GOODLOEEnglish Goodloe traces back to the English GIDLOW. The first recorded use of the name is from 1291; Robert de Gidlow was a freeholder in Aspull, Lancanshire, United Kingdom and the name occurs frequently down to the 17th century... [more]
GOODSONEnglish Nickname for a dutiful son, from Middle English gode ‘good’ + sone ‘son’.
GORHAMEnglish A name originating from Kent, England believed to come from the elements gara and ham meaning "from a triangular shaped homestead." Compare GORE.
GORRINGEEnglish Derived from the name of the village of Goring-by-the-Sea in Sussex
GORSUCHEnglish Habitational name from the hamlet of Gorsuch, Lancashire, earlier Gosefordsich, derived from Old English gosford meaning "goose ford" and sic meaning "small stream".
GOTHAMEnglish English: habitational name from Gotham in Nottinghamshire, so named from Old English gat ‘goat’ + ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘water meadow’.
GOULDINGEnglish From the late Old English personal name GOLDING, which was derived from GOLDA (or the feminine form GOLDE) and the patronymic suffix -ing.... [more]
GOULTEREnglish (Rare) This very unusual name has long been recorded in England but perhaps surprisingly as a Norman personal name. The first recording in England was as "Galterii" which appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 for London as a French form of the Olde German "Walter" translating as "Mighty Army".
GRAFFEnglish Metonymic occupational name for a clerk or scribe, from Anglo-Norman French grafe "quill, pen" (a derivative of grafer "to write", Late Latin grafare, from Greek graphein).
GRANGEEnglish, French English and French topographic name for someone who lived by a granary, from Middle English, Old French grange (Latin granica ‘granary’, ‘barn’, from granum ‘grain’)... [more]
GRANTEnglish, Scottish From a medieval personal name, probably a survival into Middle English of the Old English byname Granta (see GRANTHAM).
GRANTHAMEnglish Habitational name from Grantham in Lincolnshire, of uncertain origin. The final element is Old English hām "homestead"; the first may be Old English grand "gravel" or perhaps a personal name Granta, which probably originated as a byname meaning "snarler"... [more]
GRASSEnglish, German Topographic name for someone who owned or lived by a meadow, or a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or sold hay, from Middle English gras, Middle High German gras "grass, pasture, grazing".
GRAYLINGEnglish (British) Uncommon surname of unclear origin; possible medieval locational name, or a derivative of the French surname Grail or the diminutive Graillon.... [more]
GREASBYEnglish One who came from Greasby, a parish on the Wirral Peninsula, in Cheshire, now Merseyside.
GREELEYEnglish, Norman English (of Norman origin): nickname for someone with a pock-marked face, from Old Northern French greslé ‘pitted’, ‘scarred’ (from gresle ‘hailstone’, of Germanic origin).
GREENALLEnglish From Lincolnshire in England, meaning "green hill".
GREENGRASSEnglish Notable bearers include film director Paul Greengrass and baseball player Jim Greengrass.
GREENLANDEnglish (German) Greenland Name Meaning. English: topographic name for someone who lived near a patch of land left open as communal pasturage, from Middle English grene 'green' + land 'land'. Translated form of German Grönland, a topographic name with the same meaning as 1, from Low German grön 'green' + Land 'land'.
GREENLAWEnglish From one of two placenames, located near the Anglo-Scottish border. Named with Old English grēne, 'green' and halw, 'hill, mound'.
GREENLEAFEnglish From Old English grēne "green" and lēaf "leaf", presumably applied as a nickname, the significance of which is now lost.
GREENLEEEnglish habitational name from any of various minor places, for example in Staffordshire, so named from Old English grene ‘green’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
GREENWAYEnglish Originally given to a person who lived near a grassy path, from Middle English grene "green" and weye "road, path" (cf. WAY).... [more]
GREENWOODEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived in a dense forest, from Middle English grene "green" and wode "wood", or a habitational name from a minor place so named, as for example Greenwood in Heathfield, East Sussex.
