RunnerEnglish (American) Probably an altered spelling of German Ronner, annoccupational name for a runner or messenger, a lightly armed mounted soldier. Compare Renner. UK The surname Runner was first found in Lancashire. One of the first records of the family was found in the year 1246 when Alan de Runacres held estates in that shire... [more]
RusbyScottish, English Alternative spelling of Busby, a parish in Renfrewshire. A name well represented in the Penistone, and Cawthorne districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
RuschGerman Derived from Middle High German and Middle Low German rusch "rush reeds".
RushenEnglish Originally denoted a person who lived near a marsh, noted for its rushes (see Rush). A famous bearer of this surname is the American singer Patrice Rushen (b. 1954).
RusherGerman (Americanized) Americanized version of the German surname Rüscher or Roshcer. Either a topographic name for someone who lived among rushes or an occupational name for someone who created things out of rushes.
RustEnglish, Scottish A nickname to someone with reddish hair or a ruddy complexion.
RüsterGerman Means "elm (tree)" in German. Could alternatively derive from rüsten to "to equip, to arm", an occupational name for someone who provided weapons to an army.
RuthEnglish, German (Swiss) English: from Middle English reuthe ‘pity’ (a derivative of rewen to pity, Old English hreowan) nickname for a charitable person or for a pitiable one. Not related to the given name in this case.... [more]
RutteDutch Derived from the given name Rutger. This surname is borne by the former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (1967-).
RutterEnglish Either (i) "player of the rote (a medieval stringed instrument played by plucking)"; or (ii) from a medieval nickname for a dishonest or untrustworthy person (from Old French routier "robber, mugger")... [more]
RycroftEnglish Derived from Rycroft, in the parish of Birstall, Yorkshire
RydbergSwedish Combination of Swedish ryd "woodland clearing" and berg "mountain". Notable bearers are author and poet Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895) and physicist Johannes Rydberg (1854-1919).
RydellSwedish Combination of Swedish ryd "woodland clearing" and the common surname suffix -ell.
RydénSwedish Combination of Swedish ryd "woodland clearing" and the common surname suffix -én.
RydingerSwedish (Rare) Either a combination of Swedish ryd "woodland clearing" and the common surname suffix -ing "belonging to, coming from" (compare Norling), a variant of Ryding, or a Swedish form of German Rüdinger.
RyenNorwegian Habitational name from any of more than ten farmsteads, originally named with Old Norse rugr ‘rye’ + vin ‘meadow’.
SachtlebenGerman Nickname for someone perceived to lead a carefree, easy life, from Middle Low German sacht(e) meaning "soft" + leben meaning "life".
SackhoffGerman Occupational name for a farmer who cultivated land to grow plants, particularly crops, derived from Middle High German sack meaning "sack, end of a valley, area of cultivation" and hof meaning "farmstead, manor, farm"... [more]
SackmannGerman Occupational name from Middle High German sacman meaning "baggage servant", one who was in charge of transporting and looking after a knight’s baggage and supplies on campaign.
SadatGerman (Rare) The last name Sadat means "master" and "gentleman," and is originally a religious last name which was popular in the west, more precisely in Germany.
SadileEnglish 1 English (mostly Lancashire): probably a variant of Sale .... [more]
SaengerGerman, Jewish Occupational name for a chorister or a nickname for someone who liked singing, from Middle High German senger, German Sänger meaning "singer".
SainsburyEnglish Habitational name from the village of Saintbury in Gloucestershire, from the Old English given name Sæwine and burg "fortress, fortification, citadel".
SaintEnglish, French From a nickname for a very pious or religious person, ultimately derived from Latin sanctus "holy, saintly". In some cases, it may be from the Medieval given name Saint, of the same origin.
SaipeEnglish English: perhaps a habitational name from a minor place in Wiltshire named Stype.
SakerEnglish Occupational name for a maker of sacks or bags, derived from an agent derivative of Old English sacc meaning "sack, bag".
SalanderSwedish Meaning uncertain. Possibly a variant of Selander or a combination of an unexplained first element and the common surname suffix -ander.
