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.
LevertFrench Means "the green", from French vert "green".
LevobFrench The family name Levob is believed to be from Lorraine, an ancient province of the East of France. Some of the variations are Lavoye, Lavois, Lavoi, Levoi, Levoie, Levoy, Levois, Levot, Lavot to distinguish but a few.
LhommeFrench From the name of the commune of Lhomme, located in the Sarthe department in northwestern France.
L'HuillierFrench Denoted a person who produces or sells oil, from French huile "oil" with fused definite article l'. Anne Geneviève L'Huillier (1958-) is a French physicist who beat the world record for the shortest laser pulse, of 170 attoseconds.
LichtGerman, Dutch, Yiddish Means "light" or "candle". Could be an occupational name for a chandler, a topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing (see Lichte), or a nickname for someone who had light hair, or who was agile and slender.
LiemDutch Habitual surname for Lieme in Eastphalia, which is from lim meaning "mire".
LiemanDutch From a Germanic personal name composed of liut "people", or possibly liob "dear, beloved", combined with man "person, man" (see Liutman, Liefman).
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".
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]
LindersDutch Patronymic form of Leonard, or possibly of a Germanic name composed of linta "linden tree, shield, spear" and heri "army".
LindtGerman, Dutch Derived from given names containing the elements lind "tender, mild, gentle hearted" or lind "linden tree, shield"... [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.
LokerseDutch Possibly a patronymic form of a given name such as Lokke, or a habitational name from a place using the Middle Dutch element loken "to close, shut, fence" (compare Lock).
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 hari/heri "army").
LotsijDutch Apparently a Dutchified form of the Polish surname Illotzki.
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.
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 A nickname for a cheerful person, derived from Swedish and German lustig "humorous, funny, enjoyable" or Middle High German lustig "merry, carefree". Usually ornamental as a Jewish surname.
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.
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.
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]
MalinFrench, Flemish From the masculine given name Madalin, a short form of names composed of the Germanic element mahal "council, assembly, meeting" such as Madalbert.
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]
MantelEnglish, German, French, Dutch nickname for someone who wore a cloak in a particularly conspicuous way or with a striking design, from Middle English, Middle High German, Old French, and Middle Dutch mantel "cloak, coat" (from Late Latin mantellus)... [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").
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 Old High German marka "border, boundary, march". The German term also denotes an area of fenced-off land (see Marker) and, like the English word, is embodied in various place names which have given rise to habitational names.
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]
MarsmanDutch Derived from Middle Dutch marsch, mersch (Southern Dutch meers), meaning "marsh". In some cases, however, it can also be a variant of Meersman.
MaseyEnglish, Scottish, French, Norman English and Scottish (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from any of various places in northern France which get their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Maccius + the locative suffix -acum.... [more]
MasseDutch Derived from Middle Dutch masse "clog; cudgel", this name might have been a metonymic occupational name for someone who wielded a club. In some cases, however, it may also have been a patronymic of Maas.
MastGerman, Dutch Derived from Middle High German and Middle Dutch mast "mast (fodder made of acorns and beechnuts); the process of fattening livestock", an occupational name for a pig farmer or a swineherd. In some cases, however, the German name may also have been derived from Middle High German mast, mastic "fat, stout".
MastDutch Derived from Middle Dutch mast "(ship's) mast; pole", a nickname for a tall, lanky man. Alternatively, it can derive from the homonym mast "pig fodder, animal fodder".
MastinFrench, Flemish, Walloon occupational name for a household servant or guard from Old French mastin "watchdog, manservant" (from Latin mansuetudinus "domestic"). The Old French word had the further sense of a bad-tempered dog and was used as an adjective in the sense of "bad cruel".
MathenyFrench (Anglicized) Of French origin. According to Matheny family tradition, this surname comes from the name of a village in France named Mathenay. This may also have been a French Huguenot surname.
MattenFlemish Could derive from a short form of a given name such as Matthias or Mathilde, or be a toponym derived from either Middle High German mata "meadow" or French motte "clod, mound of earth".