GRIMKÉEnglish (American) Meaning unknown. This was the surname of Sarah (1792-1873) and Angelina (1805-1879) Grimké, sisters who opposed slavery and supported women's rights.
GRIMMEnglish, German, Danish, Swedish (Rare), Norwegian (Rare) From a nickname for a stern and forbidding individual, derived from the Old High German word grim "stern, severe". Or possibly from the given name GRÍMR derived from Old Norse gríma "mask, helmet"... [more]
GRISSOMEnglish From a diminutive of Grice, which was originally a nickname for a grey-haired man, derived from Middle English grice, gris meaning "grey" (itself from Old French gris, apparently of Germanic origin).
GROSVENOREnglish English surname of Norman origin meaning ‘the master huntsman’. Derived from Le Grand Veneur, this title was held by Hugh d'Avranches who accompanied William the Conqueror in the Norman invasion of England in 1066.
GRUNDYEnglish Probably a Middle English metathesized form of the Old French personal name Gondri, Gundric (see GUNDRY).
GRYLLSEnglish (Rare) There was an old and distinguished family of Grylls of Tavistock (Devon) and Lanreath (Cornwall) in the 17th century; two high sheriffs of the county then bore the name. The manor of Gryils (commonly mispronounced Garles), near the rocks called the Gryils or Garles, from which they probably derive their name, is in the parish of Lesneweth in that county.
GUDGEONEnglish from Middle English gojon, gogen, Old French gougon ‘gudgeon’ (the fish) (Latin gobio, genitive gobionis), applied as a nickname or perhaps as a metonymic occupational name for a seller of these fish... [more]
GUESTEnglish Nickname for a stranger or newcomer to a community, from Middle English g(h)est meaning "guest", "visitor" (from Old Norse gestr, absorbing the cognate Old English giest).
GULLICKEnglish From the Middle English personal name Gullake, a descendant of Old English Gūthlāc, literally "battle-sport".
GULLIVEREnglish From a medieval nickname for a greedy person (from Old French goulafre "glutton"). Jonathan Swift used it in his satire 'Gulliver's Travels' (1726), about the shipwrecked ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver, whose adventures "offer opportunities for a wide-ranging and often savage lampooning of human stupidity and vice."
GUNDRYEnglish From Gondri, Gundric, an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans, composed of the Germanic elements gund "battle" and rīc "power(ful)".
GUPPYEnglish English habitational name from a place in Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset, Gupehegh in Middle English. This is named with the Old English personal name Guppa (a short form of Guðbeorht "battle bright") + (ge)hæg "enclosure"... [more]
GUYEnglish Occupational name for a guide, Old French gui (a derivative of gui(d)er "to guide", of Germanic origin).
GUYEnglish, French From a French form of the Germanic personal name Wido, which is of uncertain origin. This name was popular among the Normans in the forms Wi, Why as well as in the rest of France in the form Guy.
HACKNEYEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hackney in Greater London, named from an Old English personal name Haca (genitive Hacan) combined with ēg "island, dry ground in marshland".
HACKNEYEnglish, Scottish From Middle English hakenei (Old French haquenée), an ambling horse, especially one considered suitable for women to ride; perhaps therefore a metonymic occupational name for a stablehand... [more]
HADDONEnglish Derived from the Old English word had meaning "heathland" and the Old English suffix -don meaning "hill"; hence, the "heathland hill" or the "heather-covered hill".... [more]
HADLEYEnglish A habitational name from either a place named Hadley, or a place named Hadleigh. The first is named from the Old English personal name Hadda + lēah (means ‘wood’, ‘(woodland) clearing’), and the other three are from Old English hǣð (meaning ‘heathland’, ‘heather') + lēah.
HAILESScottish, English Scottish habitational name from Hailes in Lothian, originally in East Lothian, named from the Middle English genitive or plural form of hall ‘hall’. ... [more]
HAIRFIELDEnglish Probably a variant of Harefield, a habitational name from a place so named, for example the one Greater London or Harefield in Selling, Kent, which are both apparently named from Old English here ‘army’ + feld ‘open country’.
HALLIWELLEnglish Northern English (Lancashire) habitational name from a place near Manchester called Halliwell, from Old English halig ‘holy’ + well(a) ‘well’, ‘spring’, or from any of the numerous other places named with these elements (see Hollowell).
HALLMARKEnglish From Middle English halfmark ‘half a mark’, probably a nickname or status name for someone who paid this sum in rent.
HALLOWEnglish English: topographic name from Middle English hal(l)owes ‘nooks’, ‘hollows’, from Old English halh (see HALE). In some cases the name may be genitive, rather than plural, in form, with the sense ‘relative or servant of the dweller in the nook’.
HALLOWELLEnglish The ancestors of the name Hallowell date back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Hallowell family lived near a holy spring having derived from the Old English terms halli, which meant "holy", and welle, which meant "spring".
HALLWELLEnglish Related to Halliwell, this surname means "Lives by the Holy Spring"
HALPRINEnglish Halprin is the last name of the main character the book called Ashfall by Mike Mullin.
HAMEnglish, German, Scottish, Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon meaning the home stead, many places in England. One who came from Hamm in North-Rhine Westphalia, or one who came from Ham in Caithness Scotland's most northerly county. In Scotland this surname devires from the Norse word "Hami", meaning homestead.
HAMEREnglish, German From the town of Hamer in Lancashire from the old english word Hamor combining "Rock" and "Crag". It is also used in Germany and other places in Europe, possibly meaning a maker of Hammers.
HAMMERGerman, English, Jewish From Middle High German hamer, Yiddish hamer, a metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of hammers, for example in a forge, or nickname for a forceful person.
HANNAMEnglish Habitational name from a place called Hanham in Gloucestershire, which was originally Old English Hānum, dative plural of hān ‘rock’, hence ‘(place) at the rocks’. The ending -ham is by analogy with other place names with this very common unstressed ending.
HARBINEnglish This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origins, and is derived from the personal names Rabin, Robin, and Robert. It has the English prefix 'har', which means gray.... [more]
HARBOUREnglish Variant of French ARBOUR or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of a lodging house, from Old English herebeorg "shelter, lodging".
HARKAWAYEnglish From a sporting phrase used to guide and incite hunting dogs.
HARKEREnglish (British) English (mainly northeastern England and West Yorkshire): habitational name from either of two places in Cumbria, or from one in the parish of Halsall, near Ormskirk, Lancashire. The Cumbrian places are probably named from Middle English hart ‘male deer’ + kerr ‘marshland’... [more]
HARKNESSScottish, English (British), Northern Irish Apparently a habitational name from an unidentified place (perhaps in the area of Annandale, with which the surname is connected in early records), probably so called from the Old English personal name HERECA (a derivative of the various compound names with the first element here ‘army’) + Old English næss ‘headland’, ‘cape’... [more]
HARLESSEnglish, German English: probably a variant spelling of Arliss, a nickname from Middle English earles ‘earless’, probably denoting someone who was deaf rather than one literally without ears.
HARLINEnglish English surname transferred to forename use, from the Norman French personal name Herluin, meaning "noble friend" or "noble warrior."
HARMEREnglish (British) Meaning, of the Army or man of Armor, from the battle at Normandy, France. It was formerly a French last name Haremere after the battle at Normandy it moved on to England where it was shortened to Harmer.
HARTFORDEnglish Habitational name from Hertford, or from either of two places called Hartford, in Cheshire and Cumbria; all are named with Old English heorot ‘hart’ + ford ‘ford’.
HARTLEYEnglish, Scottish Derived from the Old English words meaning heorot meaning "hart" and leah meaning "clearing". Also from Scottish Ó hArtghaile meaning "descendant of Artghal". HARTLEY is also an English given name.
