LichtGerman, Dutch, Yiddish Means "light" or "candle". Could be an occupational name for a chandler, a topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing (see Lichte), or a nickname for someone who had light hair, or who was agile and slender.
LichteGerman Habitational name for someone who lived in a clearing (see Lucht) or topographic name from a town in Germany, situated by the Lichte river. Alternatively, a variant of Licht.
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 North-Brabant, Netherlands. It is possibly derived from either 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]
LiễuVietnamese Vietnamese form of Liu, from Sino-Vietnamese 柳 (liễu).
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".
LiistroItalian From Sicilian lijistru "privet", a kind of shrub or small tree.
LiivamägiEstonian Liivamägi is an Estonian surname meaning "sand mountain".
LijewskiPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Lijewo in Włocławek voivodeship.
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.
LipschutzJewish Habitational surname for someone in Liebschütz, Germany, or Liebeschitz, Poland, both derived from Proto-Slavic *lipa "lime tree".
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".
LiraGalician Habitational name for someone who lives in a parish called Lira, in Salvatierra, division of Puenteareas.
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.
LisboaPortuguese Habitational name for someone from the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon (called Lisboa in Portuguese).
LischkeGerman A German surname of slavic origin. A historic bearer was Johann Lischke, a German Protestant reformer in the 16th century. The name may come from the German word “Lisch,” which can refer to a marshy or wetland area.
LisieckiPolish Habitational name for someone from Lisiec in Konin voivodeship or a place called Liszki, both named with lis meaning "fox".
LisiewskiPolish Habitational name for someone from Lisiewice in Skierniewice voivodeship, named with lis meaning "fox".
LisowskiPolish Name for someone from any of various locations named Lisowa, Lisowo, Lisów or Lisowice, all derived from Polish lis meaning "fox".
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]
LivermoreEnglish Derived from Old English lifer "rush reed, muddy water" and mere "lake".
LiverpoolEnglish Derived from Old English lifer "rush reed, muddy water" and pol "pool".
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]
LiyanageSinhalese Means "house of writing" from Sinhala ලියන (liyana) meaning "writing" and ගේ (ge) meaning "home, house".
LizárragaBasque (Hispanicized) Castilianized form of Basque Lizarraga, a habitational name from any of several places derived from Basque lizar (archaic form leizar) "ash tree" and the locative suffix -aga meaning "abundance of" or "place of".
LizziItalian Derived from lizzo, a Salerno dialect word meaning "holm oak".
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.
LlaquetSpanish, Catalan Topographic name from the Catalan word llac "pond, lake", indicating a person who lives near a lake.
LlongoriaAsturian This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the parish of Samartín de Llodón in the municipality of Balmonte.
LloveraCatalan Topographic name from llovera "wolf pack" or "wolves' lair".
LoaizaBasque Castilianized form of a Basque topographic name derived from lohi "mud, mire" and 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.
LobiancoItalian Means "the white one", a variant of Bianco using the definitive article lo.
LộcVietnamese Vietnamese form of Lu, from Sino-Vietnamese 鹿 (lộc).
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. "
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".
LoenNorwegian Loen is a Norwegian place name derived from Old Norse Ló, meaning “flat land” or “meadow,” referencing fertile, flat areas near water, often used for farming in ancient times.
LoiPunjabi The surname Loi is predominantly associated with the Sikh Punjabi Jatt community, specifically within the Jatt caste. Originating from North East Punjab, the Lois constitute a relatively small Jatt clan known for their prowess in agriculture... [more]
LokerseDutch Possibly a patronymic form of a given name such as Lokke, or a habitational name from a place using the Middle Dutch element loken "to close, shut, fence" (compare Lock).
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.
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.
LongfieldEnglish Derived from Old English lang "long" and feld "field".
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,
LøvdahlNorwegian (Rare) From the name of any of the numerous homes or places named Old Norse lauf "leaf foliage" and dalr "valley".
LovelandEnglish From the name of a farmstead in Devon, England, possibly derived from the Old English given name Leofa (or Lufa) combined with land "land, cultivated land, estate".
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-).
LøvlandNorwegian Habitational name derived from Norwegian løv "leaf" (Old Norse lauf) and land "land", probably referring to areas where deciduous trees grew.
LowcockEnglish (British) A mutation of the location name Laycock. The name is mentioned as far back as 1086.
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’.
LoyaBasque, Spanish From a location in Navarre, Spain, probably means "the mud", derived from Basque lohi "mud, mire".
ŁozowskiPolish Name for someone from a place called Łoza, derived from Polish łoza meaning "grey willow, osier, wicker".
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.
LưVietnamese Vietnamese form of Lu 2, from Sino-Vietnamese 盧 (lư).
LữVietnamese Vietnamese form of Lu 1, from Sino-Vietnamese 呂 (lữ).
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.
LubeckGerman Habitational name from the city of Lübeck in Schleswig-Holstein.... [more]
LubinPolish Polish cognate of Lupin. Possibly a habitational name for someone who lives near lupine plants.
LubinskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of the places called Lubin, Lubiń, or Lubiny.
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.
LụcVietnamese Vietnamese form of Lu, from Sino-Vietnamese 陸 (lục).
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.
LuddEnglish Etymology uncertain. Possibly derived from Middle English ladde "male servant, commoner, boy", or from Old English lade "bearing, carrying; way, passage, watercourse". In the case of Ned Ludd, legendary founder of the Luddite movement, it may have originated in the surname Ludlam.
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.
LuiaondoBasque (Rare) From the name of a village in Álava, Spain, composed of the Basque suffix -ondo "near, adjacent" and an uncertain first element; possibly related to lur "earth, soil, land".
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.
LümelinLombard It indicates familial origin within the comune of Lümé.
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.
LuxtonEnglish English habitational name from a minor place, probably one of two in Devon, so called from the possessive form of the Middle English personal name or surname Lugg (from Old English Lugga) + Middle English tune, tone ‘settlement’ (Old English tun).
LuyimbaziEastern African This name is given to males belonging to 'Nkima' (Monkey) clan in Buganda kingdom, Uganda.
LuzaBasque Surname originally used by people from Lusa, Castro Urdiales, Spain. It comes from the Basque word "luze" (long, tall), possibly of Celtic origin.
LuzhkovmRussian From Russian луг (lug), meaning "meadow".
LuzonTagalog (Hispanicized) Named after an island in the Philippines. It is thought to derive from ᜎᜓᜐᜓᜅ᜔ "lusong", a Tagalog word referring to a particular kind of large wooden mortar used in dehusking rice... [more]
LuzuriagaBasque It indicates familial origin within the eponymous council of the municipality of Donemiliaga.
LykoudisGreek Lykoudis (Greek: Λυκούδης) is a Greek surname, derived from the Greek word for wolf (Greek: λύκος, lykos). It may also have been used for individuals from the village of Lykoudi in Greece.
LyleEnglish Derived from Norman French l'isle "island".
LymanEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow or a patch of arable land (see Layman).