LOCKYEREnglish Variant of LOCKLEAR. Lockyer is an occupational name of anglo-saxon origin meaning "locksmith".
LODGEEnglish Local name for someone who lived in a small cottage or temporary dwelling, Middle English logge (Old French loge, of Germanic origin). The term was used in particular of a cabin erected by masons working on the site of a particular construction project, such as a church or cathedral, and so it was probably in many cases equivalent to an occupational name for a mason... [more]
LOMASEnglish, Scottish, Scottish Gaelic Variant spelling of "Lomax", meaning a steam pool devoted from Lumhalghs, Lancs. Also variant spelling of "Lennox", meaning Elmwood in Gaelic.
LOMAXEnglish Lomax is a territorial surname, derived from the hamlet of Lumhalghs, near Bury, Greater Manchester, and meaning "pool nook" or "recess". Notable persons with the surname Lomax include: Alan Lomax (1915–2002) American musicologist, son of John Avery Lomax... [more]
LONGBOTTOMEnglish, Literature, Popular Culture English (West Yorkshire) topographic name for someone who lived in a long valley, from Middle English long + botme, bothem ‘valley bottom’. Given the surname’s present-day distribution, Longbottom in Luddenden Foot, West Yorkshire, may be the origin, but there are also two places called Long Bottom in Hampshire, two in Wiltshire, and Longbottom Farm in Somerset and in Wiltshire.
LONGFELLOWEnglish Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline.
LORDEnglish A surname derived from someone of a lordly manner, or perhaps one who had earned the title in some contest of skill or had played the part of the ‘Lord of Misrule’ in the Yuletide festivities.... [more]
LORIMEREnglish Means "maker or seller of metal items of a horse's harness and associated equipment (e.g. bits and spurs)" (from Anglo-Norman loremier, a derivative of Old French lorain "harness").
LOSHAWEnglish English name this is the last name of singer Avril Lavigne’s Mother Judith Rosanne Loshaw
LOTSPEICHEnglish possibly from Bavarian lott ‘mud’ + speich ‘spittle’, ‘moist dirt’, either a topographic name for someone who lived on land in a muddy area or a nickname for someone who had a dirty appearance... [more]
LOTTEnglish from a medieval personal name brought to England by the Normans, of uncertain origin. It may be the Hebrew personal name Lot ‘covering’, which was relatively popular in northern France, or a reduced form of various names formed with the diminutive suffix -lot (originally a combination of -el + -ot), commonly used with women’s names.
LOUDEnglish from the English word "loud", given to a loud or, in jest, quiet person
LOVECRAFTEnglish An English surname coming from the Old English lufu, meaning "love, desire", and cæft, meaning "strength, skill".... [more]
LOVEDAYEnglish Means either (i) "person particularly associated with a 'loveday'" (a day when, by custom, old differences were settled and reconciliations were made); or (ii) from the medieval female personal name LOVEDAY, a descendant of Old English Lēofdæg, literally "beloved day"... [more]
LOVEJOYEnglish Combination of Middle English love(n), luve(n) "to love" and joie "joy".
LOVELACEEnglish From a medieval nickname for a woman-chaser or lothario (from Old English lufulēas, literally "without love", hence "fancy-free"). The English poet Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) was a famous bearer.
LOVELANDEnglish From a surname which was derived from a place name, possibly meaning "Lufa's land" in Old English or "leaf land" in Norwegian.
LOVELOCKEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandy or a man conceited about his appearance (from lovelock, a term for an elaborately curled lock of hair). This surname is borne by British scientist James Lovelock (1919-), formulator of the "Gaia" concept.
LOXLEYEnglish English: habitational name from any of various minor places named Loxley, as for example one in Warwickshire, which is named with the Old English personal name Locc + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
LUCEROEnglish, Spanish The surname "Lucero" was derived from English conquerers who came from England, most likely someone who worked for a king or queen. The term Lucero refers to a "star" or "light carrier" when the English traveled to Spain, the Spanish people gave them the name "Lucero" but earlier was spelled with an "s or Lusero"... [more]
LUDLOWEnglish Habitational name from a place in Shropshire, so named from the Old English river name Hlude (from hlud 'loud', 'roaring') referring to the Teme river + hlaw 'hill'.
LUGGEnglish English (Devon) probably from a local vernacular derivative of LUCAS. However, Reaney posits an Old English personal name, Lugga, from which this name could be derived.
LUKEEnglish From a derivative of LUCAS. This was (and is) the common vernacular form of the name, being the one by which the author of the fourth Gospel is known in English.
