ModenaItalian, Judeo-Italian Italian and Jewish (from Italy) habitational name from the city of Modena in Emilia-Romagna.
ModiglianiItalian Used by Sepharditic Jews, this surname comes from the Italian town of Modigliana, in Romagna. Famous bearers of this surname include painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) and Nobel Prize in Economics recipient Franco Modigliani (1918–2003).
ModzelewskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Modzel or Modzele, both derived from Polish modzel meaning "callus".
MoesDutch Derived from Middle Dutch moes "stew, mush, vegetables, food", either on its own as a nickname for a cook or vegetable farmer, or as a shortened form of a longer name, such as the toponym Moespot "vegetable pot".
MõisaäärEstonian Mõisaäär is an Estonian surname meaning "manor edge/periphery".
MolDutch Means "mole (animal)" in Dutch. Could be a nickname for someone with poor eyesight or who was known for digging, an occupational name for a mole catcher, or a habitational name for someone from Mol in the Antwerp province, Belgium.
MolyneuxFrench Possibly a habitational name from Moulineux, meaning "mill of the waters", or derives from the Old French name De Molines or De Moulins, meaning "mill". The surname has been linked to a large French family that settled in Lancashire from France.
MonarrezSpanish Hispanic (Mexico; Monárrez): Altered Form Of Basque Munárriz Itself A Castilianized Form Of A Habitational Name From Munarritz (Also Amunarritz In Castilian Munárriz) A Town In Navarre.
MonasterioSpanish Means "monastery" in Spanish, denoting a person who lives or works in a monastery.
MoncadaSpanish A habitational surname, from Catalan Montcada, ultimately from monte "mountain" and an older variant of Catalonia.
MoncayoAragonese This indicates familial origin near the eponymous mountain massif.
MoncriefScottish Scottish: habitational name from Moncreiff Hill near Perth, so called from Gaelic monadh ‘hill’ + craoibhe, genitive of craobh ‘tree’.
MoncrieffeScottish Clan Moncreiffe is a Scottish clan. The name is derived from the Scottish Gaelic Monadh croibhe which means "Hill of the sacred bough". The plant badge of Clan Moncreiffe is the oak, this presumably comes from the sacred tree.... [more]
MondscheinGerman, Jewish topographic or habitational name referring to a house name meaning "moonshine" or a nickname for someone who was bald from the same word Middle High German mōnemān(d)e "moon" and schīn "shine".
MonetaItalian Possibly originating from a nickname given to those who lived near a temple dedicated to Juno Moneta. A famous bearer of this surname is Nobel Prize for Peace recipient Ernesto Teodoro Moneta (1833–1918).
MonsivaisSpanish Hispanic (Mexico; Monsiváis): Perhaps A Topographic Name Derived From Latin Mons Silvaticus ‘Wooded Mountain’ Or A Habitational Name From Monsivalls A Hill In Ribagorza In Huesca Province (Spain) Named From Latin Monte Ipsa Vallis ‘Mount Of The Valley’.
MonsteinRomansh Derived from the place name Monstein, a village in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
MontalbanoItalian Habitational name from Montalbano di Elicona in northeastern Sicily (earlier simply Montalbano), Montalbano Jonico (Matera province), or the district of Montalbano in Fasano, Brindisi.
MontaleItalian From Latin mons ("mountain"), this surname was originally given as a nickname to people who lived on hills and mountains. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet and writer Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975.
MontaltoItalian, Portuguese Habitational name from any of various places called Montalto or Montaldo especially Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza province in Italy or from a place in Portugal called Montalto from monte "hill" and alto "high" (from Latin altus).
MontalvoPortuguese, Spanish, Italian Montalvo is a habitational Portuguese and Spanish surname that originated in the medieval period. It comes from the Spanish words monte, meaning "mount", and albo, meaning "white". The name was often given to families who lived near or on a white mountain or hill, and can be interpreted as "white mountain".
MonteagudoSpanish Habitational name from any of numerous places called Monteagudo (‘pointed mountain’) from monte ‘mountain’ + agudo ‘sharp pointed’ (from Latin acutus from acus ‘needle’) for example in the provinces of Murcia Teruel A Coruña and Navarre.
MonteblancoFrench, Spanish Originally from France "Mont Blanc" but translated when arrived in Spain.
