Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
RavelFrench, French (African) Derived from either a place called Ravel in the district of Drome or Provence, or from the word 'rave' meaning a root vegetable, and hence a grower or seller of such items.
RavenelEnglish, French Habitational name from Ravenel in Oise or a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of horseradish, from a diminutive of Old French ravene ‘horseradish’ (Latin raphanus)... [more]
RavenscarEnglish (British) From a coastal village with the same name, located in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England.
RavenscroftEnglish, English (British) Habitational name from a minor place in Cheshire, England. The place name means "Hræfn's croft", from an Old English personal name Hræfn (itself from Old English hræfn meaning "raven", possibly a byname) and Old English croft meaning "enclosed field".
RayaGalician, Spanish Possibly a habitational name from Raya in Galicia or in Albacete and Murcia provinces. Possibly a topographic name from Spanish raya meaning "line", denoting the boundary between two countries or provinces.
RazoGalician A habitational name from Razo in A Coruña province, Galicia.
ReachScottish, English Scottish: Nickname For Someone With Streaks Of Gray Or White Hair From Gaelic Riabhach ‘Brindled Grayish’. English And Scottish: Habitational Name From Either Of Two Places Called Reach In Bedfordshire And Cambridgeshire Recorded As Reche In Medieval Documents From Old English Rǣc ‘Raised Strip Of Land Or Other Linear Feature’ (In The Case Of The Cambridgeshire Name Specifically Referring To Devil's Dyke A Post-Roman Earthwork)... [more]
ReadingEnglish Habitational name from the county seat of Berkshire, which gets its name from Old English Readingas ‘people of Read(a)’, a byname meaning ‘red’. Topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, an unattested Old English ryding.
RealSpanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician Either a habitational name from any of numerous places called Real; those in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal being named from real "royal" or as variant of Rial while those in southern Spain and Catalonia are named in part from real meaning "encampment rural property" (Arabic raḥāl "farmhouse cabin")... [more]
RebolledoSpanish Habitational name from any of various places called Rebolledo for example Rebolledo de la Torre in Burgos from rebollo denoting a species of oak.
RechtGerman Probably a habitational name from a place so named in the Rhineland.
ReckGerman Nickname from Middle High German recke ‘outlaw’ or ‘fighter’. North German and Westphalian: from Middle Low German recke ‘marsh’, ‘waterlogged ground’, hence a topographic name, or a habitational name from a place named with this term.
RecktenwaldGerman habitational name from Recktenwald, near Saarbrücken.
ReddenEnglish Location name meaning "clearing or cleared woodland." Communities called Redden include one in Roxburghshire, Scotland and another in Somerset, England. A notable bearer is actor Billy Redden who played the dueling banjoist Lonnie in the 1972 film 'Deliverance.'
ReddickScottish, Northern Irish Habitational name from Rerrick or Rerwick in Kirkcudbrightshire, named with an unknown first element and wīc "outlying settlement". It is also possible that the first element was originally Old Norse rauðr "red".
ReddickEnglish Habitational name from Redwick in Gloucestershire, named in Old English with hrēod "reeds" and wīc "outlying settlement".
ReddishEnglish This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Reddish,' a village near Stockport, Cheshire.
RédeyHungarian Indicated a person from Kisréde or Nagyréde, a village in Hungary.
RedfieldScottish Anglicized form of the Scottish habitational name Reidfuyrd, meaning "reedy ford".
RedfordEnglish Variant of Radford. A famous bearer is American actor Robert Redford (1936-).
RedgraveEnglish From the name of a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, derived from Old English hrēod meaning "reed" or rēad "red", and græf meaning "pit, ditch" or grāf "grove"... [more]
RedlingerGerman, Jewish Habitational name for someone from Redling in Bavaria, Germany.
RedmayneEnglish, Irish Derived from Redmain, a small hamlet in Cumbria, England. It is named with Old English rēad meaning "red" and Welsh main meaning "rock, stone". The name could also be derived from the given name Réamonn, which is an Irish form of Raymond... [more]
RedpathScottish, English Habitational name from a place in Berwickshire, probably so called from Old English read ‘red’ + pæð ‘path’. This name is also common in northeastern England.
ReekieScottish Perhaps "person from Reikie", Aberdeenshire, or from a different form of the Scottish male personal name Rikie, literally "little Richard".