LUNDYEnglish Either (i) "person from Lundie", the name of various places in Scotland (meaning "place by a marsh"); or (ii) a different form of MCALINDEN.
LUNNNorwegian, English Derived from LUND, which in turn comes from the Old Norse lundr, meaning "grove of trees".
LUXTONEnglish English habitational name from a minor place, probably one of two in Devon, so called from the possessive form of the Middle English personal name or surname LUGG (from Old English Lugga) + Middle English tune, tone ‘settlement’ (Old English tun).
MABBETTEnglish From a pet-form of the medieval female personal name Mabbe, a shortened form of AMABEL (ultimately from Latin amābilis "lovable")... [more]
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]
MACMILLANScottish, English A Scottish family name. The origin of the name is said to derive from the origin of the Scottish Clan MacMillan. The progenitor of the Clan was said to be Airbertach, Hebridean prince of the old royal house of Moray... [more]
MADELEYEnglish English: habitational name from places so named in Shropshire and Staffordshire, named in Old English with the personal name MADA + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
MAHLOYEnglish (American) Mahloy is a misspelling of Malloy by Charles Malloy's (b. 1898, Scotland) elementary school teacher in the Ireland. The surname Malloy is derived from the pre 10th century Old Gaelic name O'Maolmhuidh, meaning the descendant of the Great Chief.
MAITLANDEnglish, Scottish Possibly from Mautalant, the name of a place in Pontorson, France meaning "inhospitable" or "bad temper" in Norman French (ultimately from Late Latin malum "bad" and talentum "inclination, disposition"), which was so named because of its unproductive soil; or perhaps it was originally a nickname for an ungracious individual, derived from the same source.
MAKEPEACEEnglish From a medieval nickname for a skilled conciliator. It was borne by English cricketer Harry Makepeace (1881-1952).
MALEEnglish Nickname for a virile man, from Middle English male meaning "masculine".
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).
MALLARDEnglish Either (i) from the Old French male personal name Malhard, brought into England by the Normans but ultimately of Germanic origin and meaning literally "council-brave"; or (ii) from a medieval nickname for someone thought to resemble a male wild duck.
MALLOWSEnglish From Anglo-Saxon origins, meaning "The cross or mark on the hill". This surname is taken from the location 'Mallows Green' in England.
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]
MANCHESTEREnglish Habitational name from the city in northwestern England, formerly part of Lancashire. This is so called from Mamucio (an ancient British name containing the element mammā "breast", and meaning "breast-shaped hill") combined with Old English ceaster "Roman fort or walled city" (Latin castra "legionary camp").
MANFORDEnglish Place name for "Munda's ford" from an Old English personal name Munda, the same element in the second syllable of Edmund and ford meaning a waterway crossing.
MANLEYEnglish Habitational name from places in Devon and Cheshire, named in Old English as "common wood or clearing", from (ge)mǣne "common, shared" and lēah "woodland clearing". The surname is still chiefly found in the regions around these villages.
MANSELLEnglish (Canadian), Norman Of Norman origin, a habitational or regional name from Old French mansel ‘inhabitant of Le Mans or the surrounding area of Maine’. The place was originally named in Latin (ad) Ceromannos, from the name of the Gaulish tribe living there, the Ceromanni... [more]
MANSFIELDEnglish Means "open land by the River Maun," from the Celtic river name + the Old English word "feld."
MAPPEnglish From a variant of the medieval female personal name Mabbe, a shortened form of AMABEL. A fictional bearer is Elizabeth Mapp, busybodyish spinster in the 'Mapp and Lucia' novels of E.F. Benson.
MARCHEnglish From the English word meaning, "to walk stiffly and proudly" or possibly from the month.
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.
MARCUSEnglish Marcus is a surname derived from the given name of Ancient Roman pre-Christian origin derived either from Etruscan Marce of unknown meaning (possibly from the Etruscan "mar" which means "to harvest"), or referring to the god Mars... [more]
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]
MARKHAMEnglish English name from a place in Nottinghamshire, named in Old English as 'homestead at a (district) boundary', from mearc 'boundary' + ham 'homestead'. English surname used as an equivalent of Gaelic Ó MARCACHÁIN 'descendant of Marcachán', a diminutive of Marcach (see Markey).
MARKLANDEnglish From Old English mearc meaning "boundary" and lanu meaning "lane", it is a habitational name from a place in the town of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It can also be a topographic name for someone who lived by a stretch of border or boundary land, or a status name for someone who held land with an annual value of one mark.