MontecalvoItalian Habitational name from any of various places called Montecalvo ("bald mountain") especially Montecalvo Irpino in Avellino province, from the elements monte "mountain" and calvo "bald".
MontefioreItalian, Jewish Derived from Montefiore, which is the name of several places in Italy. For example, there is Castle Montefiore in the town of Recanati (province of Macerata), the municipality of Montefiore Conca (province of Rimini) and the municipality of Montefiore dell'Aso (province of Ascoli Piceno)... [more]
MonteithScottish From the name of the district of Menteith in south Perthshire, Scotland, derived from Gaelic monadh meaning "hill pasture" combined with the Scottish river name Teith. A famous bearer was the Canadian actor and musician Cory Monteith (1982-2013), who played Finn Hudson on the American television series Glee (2009-2015).
MontejanoSpanish Habitational name for someone from a place called Montejo
MonteleoneItalian From various place names, meaning "mountain lion", or "mountain of the lion".
MontemayorSpanish Habitational name from any of several places called Montemayor, from monte meaning "mountain" + mayor meaning "main", "larger", "greater", in particular in the provinces of Cordova, Salamanca, and Valladolid.
MontenegroSpanish, Portuguese Habitational name for someone originally from any of the various locations in Spain and Portugal named Montenegro, from Spanish and Portuguese monte meaning "mountain, hill" and negro meaning "black".
MonterdAragonese It indicates familial origin within either of 2 municipalities: Monterd d’Albarrazín or Monterd.
MonterreySpanish Derived from places named Monterrey. From Spanish monte meaning "mountain" and rey meaning "king".
MonterrosoGalician This indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
MonterrubioSpanish Habitational name from any of the places called Monterrubio ‘red mountain’.
MontesanoItalian From Italian monte meaning "mountain" and sano meaning "healthy".
MontesinosSpanish Topographic name for someone who lived on a mountain from a derivative of monte 'mountain' (from Latin mons gentive montis).
MontesquieuFrench From French montagne, meaning "mountain" and possibly also from queue, meaning "line". Charles Montesquieu was a 17th-century French aristocrat, philosopher and politician.
MonteverdeGalician Habitational name from Monteverde in Ourense province, Galicia.
MonteverdeItalian Habitational name from any of various places called Monteverde, for example in Avellino province, from monte meaning "mountain" + verde meaning "green".
MontfordEnglish As a Shropshire name believed to mean "from a communal ford or water crossing" while the Norfolk origin is "from Munda's ford," Munda being an old English personal name meaning "protector, guardian," as seen in names such as Edmund.
MontfortMedieval French (Rare) Habitational name from any of numerous places called Montfort from Old French mont "hill" and fort "strong impregnable"
MontgomerieScottish, English Variation of Montgomery. A famous bearer was Margaret Montgomerie Boswell (1738 to 1789), wife of author James Boswell.
MontielSpanish This indicates familial origin within the eponymous Manchego municipality.
MontignyFrench habitational name from (Le) Montigny the name of several places in various parts of France (from a Gallo-Roman estate name Montiniacum formed either from a personal name or from a derivative of mons "mountain" and the locative suffix acum)... [more]
MontillaSpanish Habitational name from Montilla a place in Córdoba province.
MontoroSpanish, Italian A Spanish habitational name from any of the places called Montoro in particular those in Córdoba or Teruel provinces. Italian habitational name from any of the places called Montoro in particular Montoro Inferiore and Montoro Superiore in Avellino province.
MontpelierEnglish, French English and French variant of Montpellier. This is the name of several places in the United States, for example the capital city of the state of Vermont, which was named after the French city of Montpellier.
MontpellierFrench Means "woad mountain", derived from French mont (itself from Latin mōns) meaning "mountain" and pastel (Latin pastellus, pestellus) meaning "woad, dye", referring to someone who lived near a mountain that was covered with woad (a plant that produces a blue dye)... [more]
MoralisGreek Meaning unknown, possibly a Greek form of the Spanish surname Morales.
MoranvilleFrench Habitational name from a commune in France named Moranville, probably derived from the personal name Morand and Old French ville "city, town, settlement".
MoratallaSpanish This indicates familial origin within the eponymous Murcian municipality.
MordenEnglish Parish in Surrey; one mile from Mitcham. "Moor Hollow" in Old English.
