LemaîtreFrench Means "the master" in French, either used as a nickname for someone who behaved in a masterful manner or an occupational name for someone who was a master of their craft.
LemassFrench, Irish Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from Old French maistre meaning "master", ultimately from Latin magister (see Masterson). Another theory holds that it comes from Irish Gaelic Laighmheasa, a given name meaning "dispatch"... [more]
LenoirFrench Means "the black" in French, from noir "black", a variant of Noir combined with a definite article le. A famous bearer of the name was Belgian-French engineer Étienne Lenoir (1822-1900), the inventor of the internal combustion engine.
Le RouxFrench Nickname for a person with red hair, from Old French rous "red." Variant spelling of Leroux.
LesnarGerman Variant spelling of German Lessner, a habitational name from any of various places in eastern Germany called Lessen, all named with Slavic les '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".
LestonEnglish Habitational name from Leiston in Suffolk, so named from Old English leg "beacon fire" and tun "farmstead, settlement".
LetcherEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream. From Old English læcc, plus the suffix -er denoting an inhabitant.
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.
LhuillierCebuano, Filipino Borrowed from French L'Huillier used in the Philippines. Jean Henri Diago Lhuillier (1969) is a Filipino businessman, diplomat, and sports patron.
LickertGerman (East Prussian) Derived from the German feminine name Luitgard, and thus ultimately from Old High German liut "people" and garto "garden; enclosure".
LiddiardEnglish From Celtic place names in England meaning "gray hill".
LidénSwedish Combination of the Swedish place name element lid "slope, hillside" and the common surname siffix -én.
LidholmSwedish Combination of Swedish lid "slope" and holm "islet".
LidmanSwedish Combination of Swedish place name element lid "slope, hillside" and man "man". A notable bearer was Swedish writer Sara Lidman (1923-2004).
LidströmSwedish Combination of the Swedish place name element lid "slope, hillside" and ström "stream, flow". A notable bearer is Swedish ice hockey player Nicklas Lidström (b. 1970).
LiebknechtGerman Karl Liebknecht was a German socialist revolutionary.
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".
LightfootEnglish From a nickname for a messenger or a swift runner, derived from Middle English light "having little weight" and fot "foot".
LiljaSwedish, Finnish Means "lily" in Swedish and Finnish. It is also used as a first name (see Lilja).
LilyEnglish Derived from Lily, a pet name for Elizabeth. It was also used as a nickname for someone with fair skin or hair, and is derived from Old English lilie meaning "lily (the flower)"... [more]
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".
LindahlSwedish Combination of Swedish lind "lime tree" and dal "valley".
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.
LindénSwedish Combination of Swedish lind "linden tree" and the common surname suffix -én.
LindforsSwedish Combination of Swedish lind "lime tree, linden" and fors "rapid, waterfall".
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]
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.
LirnykUkrainian Derived from Ukrainian лірник (lirnyk) meaning "lirnyk". Lirnyky were itinerant Ukrainian musicians who performed religious, historical and epic songs to the accompaniment of a lira.
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.
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]
LjungbergSwedish Combination of Swedish ljung "heather" and berg "mountain".
LjungströmSwedish Combination of Swedish ljung "heather" and ström "stream".
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".
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.
LöfdahlSwedish Combination of Swedish löv "leaf" and dal "valley".
LöfvénSwedish (Rare) Combination of Swedish löv "leaf" and the common surname suffix -én, a derivative of Latin -enius "descendant of". Stefan Löfven (b. 1957) is a Swedish politician and the prime minister of Sweden since 2014.
LoiselFrench Derived from Old French oisel "bird" with fused definite article l' used as a nickname for a flighty individual or perhaps for a small birdlike person but possibly also as a metonymic occupational name for a bird-catcher.
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.
LongfieldEnglish Derived from Old English lang "long" and feld "field".
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").
LortonEnglish habitational name from any of the places so named in Cumbria probably so named from an Old English river name Hlóra meaning "the roaring one" and Old English tun "settlement".