ReeseLow German, Dutch, German Nickname for a very big man, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch rese ‘giant’.... [more]
RehiEstonian Rehi is an Estonian surname meaning "threshing barn".
ReichenbergGerman, Jewish Habitational name from various places named Reichenberg in several different areas of Germany. As an ornamental name, it is composed of German reich(en) meaning "rich" and berg meaning "mountain, hill".
ReichsteinGerman Habitational name from places named Reichstein (in Saxony) or Reichenstein (in Rhineland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Württemberg).
ReilleFrench, Occitan Topographic name derived from Old Occitan relha meaning "plowshare", or a habitational name from any of several places named Reille or La Reille in southern France. A notable bearer was Honoré Charles Reille (1775-1860), a Marshal of France during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
ReinaSpanish, Portuguese Either a habitational name from any of the places called Reina. Or most likely from the female personal name Reina 1 (from Latin Regina) otherwise a nickname from reina "queen".
ReinmaaEstonian Reinmaa is an Estonian surname meaning "Rein's land". From the masculine give name "Rein" and "maa" ("land").
ReinsaluEstonian Reinsalu is an Estonian surname derived from "Rein" (a masculine given name) and "salu", meaning grove; "Rein's grove".
ReiseGerman, Jewish German (Westphalia) topographic name, from Middle Low German ris, res ‘swamp’. ... [more]
ReisenauerGerman Probably denoted a person from a minor place called Reisenau, or a topographic name for someone living by an overgrown water meadow, derived from Middle High German ris meaning "undergrowth" and owe meaning "water meadow".
ReiserGerman, Upper German Habitational name for someone from Reis or Reissen in Bavaria (see Reis). An occupational name from Middle High German reisære ‘warrior’, ‘traveler’... [more]
ReisnerGerman A habitational name for someone from a place called Reisen (for example in Bavaria), Reissen in Thuringia, or Reussen on the Saale river. A variant of Reiser Also from an agent derivative of Middle High German, Middle Low German rise ‘veil’; perhaps an occupational name for someone who made veils.
ReixachCatalan Habitational name for someone from any of the various places called Reixac in Catalonia, Spain, for example the municipality of Montcada i Reixac in the province of Barcelona.
RekdalNorwegian The name of people from the small town Rekdal in West-Norway. Former footballer Kjetil Rekdal (1968- ) is the most known person from there.
RekovRussian From Russian река (reka) meaning "river".
RelyeaGerman, French (Anglicized) Altered spelling of southern German and French Rellier, or probably a regional variant of Swiss German Reller, especially in the western provinces of Austria... [more]
RendallScottish, English Variant of Randall. Habitational name from Rendall in Orkney. Possibly also an Americanization of Swedish Rendahl.
RendelmannGerman A habitational name for someone from Rendel near Frankfurt (Hesse).
RenfrewScottish Anglicized form of the Gaelic Rinn Friù, meaning "cradle of the Royal Stewards." It is derived from either the historical county of Renfrewshire in the west central lowlands of Scotland, or the town of Renfrew within both the historical and present-day boundaries of the county.
RengelSpanish Habitational name from a place called Rengel in Málaga province.
RenshawEnglish, Scottish A habitational surname from any of the so-called or like-sounding places in the United Kingdom. These include Renishaw in Derbyshire, Ramshaw in Durham, the lost Renshaw in Cheshire and Radshaw in Yorkshire... [more]
RenteríaSpanish Spanish Castilianized variant of Basque Errenteria, habitational name from either of the two Basque towns called Errenteria in Gipuzkoa and Biscay provinces, Basque Country.
RequenaSpanish, Catalan habitational name from Requena in Valencia or Requena de Campos in Palencia apparently so called from a short form of the various Visigothic compound personal names with the first element rīc "powerful" with the addition of the locative suffix -ena.
RequesensCatalan This indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the municipality of La Jonquera.
RequiãoPortuguese Derived from the name of a village in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, ultimately from the name of Rechila, a 5th-century Suevic king of Gallaecia.
RequirosoFilipino Denoted a person from one of the various places of this name in Spain. Quirós, the place name, may derive from Galician queiroa meaning "heather".
RestonEnglish Location name from northern England meaning "brush wood settlement" or place where brush wood, also known as rispe, grew.
