ViniegraSpanish This indicates familial origin within either of 2 Riojan municipalities in the Comarca of Anguiano: Viniegra de Arriba or Viniegra de Abajo.
ViningEnglish (British) Habitational name for someone from a place called Fyning in Rogate in Sussex.
VintEnglish, Scottish Either an English habitational name from places so named, or a Scottish variant of Wint.
VinuesaSpanish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous municipality.
VioletteFrench Perhaps a topographic name from a diminutive of viol "path", itself a derivative of vie "way". It is more likely, however, that this name is from the secondary surname Laviolette "the violet (flower)", which was common among soldiers in French Canada.
ViramontesSpanish Viramontes is composed of the elements "mira" and "montes," two Spanish words with the combined meaning of "place with a view of the mountains."
ViseEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a boundary, Old French devise.
VišneviškasLithuanian This indicates familial origin within the Belarusian agrotown of Víšneva, which was originally Lithuanian & under the name of ''Višnevas''.
VivancoSpanish This indicates familial origin within the Castilian locality of Vivanco de Mena.
VivarSpanish, History From the village of Vivar, later renamed Vivar del Cid, nowadays part of Quintanilla Vivar located near Burgos, Castile and León, Spain.... [more]
VivierFrench Derived from Latin vivarium, ultimately from Latin vivus "alive". This name is locational relating to living near a fish pond.
VogelsangGerman Means "bird song" in German. From the German words vogel (bird) and sang (song).
VoisinFrench From Old French voisin "neighbor" (Anglo-Norman French veisin) . The application is uncertain; it may either be a nickname for a "good neighbor", or for someone who used this word as a frequent term of address, or it might be a topographic name for someone who lived on a neighboring property... [more]
VolkonskyRussian This indicates familial origin within the vicinity of the Volkona river south of Moscow. This was the name of a Russian family of nobility.
VolkovskyRussian Habitational name for someone who lives in a multiplicity named Volikovski. Derived from волк (volk) meaning "wolf" in Russian.
Von AachenGerman Means "from Aachen", a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, ultimately derived from Latin acquae "water, water sources", referring to the sacred springs associated with the Celtic god Grannus.
Von EsmarchGerman Means "from Esmarch" in German, Esmarch being an unknown meaning. Friedrich von Esmarch (1823-1908) was a German surgeon who developed the Esmarch bandage and founded the Deutscher Samariter-Verein, the predecessor of the Deutscher Samariter-Bund.
Von HammersmarkPopular Culture, German (?) Means "from Hammersmark" in German. Bridget von Hammersmark is a fictional character in Quentin Tarantino's film 'Inglourious Basterds' from 2009.
Von LangenbeckGerman Means "from a long stream" in German, from Low German lange "long" and beke "stream". Bernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck (1810-1887) was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery.
Von SydowSwedish, German von Sydow is a German and Swedish noble family from Pomerania, an area in modern day Poland and Germany. Some members of the family immigrated to Sweden in 1724. The name literary means "from Sydow"... [more]
Von WestphalenGerman Denoted a person from Westphalia, a region of northwestern Germany, borrowed from Medieval Latin Westphalia, derived from Middle Low German Westvâlen "west field".
VooglaidEstonian Vooglaid is an Estonian surname meaning "billowing islet".
VoorheesDutch Habitational name from a place in Drenthe called Voorhees.
VorotyntsevRussian Derived from place names Воротынск (Vorotynsk), Воротынцево (Vorotyntsevo) or Воротынец (Vorotynets).
VorstDutch, Low German topographic name for someone who lived in a vorst "forest" or habitational name for someone from any of numerous places called Vorst or Voorst... [more]
VorwaldGerman Topographic name for someone who lived "in front of (Middle High German vor) a forest (Middle High German walt)".
VosbergGerman Means "foxhole" or "fox hill", from vos "fox" and berg "hill, mountain".
VosnakisGreek From the Greek word "Vosnia" which means Bosnia
VreelandDutch Habitational name for a person from a place bearing the same name in the province of Utrecht, which is itself derived from the Middle Dutch word vrede, meaning "peace; legal protection against armed violence".
VreeswijkDutch Habitational name from a former village and municipality in the province Utrecht, Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch Frieso "Frisian" and wic "village, town"... [more]
VrielinkDutch Etymology uncertain. Possibly from the name of a farmstead, itself perhaps derived from a given name such as Frigilo or Friedel... [more]
WaddingtonEnglish Habitational name from any of various places called Waddington. One near Clitheroe in Lancashire and another in Lincolnshire (Wadintune in Domesday Book) were originally named in Old English as the "settlement" (Old English tūn) associated with Wada.
