DowsonEnglish Either a patronymic surname derived from the given name Dow, a medieval variant of Daw (which was a diminutive of David), or else a metronymic form of the medieval feminine name Dowce, literally "sweet, pleasant", from Old French dolz, dous (cf... [more]
DragonFrench, English Nickname or occupational name for someone who carried a standard in battle or else in a pageant or procession, from Middle English, Old French dragon "snake, monster" (Latin draco, genitive draconis, from Greek drakōn, ultimately from derkesthai "to flash")... [more]
DragooAmerican, French (Huguenot) Americanized form of Dragaud, a French (Huguenot) surname derived from the Germanic given name Dragwald, itself derived from the elements drag- meaning "to carry" and wald "power, rule".
DrakefordEnglish The first element of this locational surname is probably derived from the personal name Draca or Draki (see Drake), while the second element is derived from Old English ford meaning "ford"... [more]
DrayEnglish From Middle English dregh, probably as a nickname from any of its several senses: "lasting", "patient", "slow", "tedious", "doughty". Alternatively, in some cases, the name may derive from Old English drýge "dry, withered", also applied as a nickname.
DreamerEnglish The word dreamer (or surname) comes from the word dream with an added -er at the end indicating someone is dreaming. The word dream comes from the Dutch phrase droom and the German phrase Traum.
DrewittEnglish, French English (Wiltshire Berkshire and Surrey): of Norman origin from the Old French personal name Druet a diminutive of Drue Dreu (from ancient Germanic Drogo); see Drew Alternatively the name may be from a diminutive of Old French dru ‘lover’
DriggersAmerican Corruption of the Spanish surname Rodriguez. Originated in 17th century Virginia as a former slave by that surname was integrated into free society.
DringEnglish Means "young man" (from Old Norse drengr).
DriverEnglish Occupational name for a driver of horses or oxen attached to a cart or plow, or of loose cattle, from a Middle English agent derivative of Old English drīfan ‘to drive’.
DrownEnglish Derived from drone meaning "honey bee"
DrummerEnglish Locational name from a place called Drummer, near Chadderton in Lancashire. The meaning is possibly from the pre 7th century Olde English 'drum' meaning "a ridge".
DruryEnglish, French, Irish Originally a Norman French nickname, derived from druerie "love, friendship" (itself a derivative of dru "lover, favourite, friend" - originally an adjective, apparently from a Gaulish word meaning "strong, vigourous, lively", but influenced by the sense of the Old High German element trut, drut "dear, beloved").... [more]
DrydenEnglish Possibly from an English place name meaning "dry valley" from the Old English elements drȳġe "dry" and denu "valley". A notable bearer was the English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright John Dryden (1631-1700).
DryerEnglish From an agent derivative of Old English dr̄gean "to dry"; possibly an occupational name for a drier of cloth. In the Middle Ages, after cloth had been dyed and fulled, it was stretched out in tenterfields to dry.
DublinEnglish Habitational name for someone from a places named Dublin.
DuckEnglish, Irish English from Middle English doke "duck", hence a nickname for someone with some fancied resemblance to a duck, or an occupational name for someone who kept or hunted ducks. Alternatively, a variant form of Duke... [more]
DuckworthEnglish Habitational name from Duckworth Fold, in the borough of Bury, Lancashire, which is named from Old English fuce "duck" and wor{dh} "enclosure".
DuddridgeEnglish It is locational from a "lost" medieval village probably called Doderige, since that is the spelling in the first name recording (see below). It is estimated that some three thousand villages and hamlets have disappeared from the maps of Britain over the past thousand years... [more]
DudeEnglish Derived from Old English word doughty which meant "manly".
DukelowEnglish This surname is of Old French origin. It was initially introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and subsequently by French Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecutions in their own country... [more]
DullardEnglish From old English dull meaning "dumb, stupid".
DunacreEnglish (British) From Scottish Gaelic dun or donn, meaning 'fort' or 'brown' respectively, and acre, as in a plot of land.
DunawayEnglish Originally indicated someone who came from the village and civil parish of Dunwich in Suffolk, England, derived from Old English dun meaning "hill" (or possibly dune meaning "valley") and weg meaning "way"... [more]
DundrearyEnglish This was a nickname for someone who had dundrearies, which were long sideburns.