RestorickCornish Means "person from Restowrack", farm in Cornwall ("watery hill-spur").
RetaSpanish Castilianized variant of Basque Erreta, a habitational name from a town called Erreta in Navarre, Basque Country
ReusDutch, German, Catalan Dutch: nickname for a big man, from Middle Dutch reuse(n) 'giant'. German: topographic name from Middle High German riuse 'fish trap' (Middle Low German ruse) or from a regional term reuse 'small stream', 'channel'... [more]
RevereEnglish, French, Judeo-Italian French: variant of Rivière, Rivoire, or Rivier, topographic name for someone living on the banks of a river, French rivier ‘bank’, or habitational name from any of the many places in France named with this word.... [more]
RevordFrench (Quebec) Comes from the French surname of Rivard, a geographical name for someone who lived on a river bank. The -ard ending is changed to -ord in Canadian and American French.
ReznorGerman May be a variant of the German surname Reisner, a habitational name for someone from a place called Reisen (for example in Bavaria), Reissen in Thuringia, or Reussen on the Saale river.
RheimsFrench From the city of Reims in France, also known as Rheims in English.
RheinGerman From the German name for the River Rhine, denoting somebody whom lived within close proximity to the river. The river name itself comes from a Celtic word meaning 'to flow' (Welsh redan, 'run, flow').
RhineGerman, French, English, Irish A habitational name for an individual whom lived within close proximity of the River Rhine (see Rhein). The river name is derived from a Celtic word meaning 'to flow' (Welsh redan, 'flow').... [more]
RibchesterEnglish This name originates from the small village in Lancashire that shares the same name. Interestingly, most people with the name 'Ribchester' are in Lancashire, but a lot are also found in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
RiberaCatalan, Spanish Habitational name from any of various locations in Spain named Ribera, derived from Catalan and Spanish ribera meaning "bank, shore".
RichEnglish Derived from the name of a (former) village in Lincolnshire, England named with the Old English element ric "stream, drainage channel".
RichmondEnglish Habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, in northern France as well as in England. These are named with the Old French elements riche "rich, splendid" and mont "hill"... [more]
RiddickScottish A different form of Reddick ("person from Rerwick or Rerrick", Dumfries and Galloway (perhaps "robbers' outlying settlement")). A fictional bearer of the surname is Richard B. Riddick, (anti)hero of the 'Chronicles of Riddick' movies.
RidgewayEnglish Comes from Middle English 'riggewey', hence a topographic name for someone who lived by such a route or a habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, and Staffordshire.
RidingerGerman A habitational name for someone from a place named Riding or Rieding. It is also possibly an altered spelling of Reitinger, a topographic name from Reit(e), which means ‘clearing’ (Old High German riuti).
RiedelGerman Derived from Middle High German riet "damp, mossy area".
RiedemannGerman Either a habitational name derived from places named Ried or Riede, or a topographic name derived from Low German Riede "rivulet".
RiegelGerman From Middle High German rigel "bar, crossbeam, mountain incline", hence a topographic name or a habitational name from any of numerous places named with this word in Baden, Brandenburg, and Silesia; in some instances it may have been a metonymic occupational name for a maker of crossbars, locks, etc.
RiesenbergGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a big mountain, from Middle High German rise meaning "giant" and berg meaning "mountain".
RiesenbergGerman Topographic name for someone who lived by a big mountain, derived from Middle High German rise meaning "giant" and berg meaning "mountain".
RiloEnglish Transferred use of the surname derived from the Old English elements ryge (rye) and lēah (wood, clearing, meadow). See also Riley 1.
RimesEnglish Originally denoted one who came from the city of Reims in the Grand Est region of France, or a topographic name for someone who lived in a thickly wooded area, derived from Old French ramel (a diminutive of raim) meaning "branch", ultimately from Latin ramus... [more]
RinJapanese From Japanese 林 (rin) meaning "forest".
RinbayashiJapanese (Rare) It's written like this: 林林. Both rin and hayashi mean "forest". This is because rin is the Chinese reading called onyomi, and hayashi is the Japanese reading called kunyomi.
RiseboroughEnglish Denoted a person hailing from any of the various places called Risborough, Riseborough or Risbury in England, derived from Old English hrīs meaning "brushwood" and beorg meaning "hill, mound", or from hrīs and burh meaning "fortification"... [more]
RitongaBatak From Batak ri meaning "reed, grass" and tonga meaning "middle, centre".