MorehouseEnglish Habitational name from any of various places, for example Moorhouse in West Yorkshire, named from Old English mōr meaning "marsh", "fen" + hūs meaning "house".
MoreyIrish, English Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Ó Mórdha, and in English (of Norman origin), derived from the Old French given name Mory, a short form of Amaury (see Emery).
MorosSpanish Habitational name from Moros in Zaragoza province, so named from the plural of moro ‘Moor’, i.e. ‘the place where the Moors live’.
MorpurgoJudeo-Italian Italian surname of Jewish origin, originally Marpurg, from the Austrian city Marburg an der Drau (today Maribor in Slovenia). The progenitor was Moises Jacob, father of Petachia, in Bad-Rackersburg, Austria... [more]
MorrealeItalian Habitational name from the town of Monreale in Sicily, derived from Italian monte regale meaning "royal mountain".
MorshuisDutch Probably derived from Old Dutch mor "swamp, marsh, peat" and huis "house, home".
MorskoyRussian From the Russian word море (more), meaning "sea".
MortlockEnglish Habitational name denoting someone from Mortlake, Surrey, or from Mortlach, Banff. Mortlake could mean either "Morta’s meadow", from the byname Morta and Old English lag "wet pasture, marshy field", or "salmon stream", from mort "young salmon" and lacu "stream, pool"... [more]
MosbruckerGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a bridge over a swamp, from Middle High German mos meaning "bog", "swamp" + brucke meaning "bridge".
MoselGerman Habitational name from any of several places so named. topographic name from the Mosel river in western Germany a tributary of the Rhine that rises in the Vosges and flows through Lorraine and then a deep winding valley from Trier to Koblenz.
MoseleItalian, German (Austrian) This surname is to be found in north-eastern Italy, more specifically in the Vicenza and Verona provinces. Families with this name are certain to be originally from the mountain town of Asiago, situated on a plateau north of Vicenza and now a well-known skiing resort... [more]
MoslavacCroatian Habitational name for someone from Moslavina, a region in Croatia.
MosleyEnglish Habitational name from any of several places called Mos(e)ley in central, western, and northwestern England. The obvious derivation is from Old English mos "peat bog" and leah "woodland clearing", but the one in southern Birmingham (Museleie in Domesday Book) had as its first element Old English mus "mouse", while one in Staffordshire (Molesleie in Domesday Book) had the genitive case of the Old English byname Moll.
MosqueraSpanish, Catalan Spanish topographic name for someone who lived in a place that was infested with flies or mosquitos from a derivative of mosca "fly" (from Latin musca)... [more]
MossingNorwegian Habitational name from a farm name in Trøndelag, probably named with mose meaning "moss" + vin meaning "meadow".
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.
MostPolish, Jewish Topographic name from Slavic most meaning "bridge", or a habitational name from any of several places named with this word.
MoszkowskimPolish Habitational name for someone from a place called Mosaki in Masovian Voivodeship.
MotaSpanish, Portuguese Topographic name for someone who lived by a fortified stronghold.
MotekiJapanese From the Japanese 茂 (mote) "overgrown," "to grow thick" and 木 (ki, moku or boku) "tree."
MotelFrench Topographic name from a derivative of Old French motte ‘fortified stronghold’.
MotherwellScottish Means "person from Motherwell", North Lanarkshire ("Our Lady's well"). American artist Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was a known bearer.
MotozawaJapanese From the Japanese 本 (moto) "base" or 元 (moto) "original" and 沢 or 澤 (zawa or sawa) "swamp."
MottEnglish The surname Mott was first found in Essex, where the family held a family seat from very early times, having been granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Moate (Irish: An Móta) is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland... [more]
MotteFrench, Walloon, Flemish, German from old French motte "motte" a word of Gaulish origin denoting a man-made protective mound or moat surrounding a castle or other fortified strongholds; or a habitational name from any of the various places in France and in Belgium named with this word.... [more]
MountjoyEnglish Habitational surname for a person from Montjoie in La Manche, France, named with Old French mont "hill", "mountain" + joie "joy".
MountstuartEnglish Possibly derived from the mountain in the Cascade Range, in the state of Washington, United States.
MourouzisGreek Belonged to an important Greek family of Pontic origin.
