LatourFrench Either a topographic name for someone who lived near a tower usually a defensive fortification or watchtower from Old French tūr "tower"; or a habitational name from any of various places called Latour or La Tour named with this word.
LaveranFrench The surname Laveran probably became popular as a first name thanks to the French Nobel Prize in Medicine Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. Laveran discovered that protozoan parasites were the causative agent of malaria.
LaverdièreFrench Habitational name from various places named La Verdière in France, or a variant of the name Leverdier (see Verdier).
LaverdiereFrench (Quebec) Said to be a locational or occupational name related to land and greenery. Related to the Cauchons, descended from Quebec. A noble Paris woman was sent to Quebec for marriage in the 17th century.
LavieFrench Dialectal variant of French voie "way, road", ultimately from Latin via "road, street, path", combined with the French feminine article la.
LavioletteFrench, French (Quebec), French (Acadian) A secondary surname, associated with some forty family names in Canada and also used independently since 1698, a nickname from the flower violette ‘violet’, with the definite article la. In feudal France it was a name given to soldiers and domestic servants.
LebaronFrench Either a variant of Baron "baron" with the French masculine definite article le. Or a habitational name from Le Baron the name of several places in various parts of France.
LebesgueFrench Means "the stammerer" in French, denoting a person with a stammer, from Old French beguer "stuttering, stammering", from Middle Dutch beggen “to chat”.
LebleuFrench From French bleu "blue" with the masculine element le from a nickname for someone who wore blue clothes with blue eyes or a person with a bluish complexion.
LeBoeufFrench Nickname for a powerfully built man, derived from French boeuf meaning "bull", with the definite article le. In some cases it may have been originally a metonymic occupational name for a herdsman.
LebonFrench Approbatory (or ironic) nickname from le bon "the good" a variant of Bon with fused masculine definite article le.
LeducFrench, Breton From the Old French title of rank duc "duke" (from Latin dux "leader" genitive ducis) with the French masculine definite article le used as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces or else as a metonymic occupational name for a servant employed in a ducal household.
LefilsFrench, Haitian Creole Derived from French le "the" and fils "son". This was originally a nickname to distinguish a son from his father with the same given name.
LefortFrench, Walloon Either a nickname from French le fort "the strong" (see Fort ). It is also found in Germany where it is probably of Alsatian origin (compare Lefor ) and in Haiti where it most likely originates from the nickname Lefort... [more]
LefrançoisFrench From the given name François. It may also mean "the Frenchman", probably used to denote someone who came from the region of Île de France in France.
Le GallFrench From a nickname which means “the Gaul”.
LegaultNorman (Gallicized) From the French "le Gaul," meaning simply "the Gaul." Gaul refers to the northern part of modern-day France.
LegendreFrench relationship name from Old French gendre "son-in-law" (from Latin gener) with fused masculine definite article le.
LemaîtreFrench Means "the master" in French, either used as a nickname for someone who behaved in a masterful manner or an occupational name for someone who was a master of their craft.
LemassFrench, Irish Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from Old French maistre meaning "master", ultimately from Latin magister (see Masterson). Another theory holds that it comes from Irish Gaelic Laighmheasa, a given name meaning "dispatch"... [more]
LemercierFrench French surname designating a vendor of sewing materials, from the word mercier.
LenoirFrench French surname which was originally a nickname for a person with dark hair or skin, derived from noir "black" combined with the definite article le. A famous bearer is Étienne Lenoir (1822 - 1900), the inventor of the internal combustion engine.
LéotardFrench From the given name Leopold. Jules Léotard was an acrobat who popularized the leotard, a gymnastics garment. The garment is named after him.
LesieurFrench From old French sieur "lord, overlord" (from Latin senior "elder") fused with le either an occupational name for someone in service of a great lord or an ironic nickname for someone who gives himself airs or graces.
LessardFrench Name for someone who lived in a clearing, derived from French l'essart meaning "the assart" (a term for cleared forest land used for agriculture). It is also a habitational name for someone from any of various locations named Lessard or Lessart, of the same origin and meaning.
LetendreFrench From 'tendre', meaning "tender" or "delicate".
LétourneauFrench Nickname for a chatty, gregarious person or an occupational name for a birdcatcher, derived from French l'étourneau meaning "the starling".
LeverFrench, English Nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from Old French levre "hare" (Latin lepus, genitive leporis). It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of hares.
LevertFrench Means "the green", from French vert "green".
LevobFrench The family name Levob is believed to be from Lorraine, an ancient province of the East of France. Some of the variations are Lavoye, Lavois, Lavoi, Levoi, Levoie, Levoy, Levois, Levot, Lavot to distinguish but a few.
LhommeFrench From the name of the commune of Lhomme, located in the Sarthe department in northwestern France.
L'HuillierFrench Denoted a person who produces or sells oil, from French huile "oil" with fused definite article l'. Anne Geneviève L'Huillier (1958-) is a French physicist who beat the world record for the shortest laser pulse, of 170 attoseconds.