DunfordEnglish Derived either from Dunford Bridge in Yorkshire (named after the River Don and the English word “Ford”), or from Dunford House in Yorkshire (named after “Dunn’s Ford”). One known bearer is US General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
DunkinsonEnglish (British) Derives from the Scottish surname of Duncanson with the same meaning of "son of Duncan". Likewise, it may derive further from the Gaelic male given name "Donnchad", related ultimately to "Donncatus", a Celtic personal name of great antiquity.
DunmoreEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Dunmore Farm in Oxfordshire or from any of many places in Scotland named in Gaelic as Dún Môr 'great hill'.
DunneIrish, English, Scottish This surname means dark and was likely given to those with a dark complexion or with dark hair.
DunstanEnglish Either from the given name Dunstan or habitational name from Dunston (Derbyshire Lincolnshire Norfolk) from the Old English personal name Dunn and tun "settlement"... [more]
DurdenEnglish A different form of Dearden. A fictional bearer is Tyler Durden, a character from Chuck Palahniuk's 'Fight Club' (1996) and its subsequent film adaptation (1999).
DurhamEnglish Denotes a person from either the town of Durham, or elsewhere in County Durham, in England. Durham is derived from the Old English element dun, meaning "hill," and the Old Norse holmr, meaning "island."
DursleyEnglish (British) Of English origin and is locational from a place so called in Gloucestershire, which was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Dersilege', in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1195 as 'Derseleie' and in the Fees of 1220 as 'Dursleg'... [more]
DurwardEnglish, Scottish (?) Means "guardian of the door, door-keeper" (cf. Durward). A fictional bearer of the surname is Quentin Durward, eponymous hero of the novel (1823) by Sir Walter Scott.
DuttonEnglish habitational name from any of the places called Dutton, especially those in Cheshire and Lancashire. The first of these is named from Old English dun ‘hill’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the second is from Old English personal name Dudd + Old English tun.
DuxburyEnglish Habitational name from a place in Lancashire, recorded in the early 13th century as D(e)ukesbiri, from the genitive case of the Old English personal name Deowuc or Duc(c) (both of uncertain origin) + Old English burh ‘fort’ (see Burke).
DyeEnglish, Welsh English: from a pet form of the personal name Dennis. In Britain the surname is most common in Norfolk, but frequent also in Yorkshire. Welsh is also suggested, but 1881 and UK both show this as an East Anglian name - very few in Wales.
DykeEnglish English - Name for someone who lived 'by the dike' from Middle English dik deke, dike deke "ditch dyke", or someone from Dyke in Lincolnshire. Medieval dikes were bigger than modern ones and often built for defense, not drainage.... [more]
DykesEnglish Variant of Dicks or Dyke with plural or post-medieval S, or Americanized form of Dutch Dijks.
EachusEnglish Name is said to have originated in Cheshire and Lancashire. A variant of Etches, possibly a variant of Edge , with post-medieval excrescent -s and devoicing of the consonant, or an altered pronunciation of the nickname Edgoose (Middle English Edcus, early modern English Etcus)... [more]
EadeEnglish (British, ?) Originally derived from the Old English name Eadwig. Surname found mainly in Scotland and northern England. Americanized spelling of Norwegian Eide... [more]
EamerEnglish Possibly derived from the given name Eomer, or from Middle English yẹ̄mer "guardian, keeper, protector; guard".
EamesEnglish Probably from the possessive case of the Middle English word eam ‘uncle’, denoting a retainer in the household of the uncle of some important local person. Possibly also a variant of Ames.
EarenfightEnglish appears in early American history in Pennsylvania and New Jerssey. Jacob Earenfight fought in the Battle of Princeton in the American Revolutionary War.
EarnshawEnglish Means "person from Earnshaw", Lancashire ("Earn's nook of land" - Earn from an Old English personal name meaning literally "eagle"). In fiction this surname is borne by Catherine Earnshaw, her brother Hindley and her nephew Hareton, characters in Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' (1847).
EastEnglish From the English vocabulary word, ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *austrą "east". It originally denoted someone who lived to the east of something, or someone who came from the east.
EastburnEnglish Habitational name from either of two places, one in Humberside and one in West Yorkshire, so named from Old English ēast, ēasten "east" and burna "stream".
EasterbrookEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a brook to the east of a main settlement, from Middle English easter meaning "eastern" + brook meaning "stream".
EasthopeEnglish From the name of the village and civil parish of Easthope in Shropshire, England, derived from Old English est meaning "east, eastern" and hop meaning "enclosed valley".
EastleyEnglish A Saxon village called East Leah has been recorded to have existed since 932 AD. (Leah is an ancient Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'a clearing in a forest'). There is additional evidence of this settlement in a survey from the time which details land in North Stoneham being granted by King Æthelstan to his military aid, Alfred in 932 AD... [more]
EccbeerEnglish (Rare) From Middle English aker "field" and Old English bǣre "swine pasture," denoting someone who lived near one.... [more]
EcclesEnglish From the name of a town in Greater Manchester, England or another town or village named Eccles, derived from Latin ecclesia via Romano-British ecles meaning "church".
EddyAmerican A common surname used among people whose ancestry originates from the United Kingdom (England, Ireland and Scottland etc.) Shelia Eddy is an American who was convicted in 2014 for the murder of Skylar Neese in the state of West Virginia.
EdenEnglish From Middle English given name Edun, derived from Old English Ēadhūn, with the elements ēad "prosperity, wealth" and hūn "bear cub".... [more]
EdgeEnglish Topographic name, especially in Lancashire and the West Midlands, for someone who lived on or by a hillside or ridge, from Old English ecg "edge".
EdgecombeEnglish From a location meaning ridge valley, from Old English ecg "edge, ridge" and cumb "valley".
EdgelyEnglish A surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a place name taken from either a village in Cheshire or one in Shropshire. The name means “park by the wood” in Old English.
EggingtonEnglish Surname derived from a parish named "Eggington" in England.
EgglestonEnglish Habitational name from a place in County Durham so called, or from Egglestone in North Yorkshire, both named in Old English as Egleston, probably from the Old English personal name Ecgel (unattested) + tūn ‘settlement’, ‘farmstead’.
EisenhowerEnglish (American) American form of German Eisenhauer. A notable bearer was Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), president of the United States between 1953 and 1961. His ancestors immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany in the 1740s and at some point the spelling changed from Eisenhauer to Eisenhower.
ElamEnglish English habitational name for someone from a place called Elham, in Kent, or a lost place of this name in Crayford, Kent. The first is derived from Old English el ‘eel’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘enclosure hemmed in by water’... [more]
ElestialEnglish (British, Modern, Rare) First used as a surname in September 2000, first appearing on a birth certificate in July 2009. Meaning "protected by angels"; the origin is an adopted surname from a type of quartz crystal, often referred to as a new millennium crystal... [more]
ElkinEnglish Patronymic of a diminutive of the given name Elis.
ElkingtonEnglish According to Wikipedia Elkington is a deserted medieval village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire in England. The villages name means "Elta's hill" or perhaps, less likely, "swan hill".... [more]
EllerbyEnglish Denoted a person from a town called Ellerby, meaning "Ælfweard’s farm", or perhaps "alder tree town" from Middle English aller "alder tree" and Old Norse býr "farm, settlement".
EllinghamEnglish Habitational name from places so named in Hampshire, Northumbria, and Norfolk. The first of these is named from Old English Edlingaham ‘homestead (Old English ham) of the people of Edla’, a personal name derived from a short form of the various compound names with a first element ead ‘prosperity’, ‘fortune’; the others may have the same origin or incorporate the personal name Ella 1 (see Ellington).
ElricEnglish, Popular Culture From the medieval English givin name Elric. Notable bearers were the Fullmetal Alchemist characters Edward and Alphonse Elric, as well as their mother, Trisha Elric.
ElsegoodEnglish (British), English (Australian) Derived from an Old English given name, possibly *Ælfgod or *Æðelgod, in which the second element is god "god". (Another source gives the meaning "temple-god", presumably from ealh and god.)... [more]
ElsemereEnglish The surname Ellesmere was first found in Shropshire at Ellesmere, a market-town and parish, and the head of a union.
ElseyEnglish Derived from the Middle English given names Elfsi and Elsi, which in turn were derived from the Old English given name Ælfsige.