LecomteFrench Nickname for someone in the service of a count or for someone who behaved pretentiously from Old French elements contecunte "count" with fused masculine definite article le. Variant of Lecompte and Comte.
LeconteFrench from the Old French title of rank conte ‘count’, an occupational name for a servant in the household of a count or who was one.
LedgerEnglish, Norman, French, Dutch English: from a Norman personal name, Leodegar, Old French Legier, of Germanic origin, composed of the elements liut ‘people’, ‘tribe’ + gar, ger ‘spear’... [more]
LedouxFrench Means "the amiable" from French doux meaning "sweet, soft, gentle".
LeducFrench, Breton From the Old French title of rank duc "duke" (from Latin dux "leader" genitive ducis) with the French masculine definite article le used as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces or else as a metonymic occupational name for a servant employed in a ducal household.
LefilsFrench, Haitian Creole Derived from French le "the" and fils "son". This was originally a nickname to distinguish a son from his father with the same given name.
LefortFrench, Walloon Either a nickname from French le fort "the strong" (see Fort ). It is also found in Germany where it is probably of Alsatian origin (compare Lefor ) and in Haiti where it most likely originates from the nickname Lefort... [more]
LefrançoisFrench From the given name François. It may also mean "the Frenchman", probably used to denote someone who came from the region of Île de France in France.
Le GallFrench From a nickname which means “the Gaul”.
LegendreFrench relationship name from Old French gendre "son-in-law" (from Latin gener) with fused masculine definite article le.
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]
LemercierFrench French surname designating a vendor of sewing materials, from the word mercier.
LemsDutch It is said that long ago there was a river in Holland named 'Lems'. Since then the river has dried up, but those who lived around the river were given the surname of 'Lems'.
LenoirFrench French surname which was originally a nickname for a person with dark hair or skin, derived from noir "black" combined with the definite article le. A famous bearer is Étienne Lenoir (1822 - 1900), the inventor of the internal combustion engine.
LéotardFrench From the given name Leopold. Jules Léotard was an acrobat who popularized the leotard, a gymnastics garment. The garment is named after him.
LesieurFrench From old French sieur "lord, overlord" (from Latin senior "elder") fused with le either an occupational name for someone in service of a great lord or an ironic nickname for someone who gives himself airs or graces.
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.
LetendreFrench From 'tendre', meaning "tender" or "delicate".
LétourneauFrench Nickname for a chatty, gregarious person or an occupational name for a birdcatcher, derived from French l'étourneau meaning "the starling".
LeverFrench, English Nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from Old French levre ‘hare’ (Latin lepus, genitive leporis). It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of hares... [more]
LiemDutch Habitual surname for Lieme in Eastphalia, which is from lim meaning "mire".
LieshoutDutch Originally indicated a person from the village of Lieshout in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. It is derived either from 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".
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.
LindenbergGerman, Jewish, Dutch As a German and Jewish name, it is derived from any of numerous places called Lindenberg in Germany, composed of Middle High German linde meaning "lime tree" and berg meaning "mountain, hill"... [more]
LindtGerman, Dutch The Lindt surname comes from an Upper German word "lind," which meant "tender" or "gentle hearted." In some instances, especially in Saxony, the surname evolved from the personal name Lindemuth. In general, the similar phonetic name Linde comes from "Linden," which was a type of tree.... [more]
LinéFrench (Rare) From Old French liné meaning "made of linen". This name was an occupational name for someone who weaved linen or was a linen merchant.
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.
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.
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.
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 hariheri "army").
LottFrench From the Department (Region/State)in France, "Lot" and "Lot-et-Garrone"; also a river in France (Lot). Brought to the British Isles, Holland (Netherlands) and later the United States, Canada and South Africa, by French Huguenots.
LuceNorman, French Form of Lucius, meaning "light". A notable bearer of this surname is French singer-songwriter Renan Luce (1980-).
LuchtDutch nickname from Middle Low German lucht 'clumsy left-handed'. German and Dutch: topographic name from Lucht 'cleared area garden' related to Middle High German liuhten 'to shine be bright'. North German: topographic name from Middle Low German lucht 'elevated spot loft'.
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]
LussierFrench Occupational name from old French ussier "usher, doorkeeper".
LustigSwedish, German, Jewish, Dutch From Swedish and German lustig ”humerous, funny, enjoyable” or Middle High German lustig ”merry, carefree”.