WadiaIndian (Parsi) Parsi surname possibly derived from Wadia, the name of a village in Gujarat.
WadleyEnglish From a place in England named with Old English wad "woad" or the given name Wada combined with Old English leah "woodland clearing".
WadlowEnglish Habitational name from a lost place, Wadlow in Toddington.
WadsworthEnglish Location name from Yorkshire meaning "Wæddi's enclosure or settlement" with Wæddi being an old English personal name of unknown meaning plus the location element -worth. Notable bearer is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) for whom the middle name was his mother's maiden name.
WagaharaJapanese Waga is possibly from waka meaning "young" and hara means "plain, field".
WagleNorwegian A habitational name derived from farmsteads in Rogaland named Vagle, from the Old Norse vagl meaning a '‘perch’' or '‘roost'’, referring to a high ridge between two lakes.
WakehamEnglish, Cornish A locational surname for someone who lived in one of three places called Wakeham in various parts of England, including Cornwall and/or Devon.
WakeleyEnglish Habitational name from Wakeley in Hertfordshire, named from the Old English byname Waca, meaning ‘watchful’ (see Wake) + Old English leah ‘woodland clearing’.
WakiJapanese Wa means "harmony" and ki means "tree, wood".
WakidaJapanese Waki means "side" and da means "rice paddy, field".
WakitaJapanese From Japanese 脇 (waki) meaning "side" and 田 (ta) meaning "field, rice paddy".
WakiyamaJapanese From Japanese 脇 (waki) meaning "armpit, the other way" and 山 (yama) meaning "mountain".
WalbrzychiakPolish Means a person who is from the city of Walbrzych in Poland.
WalcottEnglish habitational name from any of several places called Walcott Walcot or Walcote for example in Lincolnshire Leicestershire Norfolk Oxfordshire and Wiltshire all named in Old English wealh "foreigner Briton serf" (genitive plural wala) and cot "cottage hut shelter" (plural cotu) meaning "the cottage where the (Welsh-speaking) Britons lived".
WaldGerman, English Topographic name for someone who lived in or near a forest (Old High German wald, northern Middle English wald).
WaldmannGerman topographic name for someone who lived in a forest or alternatively an occupational name for a forest warden from Middle High German waltman literally "forest man" derived from the elements wald "forest" and man "man"
WaldorfGerman Habitational name from any of at least three places so called, derived from Old High German wald "forest" and dorf "village, settlement"... [more]
WaldronMedieval German, Old Norman, Scottish Gaelic, English (British) Derived from the German compound wala-hran, literally "wall raven", but originally meaning "strong bird". Also derived from the Gaelic wealdærn, meaning "forest dwelling", thought to be derived from the Sussex village of Waldron... [more]
WaldsteinGerman, Jewish Habitational surname for a person from a place in Bohemia called Waldstein, which is derived from Middle High German walt "forest" + stein "stone".
WalkingtonEnglish Habitational name from a place in East Yorkshire named Walkington, from an unattested Old English personal name Walca + -ing- denoting association with + tūn.
WalkinshawScottish Habitational name from Walkinshaw in Renfrewshire, which was probably named from Old English wealcere meaning "fuller" + sceaga meaning "copse".
WallIrish Anglicized from of de Bhál, a Gaelicized form of de Valle (see Devall).
WalliserGerman Denoting somebody from Valais (German form Wallis), a canton in Switzerland, or someone who immigrated from Valais, ultimately from Latin vallis "valley, vale".
WallworkEnglish (British) Anglo-Saxon name originating from Lancashire, first recorded in Worsley in 1278. May originate from the Old Warke area in Worsley, shown as "Le Wallwerke" in old documents. The surname Walworth may be related.
WalmerEnglish Habitational name from Walmer in Kent, so named from Old English wala (plural of walh "Briton") + mere "pool", or from Walmore Common in Gloucestershire.
WalpoleEnglish Originally indicated a person from either of two places by this name in Norfolk and Suffolk (see Walpole). Famous bearers of the surname include Robert Walpole (1676-1745), the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, and his youngest son, the writer Horace Walpole (1717-1797)... [more]
WalworthEnglish Habitational name from Walworth in Heighington (Durham) and Walworth in Newington (Surrey) both named with Old English wealh "foreigner Briton serf" (genitive plural wala) and worþ "enclosure".
WangChinese From Chinese 汪 (wāng) referring to the ancient state of Wang Mang (汪芒) or Wang Wang (汪罔) in present-day Zhejiang province.
WanhataloFinnish From the Finnish "vanha talo." With the "vanha" meaning old or aged and "talo" being a place of living mostly a house. The most common translation is "old house".