SaleEnglish, French English: from Middle English sale ‘hall’, a topographic name for someone living at a hall or manor house, or a metonymic occupational name for someone employed at a hall or manor house. ... [more]
SalisburyEnglish Habitational name from the city in Wiltshire, the Roman name of which was Sorviodunum (of British origin). In the Old English period the second element (from Celtic dun ‘fortress’) was dropped and Sorvio- (of unexplained meaning) became Searo- in Old English as the result of folk etymological association with Old English searu ‘armor’; to this an explanatory burh ‘fortress’, ‘manor’, ‘town’ was added... [more]
SallisEnglish A name for someone who lives where sallows grow - sallows being a type of willow, from the Middle English 'salwe'.
SallowEnglish (Rare) Sallow comes from the medieval word for willow tree. It is a location surname.
SallwasserGerman It is derived from the German words (Salz) meaning "salt", & (Salweide) meaning "water".
SalmDutch Denoted a person from any of various places called Salm. It could also derive from Dutch zalm meaning "salmon", referring to someone who lived near a sign depicting them, or to someone who fished for salmon.
SalmingSwedish (Rare) Derived from Salmi, the name of a small village in Northern Sweden (see also Salmi).
SaltEnglish From the name of a town in Staffordshire, derived from Old English sealt "salt" due to its historical mining for salt and alabaster. In some cases, an occupational name for a maker or seller of salt, of the same origin (see Salter).
SalterEnglish Occupational name for someone who worked with salt, derived from Middle English salter.
SalthouseEnglish From the name of any of the various places in England so-called or somebody who lived or worked in a salthouse, all derived from Old English sealthus "salt facility, storehouse for salt".
SalzerGerman For someone who worked with salt from Middle High German salz "salt" (from Latin sal).
SalzmannGerman, Jewish Means "salt man" in German, denoting a maker or seller of salt, derived from Middle High German salz "salt" and man. A cognate of English Saltman.
SametGerman, Jewish, Yiddish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of velvet, from Yiddish samet ‘velvet’ (German Samt, ultimately from Greek hexamiton, a compound of hex ‘six’ + mitos ‘thread’).
SandeNorwegian Habitational name from any of forty or more farmsteads so named, especially on the west coast, from the dative case of Old Norse sandr meaning "sand", "sandy plain", "beach".
SandellEnglish Originated from a name for someone who lived on a sand hill
SandemanEnglish Scottish surname of famous merchant family engaged in banking in Scotland and London and in the Port Wine trade in London. The same family were earlier the founders of an obscure Protestant sect the Sandemanians.
SandénSwedish Combination of Swedish sand "sand" and the common surname suffix -én.
SandhurstEnglish (Rare) From Sandhurst, the name of places in the English counties of Kent, Gloucestershire and Berkshire, all of which come from the Old English elements sand "sand" and hyrst "hillock, copse".
SangwinEnglish From Middle English sanguine (blood) ,one of the four humours.
SankEnglish Possibly taken from a pet form of the given name Samuel.
SankeyEnglish, Irish Habitational name from a place in Lancashire, which derived from the name of an ancient British river, perhaps meaning "sacred, holy." ... [more]
SarverEnglish, Jewish English and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) occupational name from Old French serveur (an agent derivative of server ‘to serve’), Yiddish sarver ‘servant’.
SauerbierGerman From German sauer meaning "sour" and bier meaning "beer". It originally referred to a brewer of sour beer.
SauerweinGerman Occupational nickname for someone who sold sour wine, or perhaps a nickname for someone with a sour disposition, from Middle High German sur "sour" + win "wine", i.e. vinegar.
SavilleEnglish A habitational name from an uncertain place in Northern France. This is most likely Sainville, named from Old French saisne, 'Saxon' and ville, indicating a settlement.
SawinEnglish From the Old English given name Sæwine, via Middle English Sawin.
SawtellEnglish (British) A dialectal variant of Sewell, which was first recorded in early 13th-century England. The later addition of the 't' was for easier pronunciation.... [more]
SaxonEnglish Derived from the tribe of the Saxons from the Anglo-Saxon element seaxa "a Saxon" derived Germanic elements sahso and sahsaz derived from sahsą "knife"... [more]
SaxtonEnglish From the name of a village in West Yorkshire or Cambridgeshire, both derived from the Old Norse given name Saxi or Old English seaxa "Saxon" and tun "enclosure, settlement".
SayerEnglish Derived from an Anglo-Norman variant of the Germanic given name Sigiheri, composed of sigu "victory" and heri "army".
SayerEnglish Occupational name for a professional reciter or minstrel, derived from Middle English seier "speaker".
