BillinghurstEnglish It indicates familial origin within the eponymous village in West Sussex.
BillingsEnglish It comes from the old English bil, meaning "sword or halberd", though the word later came to refer to a pruning hook used to harvest fruit. It's also possible that the name comes from a location in ancient England called Billing, which would've gotten its name from the same source.
BillingslyEnglish Habitational name from a place in Shropshire named Billingsley, from Old English Billingesleah, probably 'clearing (Old English leah) near a sword-shaped hill'
BingerEnglish Derived from the Old English name Binningas, which was a name for someone who lived near stables.
BinghamEnglish Ultimately deriving from the toponym of Melcombe Bingham in Dorset. The name was taken to Ireland in the 16th century, by Richard Bingham, a native of Dorset who was appointed governor of Connaught in 1584... [more]
BingleyEnglish Habitational surname for someone originally from the town of Bingley in West Yorkshire, England. The name is either derived from the given name Bynna combined with the suffix -inga meaning "the people of" or from the Old English elements bing meaning "hollow" and leah meaning "woodland, clearing".
BinkEnglish Topographic name for someone living by a bink, a northern dialect term for a flat raised bank of earth or a shelf of flat stone suitable for sitting on. The word is a northern form of modern English bench.
BirchEnglish, German, Danish, Swedish (Rare) From Middle High German birche, Old English birce, Old Danish birk, all meaning "birch". This was likely a topographic name for someone living by a birch tree or a birch forest... [more]
BirchallEnglish Probably a habitational name from Birchill in Derbyshire or Birchills in Staffordshire, both named in Old English with birce "birch" + hyll "hill".
BirdeeEnglish Probably a variant spelling of English Burden .
BirdsonAfrican American It means son of Bird and most likely came from someone who was given the name Bird. The word bird is found in all English language dictionaries and was not intended to be a name.
BirdsongEnglish From the English words bird and song. Possibly an English translation of the German surname Vogelsang.
BirkinEnglish The surname "Birkin" comes from a village in Yorkshire of the same name, first recorded as "Byrcene" in the Yorkshire charters of 1030, and as "Berchine" and "Berchinge" in the Domesday Book. The first known person with the surname "Birkin" was Jon de Birkin, a baron who lived in the late-11th century.
BirneEnglish, German, Jewish Means "pear" in German, making it the German equivalent of Perry 1, perhaps originally referring to a person who harvested or sold pears... [more]
BirneyEnglish Scottish: habitational name from a place in Morayshire, recorded in the 13th century as Brennach, probably from Gaelic braonach 'damp place'.
BitencourtBrazilian, Portuguese (Brazilian), French (Rare), English BITENCOURT, derives from Bittencourt, Bettencourt and Bethencourt; They are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population... [more]
BittakerEnglish Possibly an altered spelling of Whitaker. An infamous bearer was the American serial killer and rapist Lawrence Bittaker (1940-2019).
BlacksmithEnglish Occupational name for a blacksmith, a smith who work with iron. The name is rare in England and mostly found in North America, suggesting that it's a translation of a non-English name meaning "blacksmith" (see Kowalski, Raudsepp and Lefèvre for example).
BlagdenEnglish Derived from any of several places across England called Blagden, Blackden, or Blagdon, which can varyingly derive from Old English blæcdun ("black hill") or blæcdenu ("black valley").
BlakewayEnglish Literally means "black way", thus referring to a black road near which the original bearer must have lived. A famous bearer of this surname was Jacob Blakeway (b. 1583-?), the biological father of Mayflower passenger Richard More (1614-1696).
BlameyEnglish From blaidh-mez, the wolf's meadow; or pleu-mez, the parish meadow.
BlanchflowerEnglish From a complimentary nickname for a woman or a pejorative term for an effeminate man, from Old French meaning blanc "white" and flor "flower". A famous bearer of the name was Northern Irish footballer Robert Dennis Blanchflower (1926-1993).