MousallEnglish The surname Mousall was first found in Lancashire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. The Saxon influence of English history diminished after the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
MowbrayEnglish Ultimately from the name of a place in Normandy meaning "mud hill" in Old French.
MridhaniPersian People from Mridhan, Gilan Province, North Iran, Iran
MroczkowskiPolish Name for someone from any of various places called Mroczkowa, Mroczków or Mroczkowice, all derived from Polish mroczek meaning "house bat".
MrozińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of several places called Mrozy.
MrozowskiPolish Habitational name for someone from Mrozowo in Bydgoszcz voivodeship, or from any of several places called Mrozy.
MstishynUkrainian It indicates familial origin within the eponymous village.
MuddEnglish Either (i) "person who lives in a muddy area"; (ii) from the medieval female personal name Mudd, a variant of Maud (variously Mahalt, Mauld, Malt, vernacular versions of Anglo-Norman Matilda); or (iii) from the Old English personal name Mōd or Mōda, a shortened form of various compound names beginning with mōd "courage".
MudgeEnglish A location surname for someone who lives or dwells near the swamps. A famous bearer of this surname is Angela Mudge, a champion fell runner and trail runner from Scotland.
MuehlhauserOld High German The German surname Müehlhauser is derived from the Middle High German words "mülle" and "hûs" which respectively mean mill and house. It is roughly translated to mean "mill-house" and is believed to have evolved from an individual who was either the owner of a mill or lived in a house attached to a mill in earlier times.
MuffettScottish A different form of Moffatt. 'Little Miss Muffett' is a traditional nursery rhyme: Little Miss Muffett / Sat on a tuffet, / Eating her curds and whey; / There came a big spider, / Who sat down beside her / And frightened Miss Muffet away. It has been speculated that 'Miss Muffett' is Patience Muffet, the daughter of the physician and entomologist Dr Thomas Muffet (1553-1604).
MuirScottish Topographic name for someone who lived on a moor, from a Scots form of Middle English more moor, fen.
MuirheadScottish Derived from many places in southern Scotland with the same name, from northern Middle English muir meaning "moor" and heid meaning "head, end".
MukaiJapanese From Japanese 向 (muka) meaning "facing, toward" and 井 (i) meaning "well, mine shaft, pit".
MukaichiJapanese From 向 (muka) meaning "towards", 井 (i) meaning "mineshaft, well, pit", and 地 (chi) meaning "earth, ground, land, destinations".... [more]
MulcasterEnglish (Modern) The surname Mulcaster was first found in Cumberland where they trace their lineage back to the place name Muncaster, home of Muncaster Castle, a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, near the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria which dates back at least 800 years.
MullScottish Scottish, Irish, or English: Probably comes from the Scots language, as the Scots word for "headland" or comes from the geographical term, which is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Maol, a term for a rounded hill, summit, or mountain bare of trees... [more]
MullensFlemish A name referring to someone who lived at or by a mill.
MullinixFrench A locational name "of de Moloneaux" probably from the noble family who trace their descent from William the Conqueror, from Molineaux-sur-Seine, near Rouen. The name came to England during the wake of the Norman Conquest... [more]
MundakaBasque (Rare) From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Spain, of uncertain etymology. A popular theory is that it derives from Latin munda aqua "clean water", but there is no evidence to support this origin... [more]
MundenEnglish From the name of a parish in Hertfordshire, England.
MunekawaJapanese From 宗 (mune) meaning "origin, religion, sect" and 川 (kawa) means "stream, river".
MungiaBasque From the name of a town and municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, possibly derived from the personal name Munio combined with the locative suffix -(t)egi.
MünsterGerman, Dutch habitational name from any of the places called Münster (in Germany) or Munster derived from Latin monasterium "monastery" or a topographic name for someone living near a monastery.
MurajiJapanese From 村 (mura) meaning "village" and 治 (ji, haru, osamu) meaning "clinical, administer, govern, rule".
MurakamiJapanese From the Japanese 村, 邑 or 邨 (mura) "village" and 上 (kami, kan or ue) "upper," "above," 神 (kami, kan or shin) "god" or 守 (kami or mori) "guard," "protect," "defend."
MurakamiJapanese From Japanese 村 (mura) meaning "town, village" and 上 (kami) meaning "start, high place, top".