ScaggsEnglish Variant of Skaggs both of English origin and unknown meaning. Famous bearer is singer Boz Scaggs (1944-) of the SteveMiller Band and the band Toto.
ScarffEnglish Nickname from Old Norse skarfr meaning "cormorant".
ScargillEnglish This ancient surname is of Old Norse origin, and is a locational name from a place called Scargill in Northern Yorkshire, deriving from the Old Norse bird name "skraki", a diving duck, plus the Old Norse "gil", valley or ravine.
SchaafGerman Metonymic occupational name for a shepherd, from Middle High German schāf ‘sheep’. In some cases it may have been a nickname for someone thought to resemble a sheep, or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a sheep... [more]
SchaalGerman, Dutch, French, Jewish Either a nickname for a braggart or a market crier, (derived from Middle High German schal meaning "noise, bragging"), an occupational name for someone who made dishes for scales and vessels for drinking, (from Middle Low German and Dutch schale "dish"), a habitational name from Schaala in Thuringia or the Schaalsee lake near Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, or a topographic name for someone living on marshy land, (from Dutch schald "shallow")... [more]
SchaapDutch Means "sheep" in Dutch, an occupational name for a shepherd. Alternatively, it could be a nickname for someone who looked or behaved like a sheep in some way, or who lived by a sign depicting a sheep.
SchabenGerman Describes an inhabitant of the region Swabia
SchachnerGerman German origins (as told to me by my family); popular in Austria and also has Jewish and Slavic origins, according to the internet/ancestry.com.
SchachtGerman, Flemish From Middle Low German and Middle Dutch schacht "shaft; pole, tunnel", a metonymic occupational name for someone who made shafts for tools or weapons, or who worked in a mineshaft.
SchadeGerman, Dutch From schade "damage, injury", a derivative of schaden "to do damage, harm, hurt", generally a nickname for a thug or clumsy person, or, more particularly, a robber knight, who raided others’ lands.
SchaffterGerman An occupational name for a shaft maker or maker of tools and weapons, from Middle Low German schaft "shaft, spear, lance."
SchalkGerman, Dutch From Old High German scalc "servant, retainer, jester", which eventually evolved to mean "joker, rogue, knave". Could be an occupational name for an attendant or jester, a nickname for someone mischievous, or derived from a given name containing scalc as an element, such as Godschalk.
SchallerUpper German From Middle High German word "schal," which means "noise," or "bragging," and as such is was thought to have originally been a nickname for a braggart, or for a market crier.
SchattnerGerman, Jewish Habitational name for someone from any of several places named Schaten or Schatten, or a topographic name for someone living in a shady location, from Middle High German schate "shade", "protection".
SchatzGerman, Jewish German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) metonymic occupational name for a treasurer, from German Schatz ‘treasure’, Middle High German scha(t)z. It may also have been a nickname for a rich man (or ironically for a miser), or else for a well-liked person or a ladies’ favorite, from the use of the vocabulary word as a term of endearment... [more]
SchätzelGerman German diminutive of Schatz, or a nickname for a lover meaning "little sweetheart" (from the same word used as a term of endearment).
SchauerGerman The Schauer surname comes from the Middle High German word "schouwen" meaning "to inspect;" as such, the name is thought to have originally been occupational, for some kind of inspector, perhaps an official of a market.
SchaulGerman, Dutch, Jewish Either from from Middle Low German schulle, Middle Dutch scholle, schulle, Middle High German schülle "plaice"; either a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or seller of these fish or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a plaice... [more]
SchaumburgGerman, Belgian Habitational name from any of the places called Schaumburg or Schauenburg in Germany, or Schauwberg in Brabant, Belgium. Derived from schūm "slag, cinder" and burg "mountain, hill".
SchausGerman, Luxembourgish A nickname for a simpleton, from schaus, a word in Rhenish Franconian and Lower Rhine dialects of German.
ScheeleGerman, Dutch, Swedish (Rare) From Middle Low German schele and Dutch scheel meaning "squinting, cross-eyed". A notable bearer was German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) who discovered oxygen and identified several other elements.
ScheepensDutch From Middle Dutch schēpen "alderman", a member of a municipal council.
ScheidGerman, Jewish Either a topographic name for someone who lived near a boundary (between two valleys etc.) or crossroads Middle High German scheide, a habitational name from any of various places called ScheidtScheiden... [more]