MaceEnglish, French English: from a medieval personal name, a survival of Old English Mæssa, which came to be taken as a pet form of Matthew.... [more]
MaconFrench, German French: See Maçon. An occupational name for a mason, French maçon. Habitational name from places so called in Saône-et-Loire, Allier, Aube, the Côte d’Or, Gers, and Deux-Sères... [more]
MaffretFrench beleived to originated in{ NICE, france} in the late 19th century, emmigration from france to london,{stepney}, where the surname was mistakenly added an extra letter "T" resulting in the surname MAFFRETT
MaineFrench French topographic name from Old French maine ‘dwelling’, ‘residence’, ‘abode’, or a habitational name from any of numerous places so named.
MaiselYiddish, German, French Predominantly seems to be a matronymic surname from the Yiddish feminine name Mayzl. Although it is believed that it derived from the Hebrew name Meïser, which means “representative of God”... [more]
MaisonFrench, Walloon Derived from Old French maison "residence", this name used to be given to someone who lived by an important house.
MalecuitFrench Means "doughy," "soggy," or "undercooked" in French.
MalefeijtDutch A variant spelling of Malefeyt. This is also actually an archaic spelling (as the sound written as -eijt will be always be written as -eit or -ijt in modern times), but it has (barely) managed to survive into modern times... [more]
MalefeytDutch (Archaic) Archaic Dutch surname that is now no longer in use (not in this exact spelling, that is): the spelling reflects the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]
MalefijtDutch Modern form of Malefeyt, which is also the most common form of the surname. In The Netherlands, there were 24 bearers of the surname in 2007.
MalfaitFrench Derived from French mal fait, which literally means "poorly done, badly done". In the context of the surname, it refers to the first bearer being "malformed" or "deformed" (as it was in the eyes of people from older times), which means that he either was physically disabled or able-bodied but with a physical trait that deviated from the norm.
MalfeytDutch, Flemish Generally a Dutch form (or "dutchization", if you will) of Malfait, with the spelling reflecting the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]
MalinEnglish, French, Dutch From the given name Malin (English), and from the given name Madalin composed of the Germanic element madal meaning "council" (French, Dutch).
MalletAnglo-Norman, Medieval English, French, Catalan Originated in Norman France and spread to England following the Norman conquest of 1066. The surname comes from the given name Malle, an Old English diminutive of Mary or from the given name Malo, a popular form of the name of Saint Maclovius, a 6th-century Welsh monk who the church of Saint Maclou in Rouen is named for.... [more]
MaloretFrench This surname comes from the French and means 'unfortunate' or 'luckless'.
MalpassEnglish, Scottish, French Habitational name from any of various places named Malpas, because of the difficulty of the terrain, from Old French mal pas "bad passage" (Latin malus passus). It is a common French minor place name, and places in Cheshire, Cornwall, Gwent, and elsewhere in England were given this name by Norman settlers... [more]
MansellAnglo-Norman, French A status name for a particular type of feudal tenant, Anglo-Norman French mansel, one who occupied a manse (Late Latin mansa ‘dwelling’), a measure of land sufficient to support one family... [more]
ManvilleFrench A locational surname deriving from any of the various places in France called "Manneville or Magneville", named, from the Old Germanic personal name "Manno" or the Old French adjective "magne", great, with the word "ville", meaning a town or settlement.
MaqueronFrench Of debated origin and meaning. Theories include a derivation from Picard maqueron "chin" (in which case this would have been a pejorative nickname for someone with a protruding chin) and a diminutive of Macquart.
MarableFrench, English From the feminine personal name Mirabel, equated in medieval records with Latin mirabilis "marvelous", "wonderful" (in the sense "extraordinary").
MarchalFrench, Walloon Either a status name or occupational name from Old French mareschal "marshal" (from Late Latin mariscalcus). The term is of ancient Germanic origin (from marah "horse mare" and scalc "servant") and was originally applied to a man who looked after horses... [more]
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.
MarkEnglish, German, Dutch Topographic name for someone who lived on a boundary between two districts, from Middle English merke, Middle High German marc, Middle Dutch marke, merke, all meaning "borderland"... [more]
MarquisFrench, English for someone who behaved like a marquis or an occupational name for a servant in the household of a marquis, from Old Northern French marquis... [more]