HARTONEnglish This surname is a habitational one, denoting someone who lived in a village in County Durham or in North Yorkshire.... [more]
HARTWELLEnglish Habitational name from places in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Staffordshire called Hartwell, from Old English heorot ‘stag’, ‘hart’ + wella ‘spring’, ‘stream’... [more]
HARVARDEnglish From the Old English given name Hereweard, composed of the elements here "army" and weard "guard", which was borne by an 11th-century thane of Lincolnshire, leader of resistance to the advancing Normans... [more]
HARWOODEnglish, Scots Habitation name found especially along the border areas of England and Scotland, from the Old English elements har meaning "gray" or hara referring to the animals called "hares" plus wudu for "wood"... [more]
HASLEYEnglish Habitational name of uncertain origin. The surname is common in London, and may be derived from Alsa (formerly Assey) in Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex (recorded as Alsiesheye in 1268). nother possible source is Halsway in Somerset, named from Old English hals ‘neck’ + weg ‘way’, ‘road’.
HASSALLEnglish Means "person from Hassall", Cheshire ("witch's corner of land").
HASTINGSEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hastings, a place in Sussex, on the south coast of England, near which the English army was defeated by the Normans in 1066. It is named from Old English H?stingas ‘people of H?sta’... [more]
HATCHEnglish English (mainly Hampshire and Berkshire): topographic name from Middle English hacche ‘gate’, Old English hæcc (see Hatcher). In some cases the surname is habitational, from one of the many places named with this word... [more]
HATCHEREnglish Southern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a gate, from Middle English hacche (Old English hæcc) + the agent suffix -er. This normally denoted a gate marking the entrance to a forest or other enclosed piece of land, sometimes a floodgate or sluice-gate.
HAVELOCKEnglish From the Middle English male personal name Havelok, from Old Norse Hafleikr, literally "sea sport". It was borne by the British general Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857).
HAVERFORDWelsh, English Haverford's name is derived from the name of the town of Haverfordwest in Wales, UK
HAWLEYEnglish, Scottish Means "hedged meadow". It comes from the English word haw, meaning "hedge", and Saxon word leg, meaning "meadow". The first name HAWLEY has the same meaning.
HAWTREYEnglish (British) It is the surname of Mr. Hawtrey from the book The Boy In The Dress, by David Walliams. Hawtrey means "To succeed".
HAYEnglish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Frisian Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure, Middle English hay(e), heye(Old English (ge)hæg, which after the Norman Conquest became confused with the related Old French term haye ‘hedge’, of Germanic origin)... [more]
HAYCOCKEnglish English (West Midlands): from a medieval personal name, a pet form of HAY, formed with the Middle English hypocoristic suffix -cok (see COCKE).
HAYFORDEnglish English habitational name from several places called Heyford in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, or Hayford in Buckfastleigh, Devon, all named with Old English heg ‘hay’ + ford ‘ford’.
HAYLINGEnglish Either (i) "person from Hayling", Hampshire ("settlement of Hægel's people"); or (ii) from the Old Welsh personal name Heilyn, literally "cup-bearer" (see also PALIN).
HAYLOCKEnglish English surname of uncertain origin, possibly from the Old English given name Hægluc, a diminutive of the unrecorded name *Hægel, found in various place names... [more]
HAYWORTHEnglish English: habitational name from Haywards Heath in Sussex, which was named in Old English as ‘enclosure with a hedge’, from hege ‘hedge’ + worð ‘enclosure’. The modern form, with its affix, arose much later on (Mills gives an example from 1544).
HAZARDEnglish, French, Dutch Nickname for an inveterate gambler or a brave or foolhardy man prepared to run risks, from Middle English, Old French hasard, Middle Dutch hasaert (derived from Old French) "game of chance", later used metaphorically of other uncertain enterprises... [more]
HAZELDENEnglish Means "person from Hazelden", the name of various places in England ("valley growing with hazel trees").