WapelhorstLow German "Wapel" (pronounced VA-pel) is a river in Northern Germany. "Horst" means 'eagle's nest' in modern German but also means 'man of the forest' in Old German.
WarabiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 蕨 (Warabi) meaning "Warabi", a former village in the former district of Namegata in the former Japanese province of Hitachi in parts of present-day Ibaraki, Japan.
WarabiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 蕨 (Warabi) meaning "Warabi", an area in the city of Yotsukaido in the prefecture of Chiba in Japan.
WarabiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 蕨 (Warabi) meaning "Warabi", a division in the area of Tsunogaraori in the town of Hashikami in the district of Sannohe in the prefecture of Aomori in Japan.
WarabiJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 蕨 (Warabi) meaning "Warabi", the former name of the area of Mitani in the city of Wajima in the prefecture of Ishikawa in Japan.
WarburtonEnglish From the village and civil parish of Warburton in Greater Manchester (formerly in Cheshire), England, derived from the Old English feminine given name Werburg (itself derived from wǣr meaning "pledge" and burh "fortress") and Old English tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".
WarnsGerman, Dutch Patronymic form of the Germanic given name Warn (see Warin). Alternatively, a habitational name from various Frisian places likely named using the same or similar elements.
WashburnEnglish Northern English topographic name for someone living on the banks of the Washburn river in West Yorkshire, so named from the Old English personal name Walc + Old English burna ‘stream’... [more]
WatayōJapanese (Rare) From Japanese 濟陽 (Watayō), a variant reading of Japanese 濟陽 (Saiyō), from Chinese 濟陽 (Jìyáng) meaning "Jiyang", a town in the county of Xiayi in the city of Shangqiu in the province of Henan in China.... [more]
WathersIrish The surname originated in Donegal, Ireland. MacConuisce was an Anglicized form of o'hUisce. Uisce translates to water in English. Wathers is a rather uncommon name because it is an untraditional way of spelling Waters... [more]
WatneyEnglish Probably means "person from Watney", an unidentified place in England (the second syllable means "island, area of dry land in a marsh"; cf. Rodney, Whitney)... [more]
WaverlyEnglish Meaning, "from Waverley (Surrey)" or "from the brushwood meadow." From either waever meaning "brushwood" or waefre meaning "flickering, unstable, restless, wandering" combined with leah meaning "meadow, clearing."
WawrzyszewskiPolish This indicates familial origin within the Masovian village of Wawrzyszew.
WeddellScottish Derived from Wedale, the original name of the parish of Stow in Scotland. A famous bearer is James Weddell, a Scottish navigator and seal hunter who sailed a record 7.69 degrees south of the Antarctic Circle... [more]
WedderburnScottish From the name of a location in Berwickshire, Scotland, which is derived from wedder “wether” and Old English burn “stream”.
WedmoreEnglish (British) Habitational name from Wedmore in Somerset, recorded in the 9th century as Wethmor, possibly meaning ‘marsh (Old English mor) used for hunting (w?the)’.
WeekleyEnglish Originally meant "person from Weekley", Northamptonshire ("wood or clearing by a Romano-British settlement"). British philologist Ernest Weekley (1865-1954) bore this surname.
WeghorstDutch, German Habitational name from a location near Hanover, possibly derived from weg "way, road" and horst "thicket, grove, heap, elevated land" or "nest of a bird of prey, eyrie".
WehlburgGerman (Rare), Dutch (Rare) Possibly derived from German Wehl "pool of water (esp. behind a dyke)" (cognate to Dutch weil "vortex, maelstrom; dyke breach pool") and burg "fortress, citadel".
WeiChinese From Chinese 韦 (wéi) referring to the ancient state of Wei that existed in the pre-Qin period in what is now Henan province.
WeideGerman Either a topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous willow or by a group of willow trees from Middle High German wide "willow"... [more]
WeidlingGerman (Austrian) May refer to the district of Weidling, located in the municipality of Klosterneuburg, which is situated in Lower Austria, near Vienna. A notable person with this surname was Helmuth Weidling, a German general of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
WeilGerman, Jewish South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of various places so named in Baden, Bavaria, and Württemberg, from Latin villa ‘country house’, ‘estate’ (later used of a group of houses forming a settlement).
WeilerGerman, Jewish Habitational name from any of several places so named in southern Germany. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Weil.
WeiningerGerman (Swiss), Jewish Denoted a person from Weiningen, a municipality in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. It is also a Jewish ornamental name derived from German wein meaning "wine" and the suffix -inger.