BlandEnglish Bland is a habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire called Bland, the origin of which is uncertain. Possibly it is from Old English (ge)bland ‘storm’, ‘commotion’ (from blandan ‘to blend or mingle’), with reference to its exposed situation... [more]
BlandfordEnglish Habitational name from Blandford Forum and other places called Blandford in Dorset (Blaneford in Domesday Book), probably named in Old English with bl?ge 'gudgeon' (genitive plural blægna) + ford 'ford'.
BlankenshipEnglish Variant of Blenkinsop, a surname derived from a place in Northumberland called Blenkinsopp. The place name possibly derives from Cumbric blaen "top" and kein "back, ridge", i.e. "top of the ridge", combined with Old English hōp "valley" (compare Hope).
BlaxtonEnglish There are two possible origins for this surname; one- from the name of the village in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster (part of South Yorkshire, England) on the border of Lincolnshire, or two- from the Old English personal name Blaecstan, meaning "black stone"
BlaylockEnglish The surname of James P. Blaylock (1950-), an early steampunk author. His surname may mean "black lock" from Middle English blakelok, originally referring to a person with dark hair.
BlennerhassettEnglish The Blennerhassett surname comes from someone having lived in Cumberland, on the Borderlands between Scotland and England. ... [more]
BlessedEnglish From a medieval nickname for a fortunate person. This surname is borne by British actor Brian Blessed (1936-).
BlessingGerman, English Either a German patronymic from a variant of the personal name Blasius or a nickname for a bald person from Middle High German blas "bald bare"... [more]
BlewettEnglish From a medieval nickname for a blue-eyed person or one who habitually wore blue clothing (from Middle English bleuet "cornflower" or bluet "blue cloth").
BlissettEnglish A different form of Blessed. A bearer of this surname is Luther Blissett (1958-), a Jamaican-born English footballer ("Luther Blissett" has been used since 1994 as a cover name for activists engaging in anti-cultural establishment polemics and spoofs on the internet and elsewhere).
BloomfieldEnglish This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a locational name from either of the two places thus called in England, one in Staffordshire, and the other in Somerset, or it may be a dialectal variant of Blonville (-sur-Mer) in Calvados, Normandy, and hence a Norman habitation name... [more]
BlowEnglish From a medieval nickname for someone with a pale complexion (from Middle English blowe "pale"). This surname was borne by English composer John Blow (1649-1708) and British fashion editor Isabella Blow (original name Isabella Delves Broughton; 1958-2007); additionally, "Joe Blow" is a name used colloquially (in US, Canadian and Australian English) as representative of the ordinary uncomplicated unsophisticated man, the average man in the street (of which the equivalent in British English is "Joe Bloggs").
BlueberryEnglish English surname of unexplained origin, probably from the name of a lost or unidentified place.
BlufordEnglish, American (South) Possibly an English habitational name from a lost or unidentified place. The name occurs in records of the 19th century but is now very rare if not extinct in the British Isles. In the U.S. it is found chiefly in TX and TN.
BluntEnglish Nickname for a person with fair hair or a light complexion from Old French blunt meaning "blond". It was also used as a nickname for a stupid person from Middle English blunt or blont meaning "dull".
BobberEnglish From the ancient Anglo-Saxon name Baber, a town in the county of Suffolk. A famous bearer of the last name is actor, director, animator, voice actor, and musician Troy Bobber.
BodeGerman, Dutch, English, Danish Means "messenger, deliverer, herald; prophet, omen", ultimately from Old Germanic budą. This can be an occupational name, or a patronymic derived from a given name containing the element (see Bothe).
BodkinEnglish From the medieval male personal name Bowdekyn, a pet-form of Baldwin.
BoebertEnglish (American) A notable bearer of this surname is Lauren Opal Boebert (Born on December 15, 1986) who is an American (U.S.A.) politician, businesswoman, and gun rights activist, serving as the U.S. Representative for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district since 2021... [more]
BoeingEnglish (Anglicized) Anglicized form of German Böing. This was the surname of American industrialist William Boeing (1881-1956) who founded The Boeing Company, a manufacturer of airplanes.
BoekhoutEnglish Probably a habitational name from the village Boekhoute in northern Belgium, close to the border to The Netherlands.