LinéFrench (Rare) From Old French liné meaning "made of linen". This name was an occupational name for someone who weaved linen or was a linen merchant.
ListratFrench From Occitan "listrat" meaning "chopped off, striped" or from "Listrac", a commune in the Gironde department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwest France.
LoiselFrench Derived from Old French oisel "bird" with fused definite article l' used as a nickname for a flighty individual or perhaps for a small birdlike person but possibly also as a metonymic occupational name for a bird-catcher.
LombardFrench, English, South African French and English cognate of Lombardi, or derived from the given name Lambert. A famous bearer of this name was the American actress Carole Lombard (1908-1942), born Jane Alice Peters.
LorraineFrench, English, Scottish Habitational name from Lorraine a region in the northeastern part of France. Its name derives from the name of the medieval kingdom of Lothari Regnum which in turn was named for its sovereign Lothar (a personal name composed of the elements hlud "famous renowned" and hari/heri "army").
LottFrench From the Department (Region/State)in France, "Lot" and "Lot-et-Garrone"; also a river in France (Lot). Brought to the British Isles, Holland (Netherlands) and later the United States, Canada and South Africa, by French Huguenots.
LupinFrench Lupin is a variant on the Latin word "lupus", meaning "wolf". Two important literary characters, Arsène Lupin, the famous French gentleman-burglar, and Professor Remus Lupin, from the world of Harry Potter, have this name... [more]
LuquetteFrench (Quebec) Canadian spelling of French Luquet, derived from a pet form of the given name Luc. It is also a variant of French Loquet, a metonymic occupational name for a locksmith.
LussierFrench Occupational name from old French ussier "usher, doorkeeper".
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]
MaconFrench, German French: See Maçon. An occupational name for a mason, French maçon. Habitational name from places so called in Saône-et-Loire, Allier, Aube, the Côte d’Or, Gers, and Deux-Sères... [more]
MaffretFrench beleived to originated in{ NICE, france} in the late 19th century, emmigration from france to london,{stepney}, where the surname was mistakenly added an extra letter "T" resulting in the surname MAFFRETT
MaineFrench French topographic name from Old French maine ‘dwelling’, ‘residence’, ‘abode’, or a habitational name from any of numerous places so named.
MaiselYiddish, German, French Predominantly seems to be a matronymic surname from the Yiddish feminine name Mayzl. Although it is believed that it derived from the Hebrew name Meïser, which means “representative of God”... [more]
MaisonFrench, Walloon Derived from Old French maison "residence", this name used to be given to someone who lived by an important house.
MajorsNorman Based on the Norman given name Mauger. The name indicates one who is the son of Maugier, an Old French personal name, which is derived from the Old Germanic name Malger, which means council spear.
MalebrancheFrench (Rare) Means "bad branch" in French, denoting a person who is on the bad side of a family tree. It could also possibly be a variant of Malherbe. Nicolas Malebranche was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher.
MalecuitFrench Means "doughy," "soggy," or "undercooked" in French.
MalfaitFrench Derived from French mal fait, which literally means "poorly done, badly done". In the context of the surname, it refers to the first bearer being "malformed" or "deformed" (as it was in the eyes of people from older times), which means that he either was physically disabled or able-bodied but with a physical trait that deviated from the norm.
MalinFrench, Flemish From the masculine given name Madalin, a short form of names composed of the Germanic element mahal "council, assembly, meeting" such as Madalbert.
MalletAnglo-Norman, Medieval English, French, Catalan Originated in Norman France and spread to England following the Norman conquest of 1066. The surname comes from the given name Malle, an Old English diminutive of Mary or from the given name Malo, a popular form of the name of Saint Maclovius, a 6th-century Welsh monk who the church of Saint Maclou in Rouen is named for.... [more]
MaloretFrench This surname comes from the French and means 'unfortunate' or 'luckless'.
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]
MansellAnglo-Norman, French A status name for a particular type of feudal tenant, Anglo-Norman French mansel, one who occupied a manse (Late Latin mansa ‘dwelling’), a measure of land sufficient to support one family... [more]
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]
MantelEnglish, German, French, Dutch nickname for someone who wore a cloak in a particularly conspicuous way or with a striking design, from Middle English, Middle High German, Old French, and Middle Dutch mantel "cloak, coat" (from Late Latin mantellus)... [more]
ManvilleFrench A locational surname deriving from any of the various places in France called "Manneville or Magneville", named, from the Old Germanic personal name "Manno" or the Old French adjective "magne", great, with the word "ville", meaning a town or settlement.
MaqueronFrench Of debated origin and meaning. Theories include a derivation from Picard maqueron "chin" (in which case this would have been a pejorative nickname for someone with a protruding chin) and a diminutive of Macquart.
MarableFrench, English From the feminine personal name Mirabel, equated in medieval records with Latin mirabilis "marvelous", "wonderful" (in the sense "extraordinary").
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.