MARKLEYEnglish This surname means "border clearing" from Old English elements mearc meaning "border, mark" and leah meaning "clearing, grove."
MARKSEnglish This surname is derived either from the name MARK or from Old English mearc meaning "border, mark."
MARKSMANEnglish An occupational surname indicating a person who was a hunter, especially a skilled one.
MARSLANDEnglish Probably derived from some place named as being a boggy place, from Old English mersc meaning "marsh" and land meaning "land". Alternatively, it may be a variant of MARKLAND.
MARVELEnglish Either (i) from a medieval nickname (often ironic) for someone regarded as a prodigy; or (ii) "person from Merville", the name of two places in northern France ("smaller settlement" and "settlement belonging to a man with a Germanic name beginning with Meri-, literally 'famous'")... [more]
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]
MASSETEREnglish Perhaps means "brewery worker" (from Middle English mash "fermentable mixture of hot water and grain" + rudder "rudder-shaped stirrer").
MASSINGBERDEnglish Perhaps from a medieval nickname for someone with an auburn or reddish beard (from Middle English massing "brass" + berd "beard").
MASSINGHAMEnglish The name is tribal and probably Anglo-Saxon, and translates as the 'hamm' (place or village) of the Maessa (Mass) tribe. These people are also recorded in Lincoln, as 'Massingberd', the castle (berg) of the Maessa tribe.
MATLOCKEnglish Derived from a place name (Matlock in Derbyshire) meaning ‘meeting-place oak’ from Old English mæthel ‘meeting’, ‘gathering’, ‘council’ and ac ‘oak’.
MATONTIEnglish My grandfathers last name from Italy . He grew up in Naples but the name is from a small country village by Tuscany named Matonti. That's all we know so far.
MATTINGLYEnglish (British) This name dates all the way back to the 1200s and research shows that Mattingly families began immigrating to the United States in the 1600s and continued until the 1900s. However, the place name (Mattingley, England) dates back to the year 1086, but spelled as Matingelege... [more]
MAUDLINGEnglish From the medieval female personal name Maudeleyn, the English form of Greek Magdalēnē, the sobriquet in the New Testament of the woman Mary who was cured of evil spirits by Jesus... [more]
MAUGHANIrish, English Anglicized from the original Irish Gaelic form Ò Mocháin meaning 'descendant of Mochain'. This name was one of the earliest known Irish surnames brought to England and remains a fairly common surname in the North East of the country.
MAURICEEnglish, French This surname is taken from a given name which is derived from the Roman name Mauritius, a derivative of Maurus.
MAVERICKEnglish (Rare) Surname notably borne by Texas lawyer, politician and land baron Samuel MAVERICK (1803-1870) to whom the word maverick was coined.
MAXFIELDEnglish Habitational name from places so named in England.
MAXSONPopular Culture, English Means son of MAX. This is the surname of the hereditary leaders of the Brotherhood of Steel in the popular Fallout game. The first bearer of the name was Captain Roger Maxson, who founded the BOS, with the most recent bearer being Arthur Maxson, the current leader of the BOS in Fallout 4.
MEADEnglish topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow, from Middle English mede ‘meadow’ (Old English m?d). metonymic occupational name for a brewer or seller of mead (Old English meodu), an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey
MEADEREnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow, from Mead 1 + the suffix -er, denoting an inhabitant.
MEADOWEnglish A topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow. The form meadow derives from mǣdwe, the dative case of Old English mǣd.
MEDLEYEnglish Habitational name, either a variant of MADELEY (a name common to several places, including one in Shropshire and two in Staffordshire), named in Old English as ‘Mada’s clearing’, from an unattested byname, MADA (probably a derivative of mad ‘foolish’) + leah ‘woodland clearing’; or from Medley on the Thames in Oxfordshire, named in Old English with middel ‘middle’ + eg ‘island’... [more]
MEDLICOTTEnglish Derivative from a location in Shropshire, England
MENEARCornish, English (British) English (Devon; of Cornish origin): topographic name for someone who lived by a menhir, i.e. a tall standing stone erected in prehistoric times (Cornish men ‘stone’ + hir ‘long’). In the United States, it is a common surname in Pennsylvania & West Virginia.
MERRIDEWEnglish A different form of MEREDITH (from the Welsh personal name Meredydd, perhaps literally "lord of splendour"). It occurs in Wilkie Collins' 'The Moonstone' (1868) belonging to Mrs Merridew, widowed sister to Sir John Verinder.