BoldGerman, English English: nickname from Middle English bold ‘courageous’, ‘daring’ (Old English b(e)ald, cognate with Old High German bald). In some cases it may derive from an Old English personal name (see Bald)... [more]
BollandFrench, German, English From the Ancient Germanic name Bolland. Alternatively it derive from the place name Bowland from the Old English boga meaning "bow" and land meaning "land".
BollardEnglish, Irish According to MacLysaght, this surname of Dutch origin which was taken to Ireland early in the 18th century.
BollingEnglish, German nickname for someone with close-cropped hair or a large head, Middle English bolling 'pollard', or for a heavy drinker, from Middle English bolling 'excessive drinking'. German (Bölling): from a personal name Baldwin
BoltEnglish From Middle English bolt meaning "bolt", "bar" (Old English bolt meaning "arrow"). In part this may have originated as a nickname or byname for a short but powerfully built person, in part as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of bolts... [more]
BomengenEnglish (American), Norwegian (Rare) Name created from during immigration from Norway to the United States in either the late 19th or early 20th century meaning, "The farm with the big gate."
BonamyEnglish, French Derived from Old French bon ami meaning "good friend".
BonaparteItalian (Rare), French (Rare), Judeo-Italian (Rare), American, Caribbean Variant and French form of Buonaparte, later adopted as a Jewish surname. It has also been adopted in parts of America and the Caribbean by admirers of the notable bearer Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1820), who ruled as Emperor of France from 1804 through 1814 and again briefly in 1815, who was of Italian (Tuscan) ancestry.
BookbinderEnglish Occupational name for someone who binds pages to make a book, derived from Middle English bokebynder.
BookeAmerican American variant of the German name Buche meaning "beech" in reference to the beech tree. Notable bearer is the actor Sorrell Booke (1930-1994).
BookwalterEnglish (American) German: variant of Buchwalder, a habitational name for someone from any of various places called Buchwald or Buchwalde in Saxony and Pomerania, meaning 'beech forest'. The surname Buchwalter is very rare in Germany.... [more]
BoolEnglish This surname derives from the Old English pre 7th Century bula, or the Medieval English bulle, bolle, meaning "bull", and was given as a nickname to one with great physical strength.
BoormanEnglish This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and may be either a topographical name for someone who lived in a particularly noteworthy or conspicuous cottage, from the Old English bur "bower, cottage, inner room" with mann "man", or a locational name from any of the various places called Bower(s) in Somerset and Essex, which appear variously as Bur, Bure and Bura in the Domesday Book of 1086.
BootEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of boots, ultimately from Old French bote "boot, high-sided leather shoe".
BoothbyEnglish From the name of a parish in Lincolnshire, England.
BoothroydEnglish Habitational name for a person from the village named Boothroyd in Yorkshire, from Middle English both "hut, stall" and royd "cleared land" (derived from Old English rod).
BornGerman, English A topographical name indicating someone who lived near a stream, from the Old English "burna, burne". Alternatively, it could be contemporarily derived from the modern English word "born". Possible variants include Bourne, Burns 1 and Boren.
BorondaAmerican (Hispanic), Basque Boronda is a Californio surname that is also of Basque origin. Boronda is the name of a place in Salinas California named after Jose Eusebio Boronda where he made his house out of Adobe. Today, It is a California national Historic landmark in Boronda road in Salinas.
BoschAmerican The surname Bosch originates from the Old Norse word "buski," meaning "bush," or "woods” thus it is classed at a toponymic surname and was most likely used by a man who lived near a prominent bush... [more]
BosleyEnglish English habitation surname derived from the Old English personal name Bosa and the Old English leah "clearing, field". It's also possibly a variant of the French surname Beausoleil meaning "beautiful sun" from the French beau 'beautiful, fair' and soleil 'sun'... [more]
BossEnglish From an originally French term meaning "hunchback".
BostockEnglish From the name of a village in Cheshire, England, meaning "Bota’s place", derived from the Old English given name Bota combined with stoc "place, dwelling".