Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
ShallcrossEnglish Means "person from Shallcross", Derbyshire ("place by the Shacklecross", an ancient stone cross in the High Peak, its name perhaps denoting a cross to which people could be shackled as a penance).
ShandyEnglish (Rare) Shandy appears as a rare surname, mostly found in English-speaking countries going back to the 1600s. This name may originate from the English dialect adjective meaning "boisterous" or "empty headed; half crazy", of which the earliest record dates to 1691, though any further explanation for its origins are unknown... [more]
ShanksEnglish (Modern) Possibly a diminutive of LONGSHANKS, which would be given to a tall or gangly person.
SharptonEnglish Habitational name from Sharperton in Northumberland, possibly so named from Old English scearp "steep" and beorg "hill", "mound" and tun "settlement".
SheldrakeEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandyish (showy) or vain man, from Middle English scheldrake, the male of a type of duck with brightly-coloured plumage (itself from the East Anglian dialect term scheld "variegated" combined with drake "male duck").
ShelleyEnglish, Irish (Anglicized) Habitational name from any of the three places called Shelley (Essex Suffolk Yorkshire) or from Shelley Plain in Crawley (Sussex)... [more]
ShenbergerEnglish (?) The name Shenberger comes from a common mix up with the archaic Austrian-German surname Schoenberg; meaning "Beautiful Mountain."
ShentonEnglish "Beautiful town" in Old English. Parishes in Leicestershire, and Cheshire.
SheriffEnglish, Scottish Occupational name for a sheriff, derived from Middle English schiref, shreeve, shryve literally meaning "sheriff", or from Old English scir meaning "shire, administrative district" and (ge)refa meaning "reeve"... [more]
SherrardEnglish Probably from a medieval nickname based on Middle English shere "bright, fair", with the derogatory suffix -ard.
SherrellEnglish This surname is of English locational origin, from the place in Devonshire called Shirwell. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sirewelle, and by 1242 as Shirewill... [more]
ShinglerEnglish An occupational name for someone who laid wooden tiles, or shingles on roofs, from an agent derivative of Middle English schingle ‘shingle’. ... [more]
ShinnEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a Skinner, from Old English scinn, Middle English shin ‘hide’, ‘pelt’. In Middle English this word was replaced by the Norse equivalent, skinn.
ShipEnglish This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is an occupational surname for "a mariner", or perhaps, occasionally a "ship or boat-builder". The derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century scip, ship, in Middle English schip
ShipleyEnglish (Rare) English: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Derbyshire, County Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, Sussex, and West Yorkshire, so called from Old English sceap, scip ‘sheep’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
ShipmanEnglish Occupational name for a mariner, or occasionally perhaps for a boatbuilder, from Middle English "schipman". One notable person is known evildoer Harold Shipman. He was an English general practitioner who is believed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history.
ShippEnglish nickname for a mariner or perhaps a boatbuilder from Middle English schip "ship". Compare Shipman . in addition the name may occasionally also have been topographic or habitational referring to a house or inn distinguished by the sign of a ship.
ShipperGerman, Jewish, English German and Jewish Cognate and English variant of Schipper. occupational name from Middle English shippere "shipman sailor seaman" (Old English scipere) perhaps also with the sense "skipper" (Middle Low German schipper).
ShiptonEnglish From Old English scip "sheep", and tun "enclosure; settlement".
ShockleyEnglish (i) perhaps "person from Shocklach", Cheshire ("boggy stream infested with evil spirits"); (ii) perhaps an anglicization of Swiss German Schoechli, literally "person who lives by the little barn"
ShoesmithEnglish occupational name for a blacksmith who either specialized in shoeing horses (a farrier) or in making and fitting iron blades known as shoes such as the tips of spades and the plowshares on plow moldboards from Middle English sho "shoe" (Old English scoh) and smith "smith" (Old English smiþ).