HAZELTONEnglish Hazel is referring to hazel trees, while ton is from old english tun meaning enclosure, so an enclosure of hazel trees, or an orchard of hazel trees.
HAZELWOODEnglish Habitational name from any of various places, for example in Devon, Derbyshire, Suffolk, Surrey, and West Yorkshire, so called from Old English hæsel (or Old Norse hesli) ‘hazel (tree)’ + wudu ‘wood’; or a topographic name from this term.
HAZLETTEnglish (British) Topographic name for someone who lived by a hazel copse, Old English hæslett (a derivative of hæsel ‘hazel’). habitational name from Hazelhead or Hazlehead in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, derived from Old English hæsel ‘hazel’ + heafod ‘head’, here in the sense of ‘hill’; also a topographic name of similar etymological origin.
HEALEYEnglish Habitational surname for a person from Healey near Manchester, derived from Old English heah "high" + leah "wood", "clearing". There are various other places in northern England, such as Northumberland and Yorkshire, with the same name and etymology, and they may also have contributed to the surname.
HEARDEnglish Occupational name for a tender of animals, normally a cowherd or shepherd, from Middle English herde (Old English hi(e)rde).
HEATHCOTEEnglish English habitational name from any of various places called Heathcote, for example in Derbyshire and Warwickshire, from Old English h?ð ‘heathland’, ‘heather’ + cot ‘cottage’, ‘dwelling’.
HEDDLEEnglish Famous bearer is William Heddle Nash (1894-1961), the English lyric tenor.
HEDGEEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a hedge, Middle English hegg(e). In the early Middle Ages, hedges were not merely dividers between fields, but had an important defensive function when planted around a settlement or enclosure.
HELLIWELLEnglish From various place names in United Kingdom. Derived from Olde English elements of "halig" meaning holy, and "waella", a spring.
HELMSLEYEnglish This English habitational name originates with the North Yorkshire village of Helmsley, named with the Old English personal name Helm and leah, meaning 'clearing'.
HELTONEnglish Habitational name from Helton in Cumbria, named in Old English probably with helde "slope" and tun "farmstead, settlement", or possibly a variant of HILTON... [more]
HEMBEREnglish From the West Country area near Bristol.
HEMSLEYEnglish English: habitational name from either of two places in North Yorkshire called Helmsley. The names are of different etymologies: the one near Rievaulx Abbey is from the Old English personal name Helm + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’, whereas Upper Helmsley, near York, is from the Old English personal name HEMELE + Old English eg ‘island’, and had the form Hemelsey till at least the 14th century
HEMSWORTHEnglish Habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, England, meaning "Hymel's enclosure".
HENCEGerman, English, Welsh An American spelling variant of HENTZ derived from a German nickname for HANS or HEINRICH or from an English habitation name found in Staffordshire or Shropshire and meaning "road or path" in Welsh.
HENLEYEnglish, Irish, German (Anglicized) English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Warwickshire, are named with Old English héan (the weak dative case of heah ‘high’, originally used after a preposition and article) + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’... [more]
HENSLEYEnglish Probably a habitational name from either of two places in Devon: Hensley in East Worlington, which is named with the Old English personal name HEAHMUND + Old English leah ‘(woodland) clearing’, or Hensleigh in Tiverton, which is named from Old English hengest ‘stallion’ (or the Old English personal name HENGEST) + leah... [more]
HEREFORDEnglish Habitational name from Hereford in Herefordshire, or Harford in Devon and Goucestershire, all named from Old English here "army" + ford "ford".
HERITAGEEnglish (Rare) English status name for someone who inherited land from an ancestor, rather than by feudal gift from an overlord, from Middle English, Old French (h)eritage ‘inherited property’ (Late Latin heritagium, from heres ‘heir’).
HERNDONEnglish From Herne, a cottage, and den, a valley. The cottage in the valley.
HEROLDEnglish, Dutch, German From the given name HEROLD. This was the surname of David Herold, one of the conspirators in the Abraham Lincoln assassination plot.