WeinlandGerman Topographic name for someone who lived in a wine-producing area from Middle High German win "wine" and land "land" or a habitational name from a place so named.
WeisenburgerGerman, Jewish Habitational name for someone from any of numerous places named Weissenburg "white fortress".
WeisfeldGerman, Jewish topographic name from a field name composed of Middle High German wiz "white" and feld "open country". Cognate of Whitfield.
WelbornEnglish Habitational name from Welborne in Norfolk, Welbourn in Lincolnshire, or Welburn in North Yorkshire, all named with Old English wella ‘spring’ + burna ‘stream’.
WelburnEnglish English surname meaning "From the Spring brook"
WeldEnglish Meant "one who lives in or near a forest (or in a deforested upland area)", from Middle English wold "forest" or "cleared upland". A famous bearer is American actress Tuesday Weld (1943-).
WeldonEnglish Weldon is one of the many names that the Normans brought with them when they conquered England in 1066. The Weldon family lived in Northamptonshire, at Weldon.... [more]
WelfordEnglish English surname meaning "Lives by the spring by the ford"
WellingtonEnglish Habitational name from any of the three places named Wellington, in Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Somerset. All are most probably named with an unattested Old English personal name Weola + -ing- (implying association with) + tun ‘settlement’.
WellmanEnglish From German Welle meaning "wave" and man, meaning "man", referring to someone who lived by a stream.
WeltonEnglish Habitational name from any of various places named Welton, for example in Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and East Yorkshire, from Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.
WemyssScottish From the lands of Wemyss in Fife, which is derived from Gaelic uaimheis "cave place".
WenChinese From Chinese 温 (wēn) meaning "warm", also referring to any of several territories that were called Wen, namely an ancient state that existed during the Zhou dynasty.
WensleyEnglish Habitational name from Wensleydale in North Yorkshire.
WentworthEnglish Habitational name from places in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire called Wentworth, probably from the Old English byname Wintra meaning ‘winter’ + Old English worð ‘enclosure’... [more]
WerdumGerman Werdum is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
WestdykeEnglish Name given to someone who lived on the west side of a dyke.
WestenEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from any of numerous places named Weston, from Old English west 'west' + tun 'enclosure', 'settlement'. English: variant of Whetstone.
WestendorfGerman A habitational surname that means 'West Village' in German.
WesterGerman From Middle High German wëster ‘westerly’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived to the west of a settlement, or a regional name for one who had migrated from further west.
WestergårdSwedish, Finnish From Swedish väster meaning "west, western" combined with gård meaning "farm, yard, estate".
WestermanEnglish Topographical surname for someone who lived west of a settlement or someone who had moved to the west, from Old English westerne meaning "western" and mann meaning "man, person".
WestermannLow German From Middle Low German wester meaning "westerly" and man meaning "man", making it a topographic surname for someone who lived west of a settlement or a regional surname for someone who had moved to the west... [more]
WestgateEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived near a west gate in a city, or a habitual surname for someone from Westgate. It is derived from Middle English west meaning "west" and gate "gate" (or "street" in northern and eastern areas; from Old Norse gata).
WestraDutch, West Frisian Means "from the west", derived from Dutch west "west, western, westwards" combined with the Frisian habitational suffix -stra.
WestropEnglish (British) Viking name local to Somerset and several counties in the North East of England. Approximate meaning "place to the west of the village with the church".
WestwoodEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from any of numerous places named Westwood, from Old English west "west" and wudu "wood".
WhaleyEnglish From the name of the village of Whaley and the town of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, or the village of Whalley in Lancashire, England. It is derived from Old English wælla meaning "spring, stream" and leah meaning "woodland clearing".
WhalleyEnglish Variant form of Whaley. A famous bearer is the English actress Joanne Whalley (1961-).
WhartonEnglish Derived from an Olde English pre 7th Century river name Woefer.
WhatleyEnglish From any of the various places in England named with Old English hwæte "wheat" and leah "woodland clearing".
WheeldonEnglish Habitational name from a place in Derbyshire named Wheeldon, from Old English hweol ‘wheel’ (referring perhaps to a rounded shape) + dun ‘hill’, or from Whielden in Buckinghamshire, which is named with hweol + denu ‘valley’.
WhentEnglish Topographical for someone who lived by a cross road, or perhaps a very sharp bend in the road. The derivation being from the Olde English pre 7th century word "wendan," meaning to wander.
WhinerayEnglish Means "person from Whinneray", Cumbria, or "person who lives in a nook of land growing with gorse" (in either case from Old Norse hvin "whin, gorse" + vrá "nook of land"). It was borne by New Zealand rugby player Sir Wilson Whineray (1935-2012).