RittGerman Either a topographic name from Old High German ritta meaning "reeds" or a habitational name from a place near Kassel, Germany. Alternately it may also be a variant of Ried.
RivabellaItalian Derived from the Italian word riva meaning "bank (shore, riverbank, lakebank)" (from Latin ripa) and bella meaning "beautiful"... [more]
RivadeneiraSpanish habitational name from a parish named Riba de Neira in Lugo province meaning 'bank of the river Neira' Neira being a tributary of the Miño.
RivardFrench Geographical name for someone who lived on a river bank.
RivareuaLigurian It indicates familial origin within the eponymous frazione of the commune of Carasco.
RixGerman given to a person who resided near a hill, stream, church, or tree
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.
RoaSpanish Habitational name from the town of Roa (de Duero) in Burgos province, Spain.
RoascioItalian (Rare) Derived from Roascio, the name of a municipality in the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roass in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
RoasioItalian This surname originates from the Piedmont region of Italy. It is most likely derived from Roasio, which is the name of a municipality in that same region. The meaning of the municipality's name is uncertain, but since it is located in Piedmont and known as Roaso in the Piedmontese language, the etymological origin of the name is most likely Piedmontese... [more]
RobertshawEnglish habitational name from a lost place Robertshaw in Heptonstall (Yorkshire) from the Middle English Old French personal name Robert and Middle English shaueshaghe "wood grove thicket" (Old English sceaga) meaning "Robert's wood".
RochefortFrench From various places called Rochefort meaning strong castle.
RochesterEnglish Means "person from Rochester", Kent (probably "Roman town or fort called Rovi"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mr Rochester, the Byronic hero of Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' (1847).
RockefellerGerman Means "from Rockenfeld." Some famous bearers include founder of the Standard Oil Company and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), and 41st Vice President of the U.S.A. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908-1979).
RockettFrench From the French "la roche," or "of the rock." Some family histories trace this back to French Hugenots (sp) who immigrated to England in the 1500's from the Normandy region of France.
RockholdAnglo-Saxon Came from when the family lived in the village of Rock found in the various locations that existed in Worcestershire, Devon and also in Northumberland.The surname also has topographic origins in that it describes the area where the original bearers lived.
RockmanGerman Possibly a habitational name for someone from Rockau in Thuringia.
RockwellEnglish Means "person from Rockwell", Buckinghamshire and Somerset (respectively "wood frequented by rooks" and "well frequented by rooks"). Famous bearers include American illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) and Utah pioneer Porter Rockwell (1813-1878).
RoddEnglish Locational name for someone "at the rod" of land, from Middle English rodde. Also could come from the given name Rod, or the parish of Rodd in Herefordshire, England.
RodelaGalician Possibly habitational name from a place called Rodel (in A Coruña province, Galicia), derived from a diminutive of roda "wheel".
RodhamEnglish From Roddam in Northumberland. The name is thought to have derived from Germanic *rodum, meaning 'forest clearing'.
RodiaItalian Habitational name from Rodia, a locality in Messina, Sicily.
RodwellEnglish Rodwell, a name of Anglo-Saxon origin, is a locational surname deriving from any one of various places in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Kent, England. In English, the meaning of the name Rodwell is "Lives by the spring near the road".
RoeNorwegian Habitational surname for any of the several farmsteads named Roe or Røe, derived from the Old Norse ruð meaning "clearing".
RoeberLow German Habitational name from a place named Roben, for example in Thuringia or Schleswig. From a Germanic personal name based on hrod ‘renown’, ‘victory’. Low German variant of Räuber and Rauber.
RoginJewish Habitational name from any of various villages named Rogi or from Rogin, all in Belarus.
RogińskiPolish Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Rogi, named with meaning róg "horn".
RohrGerman, Jewish Topographic name for someone who lived in an area thickly grown with reeds, from Middle High German ror. Also a habitational name from one of the several places named with this word.
RohrbachGerman, German (Swiss) German and Swiss German: habitational name from any of numerous places called Rohrbach (‘reed brook’ or ‘channel brook’) in many parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It is a common surname in Pennsylvania.
RokunoJapanese Roku means "six" and no means "field, wilderness".
RokutamboJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 六 (roku) meaning "6" and 反穂 (tambo), from 田圃 (tambo) meaning "rice paddy field", referring to a rice paddy field with an area of 6 tans (around 5950 m²) in Japanese measurement.
RolstonEnglish English habitational name from any of various places, such as Rowlston in Lincolnshire, Rolleston in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire, or Rowlstone in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border... [more]
RomneyEnglish English: habitational name from a place in Kent, so called from an obscure first element, rumen, + Old English ea ‘river’ (see Rye).
RonSpanish, Galician Habitational name from a town called Ron in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain.
RoncesvallesSpanish The name of a village in Navarre (Spain) where there was a Priory of Saint Mary of which the Hospital of Our Lady of Rouncevale at Charing Cross London was a cell.
RongChinese From Chinese 荣 (róng) referring to the ancient fief of Rong, which existed during the Zhou dynasty in what is now Henan province.
RønningNorwegian From any of the many farmsteads named Rønning, ultimately derived from Old Norse ruðja "woodland clearing".
RoosEstonian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, German (Swiss), Low German Means "rose" in Estonian and Dutch. Swedish and Danish variant of Ros, also meaning "rose". This could be a locational name for someone living near roses, an occupational name for someone who grew roses, or a nickname for someone with reddish skin.
RoosipuuEstonian Roosipuu is an Estonian surname meaning "rose wood".
RootEnglish, Dutch English: nickname for a cheerful person, from Middle English rote ‘glad’ (Old English rot). ... [more]
RootareEstonian Rootare is an Estonian surname meaning "reed hut/house".
RoselandEnglish Americanized form of Norwegian Røys(e)land; a habitational name from about 30 farmsteads, many in Agder, named from Old Norse reysi ‘heap of stones’ + land ‘land’, ‘farmstead’.
RosemontEnglish From rose "rose" + mont "mount". Also the name of a town in central California, near Sacramento. In 1880, there were 6 Rosemont families in Indiana.
RosenbaumGerman, Czech Habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a rosebush, Middle High German rōsenboum.
RosevearCornish, English From the name of a Cornish village near St Mawgan which derives from Celtic ros "moor, heath" and vur "big".
RosewarneCornish Cornish locational origin from Ros(e)warne, an estate in the parish of Camborne. The name derives from the Breton "ros" meaning a hill(ock), usually one where heather grows, plus the Anglo-Norman French "warrene", a piece of land for breeding game.
RostovRussian, Literature Either derived from Rostov Oblast, a Russian federal subject, the town of Rostov in Yaroslavl Oblast, or Rostov-on-Don, a Russian city in the Rostov Oblast. This is also the surname of multiple characters from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel "War and Peace".
RostovskyRussian Referring to a region in Southwestern Russia named "Rostov".
RostworowskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Greater Polish village of Rostworowo.
RotaItalian Means "wheel" in Italian, from various place names.
RothackerGerman Either a topographic name based on a field name derived from Middle High German riutenroten "to clear land (for cultivation)" and acker "field"... [more]
RothwellEnglish An English surname meaning 'Lives by the red spring"
RottGerman As far as I've researched the name dates back to a man by the name of Count Palatine Kuno von Rott (~1083). After he got land from the Pfalzfrafs which seem to be a nobile family line.... [more]
RotterdamDutch Denoting someone from a place named Rotterdam "place of the muddy water".
RouenFrench From the other broad category of surnames that was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. ... Ruen is a place-name from in Rouen, the capital of Normandy... [more]
RouthEnglish From the village and civil parish of Routh in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England (recorded in the Domesday book as Rutha). The place name may derive from Old Norse hrúedhr meaning "rough shaly ground"... [more]
RoviraCatalan Topographic name for someone who lived by an oak wood, from Catalan rovira meaning "oak wood, oak grove".
RovnákCzech Habitational name from places named Rovné and/or Rovný.
RoweJewish A shortened form of the surname Horowitz, a variant of the surname Horovic, from the town of Horovice, Czech Republic.
RowleyEnglish Anglo Saxon Name- locational, comes from several places in England such as in Devonshire, Yorkshire, County Durham and Staffordshire. It means ' rough wood or clearing', from the Old English 'run' meaning rough and 'leah', meaning clearing in a wood.