ShoreEnglish From the Old English word scora meaning "the land along the edge of an ocean, sea, lake, or river; a coast."
ShortallEnglish The ancient history of the name Shortall began soon after 1066 when the Norman Conquest of England occurred. It was a name given to a stocky or short-necked person which was in turn derived from the Anglo-Saxon word scorkhals meaning a person with a short neck.
ShrapnelEnglish A different form of Carbonell. Shrapnel (i.e. metal balls or fragments that are scattered when a bomb, shell or bullet explodes) is named after General Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), a British artillery officer who during the Peninsular War invented a shell that produced that effect.
ShreveEnglish Altered English variant of Sheriff. In some cases, this surname may have arisen from a nickname.
ShrewsburyEnglish From Shrewsbury, a market town and the county town of Shropshire, England, derived from Old English scrobb meaning "scrub, brushwood" and burg meaning "fortified place".
ShrimptonEnglish Probably referring to the unknown "Estate of Shrimp"
ShropshireEnglish Regional name from the county of Shropshire, on the western border of England with Wales.
ShuckEnglish Origin uncertain; perhaps a nickname from Middle English schucke "devil, fiend".
SibleyEnglish (British) From the Anglo-Saxons influence in England. Said to be derived from the ancient Sibbelee, a woman’s Christian name, and has been traced through Sibilla, Sybbly, and finally Sibley. Sibilla was the name of a Greek princess who uttered the ancient oracles, and is represented on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel... [more]
SidwellEnglish From an English surname of uncertain origin, possibly originally a habitational name from an unidentified place with a second element from Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’, but on the other hand early forms are found without prepositions... [more]
SillitoeEnglish A different form of Shillito (which is 'a name of unknown derivation and meaning, probably originating in Yorkshire'), borne by British novelist, short-story writer and poet Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010).
SilvergrassEnglish From English "Silver" and "Grass". Probably given from the plant called "Silvergrass", a Miscanthus type growing in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands, or a field shining with the sun.
SilverstoneEnglish Obviously means "silver stone." In addition to people, this is the name of a racetrack in the village of the same name in England.
SilverthorneEnglish (Rare) Silverthorne, Silverthorn comes from the Old English seolfor "silver" and þorn "thorn bush" and means the family that lived by the "silver or white thorn tree".
SingleEnglish Topographic name derived from Old English sengel meaning "burnt clearing" or "brushwood".
SingleEnglish From Middle English sengle meaning "alone, solitary, unmarried" or "simple, honest, sincere".
SingletonEnglish Habitational name from either of two villages, one in Lancashire, derived from Old English scingol "shingle, roof tile" and tun "enclosure, yard, town", the other in Sussex, derived from Old English sengel meaning "brushwood" or "burnt clearing".
SiniseEnglish The meaning of this surname is unknown. A notable bearer is American actor, Gary Sinise.
SinistraEnglish Sinistra - last name used by a Harry Potter character. She is a Hogwarts professor in Astronomy, Aurora Sinistra.
SinnamonEnglish Scottish surname which is a corruption of the place name Kinnimonth, meaning "head of the hill".
SissonEnglish metronymic from the medieval female personal name Siss, Ciss, short for Sisley, Cecilie, or possibly from a pet form of Sisley (with the old French diminutive suffix -on). variant of Sessions.
SkaggsEnglish English name of unknown meaning occurring mainly in Hertfordshire. A noted bearer is American country music artist Ricky Skaggs (1954-).
SkaifeEnglish Skaife is a form of Scaife, which is derived from the Old Norse Skeifr meaning "awry, difficult". The first recorded instance of Scaife is in the epic Beowulf... [more]
SkeltonEnglish, German, Norwegian (Rare) Habitational name from places in Cumbria and Yorkshire, England, originally named with the same elements as Shelton, but with a later change of ‘s’ to ‘sk’ under Scandinavian influence.
SkillernEnglish Habitational name from Skeleron in Rimington, Lancashire (formerly in West Yorkshire), earlier known as Skelhorn.