LoshawEnglish English name this is the last name of singer Avril Lavigne’s Mother Judith Rosanne Loshaw
LoteyIrish The surname Lotey has Irish and Scottish origins from Ó Labhradha, and German origins from the ancient Germanic name Chloderich, which is made up of hlut meaning "famous" and rik meaning "powerful, rich".
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.
LupinFrench Lupin is a variant on the Latin word "lupus", meaning "wolf". Two important literary characters, Arsène Lupin, the famous French gentleman-burglar, and Professor Remus Lupin, from the world of Harry Potter, have this name... [more]
LyskinBelarusian, Russian, Ukrainian Derived either from Belarusian лысы (lysy) or Russian лысый (lysy) or Ukrainian лисий (lysyi) all meaning "bald, bald-headed, hairless".
LysýCzech, Slovak Derived from Czech and Slovak lysý "bald".
MacchiaItalian Topographic name from Italian macchia "thicket, scrub, brush" (from Latin macula "spot, fleck, stain") as well as a habitational name from any of various places named Macchia... [more]
MacduffScottish Gaelic From the ancient Scottish Gaelic Mac duib meaning "son of the black/dark man." This name may have originated as a ethnic term about the native Scots used by Viking conquestors during the later half of the First Millenium... [more]
MacLaineScottish Variant form of McLean. A well-known bearer is American actress, singer and former dancer Shirley MacLaine (1934-).
MacriItalian Italian variant of Magro. It could also be a southern Italian nickname for a person who had long limbs or who was tall, derived from Greek μακρύς (makrýs) literally meaning "long, tall" (see Makris)... [more]
MadenTurkish Means "mine, mineral, ore" in Turkish, ultimately from Arabic معدن (ma'din).
MadridSpanish habitational name from what is now Spain's principal city Madrid. Throughout the Middle Ages it was of only modest size and importance and did not become the capital of Spain until 156 Its name is of uncertain origin most probably a derivative of Late Latin matrix genitive matricis "riverbed" much changed by Arabic mediation (see Madrigal ). There are other smaller places of the same name in the provinces of Burgos and Cantabria and these may also be sources of the surname.
MaglioItalian Means "hammer, mallet, maul" in Italian.
MagnumEnglish Possibly derived from the given name Magnus. It is borne by the fictional character Thomas Magnum, the protagonist on the American television series Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988).
MahloyEnglish (American) Mahloy is a misspelling of Malloy by Charles Malloy's (b. 1898, Scotland) elementary school teacher in the Ireland. The surname Malloy is derived from the pre 10th century Old Gaelic name O'Maolmhuidh, meaning the descendant of the Great Chief.
MahomesAmerican With Gaelic origins, Mahomes is a surname that is derived from the word “mathghamhan”, which means “bear”. A famous individual with the name is NFL Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.
MahrezArabic (Maghrebi) From Arabic مُحْرَز (maḥraz) meaning "accomplished, achieved, attained". A notable bearer is Riyad Mahrez (1991-), an Algerian footballer.
MaidmentEnglish Occupational name for a servant of maidens (such as nuns), from Middle English maiden (ultimately from Old English mægden) meaning "young girl, virgin, maiden" and man ending with an excrescent -t.
MaitlandEnglish, Scottish Possibly from Mautalant, the name of a place in Pontorson, France meaning "inhospitable" or "bad temper" in Norman French (ultimately from Late Latin malum "bad" and talentum "inclination, disposition"), which was so named because of its unproductive soil; or perhaps it was originally a nickname for an ungracious individual, derived from the same source.
MakiceAmerican (Modern, Rare) Taken as a new common familyname by Kevin McGrew Isbister and Amy Elizabeth Clendening. They scrambled their initials (KMI and AEC), and came up with “Makice” as their family name.
MalebrancheFrench (Rare) Means "bad branch" in French, denoting a person who is on the bad side of a family tree. It could also possibly be a variant of Malherbe. Nicolas Malebranche was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher.
MallardEnglish Nickname for a person who is likened to a mallard, derived from Old French mallart "male wild duck".
MallettEnglish Possible origins Malet a medieval diminutive of Mal(le) being a pet form of and name Mary, could also be of Norman origin from the Old French personal name Malhard.
MalmbergSwedish Combination of Swedish malm "ore" and berg "mountain".
MalmstenSwedish Ornamental name derived from Swedish malm meaning "ore" and sten (Old Norse steinn) meaning "stone".
MaltaItalian, Spanish, Portuguese habitational or ethnic name for someone from the Mediterranean island of Malta (from Latin Melita Greek Melitē).
MalthouseEnglish Occupational name for a maker of malt or a malt merchant. It could also be a topographic name for a person who lived at a malt house.
ManfordEnglish Place name for "Munda's ford" from an Old English personal name Munda, the same element in the second syllable of Edmund and ford meaning a waterway crossing.
ManganIrish Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Mongáin ‘descendant of Mongán’, originally a byname for someone with a luxuriant head of hair (from mong ‘hair’, ‘mane’), borne by families from Connacht, County Limerick, and Tyrone... [more]
ManhartGerman (Modern) From the Germanic personal name Manhard, composed of the Germanic elements man "man", "human" + hard "hardy", "brave", "strong"... [more]
ManleyEnglish Habitational name from places in Devon and Cheshire, named in Old English as "common wood or clearing", from (ge)mǣne "common, shared" and lēah "woodland clearing". The surname is still chiefly found in the regions around these villages.
ManoJapanese From Japanese 真 (ma) meaning "real, genuine" or 間 (ma) meaning "pause" and 野 (no) meaning "field, plain, wilderness".
MarchantFrench, English, Spanish Variant of Marchand, from French marchand meaning "merchant, mercantile". Though it is of French origin, it was transferred into the Spanish-speaking world, especially Chile, by French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
MarioItalian There's a popular character named Mario, and his brother, Luigi. Together; they're the Super Mario Bros. They've been very popular since the 80's and came out with the greatest games throughout the 90's, 00's, 10's, and 20's.
MarjoribanksScottish Reputedly from the name of a Scottish estate (Ratho-Marjoribankis) bestowed on Robert the Bruce's daughter Marjorie on her marriage in 1316... [more]
MarklandEnglish From Old English mearc meaning "boundary" and lanu meaning "lane", it is a habitational name from a place in the town of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It can also be a topographic name for someone who lived by a stretch of border or boundary land, or a status name for someone who held land with an annual value of one mark.
MarkleyEnglish From Old English mearc meaning "border, mark" combined with leah meaning "clearing, grove."
MarlboroughEnglish From the name of the market town and civil parish of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England, derived from the Old English given name Mǣrla and beorg meaning "hill, mound".
MarquisEnglish, French From the title of nobility, which originally denoted an officer whose duty was to guard the marches or frontiers of the kingdom. A march was originally denoted as a border region at a frontier. The word marquis was derived from Late Latin marchensis, from Frankish *marku "boundary, border"... [more]
MarslandEnglish Probably derived from some place named as being a boggy place, from Old English mersc meaning "marsh" and land meaning "land". Alternatively, it may be a variant of Markland.
MartonEnglish habitational name from any of several places so called Marton principally in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, and North Yorkshire named in Old English as "settlement by a lake" (from mere or mær "pool, lake" and tun "settlement") or as "settlement by a boundary" (from gemære "boundary" and tun "settlement").
MarwoodEnglish From the name of two places named Marwood in England, or a nickname for a person who "casts an evil eye", derived from Norman French malreward meaning "evil eye, glance".
MashinRussian Matronymic surname derived from a diminutive Masha of the Russian given name Mariya.
MasihUrdu, Indian (Christian), Hindi From Urdu مسیح (masih) or Hindi मसीह (masih) referring to the Christian messiah (Jesus Christ), both ultimately from Arabic مسيح (masih). This name is common among Pakistani and North Indian Christians.