguese city to the northwest of Lisbon who possibly originated in the Roman period, when a villa named "Laurinana" existed in the area. Lourinho is a diminutive form of "louro", deriving from Latin laurus, "laurel".
LousadaPortuguese Name given from the village of Lousada, in Northern Portugal.
LøvaasNorwegian Ultimately derived from Old Norse lauf "leaf, foliage" and áss "hill, ridge". Taken from any of the many farms in Norway named Løvaas,
LoveraItalian, Spanish Either a topographic name from lovera "wolf pack" or "wolves’ lair" or a habitational name from a place called Lovera. Spanish variant of Lobera.
LovitzJewish From the Polish name of Łowicz, a town in central Poland. Its name is derived from Polish lowisko meaning "fishing, hunting". A well-known bearer is American comedian and actor Jon Lovitz (1957-).
LoxleyEnglish English: habitational name from any of various minor places named Loxley, as for example one in Warwickshire, which is named with the Old English personal name Locc + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
LuChinese From Chinese 陆 (lù) referring to the ancient territory of Lu, which existed in the state of Qi in what is now Shandong province. Alternately, it may be from 陸渾 (Lù Hún), the name of an ancient nomadic tribe that established a state in the area that is now Henan province.
LuChinese From Chinese 鲁 (lǔ) referring to the ancient state of Lu, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Shandong province.
LubarskyUkrainian, Lithuanian, Jewish Habitational name for someone from Liubar, an urban-type settlement in the Zhytomyr Oblast of Ukraine, or Lubarka, an unknown place in Lithuania.
LubisBatak From the name of an area around Lake Toba, itself from a Batak word meaning "strong".
LubrańskiPolish This indicates familial origin either within the Kuyavian town of Lubraniec or the adjacent village of Lubrańczyk.
LuccaItalian A habitational name from Lucca Sicula in Agrigento province, Sicily, which was called simply Lucca until 1863. It was probably originally named with a Celtic element meaning ‘marshy.’
LuccheseItalian Denoted someone from Lucca, a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy.
ŁuczyńskiPolish Habitational name for someone from places called Łuczyna or Łuczynów.
LuddAnglo-Saxon, Old Irish The name--the surname of the legendary inspiration for the Luddites--was taken on by someone who worked as a person who worked as a servant or a page. This surname was originally derived from the Old English word Ladde, an English occupational name for a servant.... [more]
LudenbergGerman From Latin ludere meaning "to play" and German berg meaning "mountain".
LudlamEnglish Derived from the old English word hlud "loud, roaring" (compare germanic hlud), which gave the name to the river Hlude and ham "water meadow"
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.
LuhaäärEstonian Luhaäär is an Estonian surname, derived from "water meadow (marsh) edge".
LuhtEstonian Luht is an Estonian surname meaning "marsh" or "watery meadow".
LumbanbatuBatak From Batak lumban meaning "village, hamlet" and batu meaning "stone".
LumbangaolBatak From Batak lumban meaning "village, hamlet" and gaol meaning "banana".
LumbantobingBatak From Batak lumban meaning "village, hamlet" and tobing meaning "riverbank, edge".
LumbantoruanBatak From Batak lumban meaning "village, hamlet" and toruan meaning "lower (area or place), below".
LumbrerasSpanish Habitational Name From A Place Called Lumbreras In La Rioja From The Plural Of Lumbrera ‘Lamp’ Possibly Referring To An Old Signal Tower.
LumleyEnglish A name held by the British actress, Joanna Lumley.
LundIndian Lund is also a Punjabi last name (i.e. from Punjab state of India/Pakistan)
LundyEnglish Either (i) "person from Lundie", the name of various places in Scotland (meaning "place by a marsh"); or (ii) a different form of Mcalinden.
LunnNorwegian, English Derived from Lund, which in turn comes from the Old Norse lundr, meaning "grove of trees".