SkipperEnglish Occupational name for either a basket weaver Derived from Middle English skeppe witch itself is from Old Norse skeppa... [more]
SkipworthEnglish From the name of Skipwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The place name was recorded as Schipewic in the Domesday Book of 1086; as Scipewiz in the 1166 Pipe Rolls of the county; and as Skipwith in the 1291 Pipe Rolls, and derives from the Old English sceap, scip "sheep", and wic "outlying settlement"; hence, "settlement outside the village where sheep were kept".
SlackEnglish, Dutch Nickname for an idle person, from Middle Dutch slac "slow, loose", Middle English slak "lazy, careless". Alternatively, the Dutch form could derive from Middle Dutch slecke "snail, slug", with a similar implication of idleness.
SlackEnglish Means "small valley, shallow dell", derived from Old Norse slakki "a slope", a topographic name for someone who lived by such a landform, or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word, for example near Stainland and near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.
SlateEnglish Occupational name for a slater, from Middle English slate, "slate".
SlaughterEnglish occupational name from Middle English slaughter "butcher" a derivative of Middle English slaught "butchery" and the suffix er or from a shortened form of the synonymous Middle English slaughterer a derivative of slaughter "butchery" and the suffix er.
SlawsonEnglish Slawson is an English surname meaning "unexplained".
SlingerEnglish Travelled with the army's a user of Slings for war. The variant Slingo is a misspelling only appeared after the English civil war. YDNA between the two matches.
SmalleyEnglish, Cornish (?) Locational surname from places in Derbyshire and Lancashire, so called from Old English smæl ‘narrow’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. This may also be a Cornish name with an entirely separate meaning.
SmileyScots, English From elements small and lea meaning "a small clearing" or as a nickname may refer to a person of happy disposition known for smiling.
SmithsonEnglish Means "a son who was born by a blacksmith worker".
SmithwickEnglish habitational name from Smethwick in Staffordshire Smethwick Green near Brereton Heath (Cheshire) or a lost place called Smithwick in Southover (Sussex). The place name means "the farm of the smiths" from Old English smiþ "smith" and wic "dwelling specialized farm"... [more]
SmockEnglish From Middle English smoc, smok meaning "smock", "shift", hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or sold such garments, or a nickname for someone who habitually wore a smock (the usual everyday working garment of a peasant).
SmokerEnglish Derived from the Old English word "smoc," meaning "smock" or, literally, "woman's undergarment." The name was most likely originally borne by someone who made or sold smocks.
SnapeEnglish (British), Scottish An old, now rare surname, with various origins in Suffolk and Yorkshire in England and Lanarkshire in Scotland, derived from Middle English snaipen, “to injure; to nip (of sleet or snow); to criticize, rebuke, revile”, from Old Norse sneypa, “to disgrace, to dishonor, to outrage”... [more]
SnipeEnglish Derived from a given name; from Old English snip or Old Norse snípr. It is habitational surname from a place so called in the historic county of Northumberland, North East England.
SnowEnglish, Jewish (Anglicized) Nickname denoting someone with very white hair or an exceptionally pale complexion, from Old English snaw "snow".... [more]
SnowdenEnglish Habitational name from Snowden, a place in West Yorkshire named from Old English snāw ‘snow’ + dūn ‘hill’, i.e. a hill where snow lies long.
SnowdonEnglish Variant spelling of Snowden, a surname initially used by the Border Reivers. Comes from the mountain in Wales.
SoamesEnglish Denoted a person hailing from a village called Soham in Cambridgeshire, England. The place name itself means "homestead by the lake" from Old English sæ "lake" and ham "farm, homestead"... [more]
SolsticeEnglish Taken from it's usage as a given name, which derived from Latin solsticium and thus ultimately from sol "sun" and stito "to stand still". The English word solstice refers to two times of the year when the sun's apparent position in the sky reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes.