LitwakליטבקJewish From Yiddish ליטוואַק (litvak) meaning "Litvak (a Lithuanian Jew)", ultimately from the archaic Polish word Litwak meaning "Lithuanian".
LivingstoneScottish, Irish, Jewish Scottish: Habitational name from a place in Lothian, originally named in Middle English as Levingston, from an owner called Levin (Lewin), who appears in charters of David I in the early 12th century.... [more]
LizovichJewish I knew a family with this surname and they were Jewish.
LovitzJewish From the Polish name of Łowicz, a town in central Poland. Its name is derived from Polish lowisko meaning "fishing, hunting". A well-known bearer is American comedian and actor Jon Lovitz (1957-).
LowensteinJewish Combination of German Löwe "lion" and stein "stone". In some cases an ornamental name associated with the name Levi (see also Levy and Lew 2).
LöwenthalJewish, Swedish Ornamental name composed of German Löwe "lion" and T(h)al "valley". In some cases the Jewish name would have been an ornamental elaboration associated with the personal name Levi (or other names meaning "lion").
LubarskyUkrainian, Lithuanian, Jewish Habitational name for someone from Liubar, an urban-type settlement in the Zhytomyr Oblast of Ukraine, or Lubarka, an unknown place in Lithuania.
LurieJewish It is one of the oldest family trees in the world, tracing back at least to King David born c. 1037 BCE, as documented by Neil Rosenstein in his book The Lurie Legacy... [more]
LustgartenJewish An invented Jewish name based on German Lustgarten "pleasure garden" (perhaps alluding to the Garden of Eden). It was borne by British barrister, writer and broadcaster Edgar Lustgarten (1907-1978), presenter of television crime reconstructions.
LustigSwedish, German, Jewish, Dutch A nickname for a cheerful person, derived from Swedish and German lustig "humorous, funny, enjoyable" or Middle High German lustig "merry, carefree". Usually ornamental as a Jewish surname.
MaddowJewish A famous bearer of this surname is Rachel Anne Maddow (Born on April 1, 1973) whose Jewish ancestors came from Russia and Poland but according to today’s borders would be Ukraine and Lithuania. ... [more]
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]
MaitlisJewish Means "son of Meytl", a Yiddish female personal name, literally "little Meyte", a Yiddish female personal name derived from Middle High German maget "maid".
MajPolish, Jewish Surname adopted with reference to the month of May, Polish maj. Surnames referring to months were sometimes adopted by Jewish converts to Christianity, with reference to the month in which they were baptized or in which the surname was registered.
ManheimGerman, Jewish Habitational name from the city of Mannheim in southwestern Germany (formerly the residence of the electors Palatine) so named from the ancient Germanic personal name Manno (see Mann ) annd Old High German heim "homestead"... [more]
MargolinמרגוליןJewish Derived from Hebrew מרגלית (margalit) meaning "pearl".
MargolisמרגוליסJewish Derived from Hebrew מרגלית (margalit) meaning "pearl".
MargulisמרגליתHebrew Margulis is a surname that is derived from the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of the Hebrew word מרגלית (Israeli Hebrew /maʁɡaˈlit/), meaning 'pearl,'
MaslovRussian, Jewish Derived from Russian масло (maslo) meaning "butter", originally used as an occupational name for someone who worked as a dairyman or sold dairy products.
MecklenburgGerman, Jewish Regional name for someone from this province in northern Germany. Derived from Old Saxon mikil "big, great" and burg "castle".
MeghnagiJewish, Northern African Sephardic Jewish, originating from the Libyan Jewish community. Most were from Tripoli, with a much smaller contingent from Benghazi.
Messingמתעסק, מעסינגGerman, Jewish Derived from Middle High German messinc meaning "brass", referring to a person who makes or repairs brass objects. A famous bearer is American actress Debra Messing (1968-).
MilchikYiddish From the Yiddish milch, meaning “milk”derived from Old High German. Refers to food containing and/or prepared with dairy products in Ashkenazi Judaism.... [more]
MiodownikPolish, Jewish The literal translation is "honey cake", from the Polish word/root surname miod, meaning "honey." An occupational surname to those in the honey business, mainly beekeepers and bakers.... [more]
MirkinJewish Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metronymic from the Yiddish female personal name Mirke, a pet form of the Biblical Hebrew name Miryam.
MondscheinGerman, Jewish topographic or habitational name referring to a house name meaning "moonshine" or a nickname for someone who was bald from the same word Middle High German māno "moon" and schinen "shine"... [more]
MontefioreItalian, Jewish Derived from Montefiore, which is the name of several places in Italy. For example, there is Castle Montefiore in the town of Recanati (province of Macerata), the municipality of Montefiore Conca (province of Rimini) and the municipality of Montefiore dell'Aso (province of Ascoli Piceno)... [more]
MorpurgoמורפורגוJudeo-Italian Italian surname of Jewish origin, originally Marpurg, from the Austrian city Marburg an der Drau (today Maribor in Slovenia). The progenitor was Moises Jacob, father of Petachia, in Bad-Rackersburg, Austria... [more]
MoskowitzJewish Germanized form of a patronymic surname formed by adding the Slavic suffix "-ovic" meaning "son of" to a Yiddish transformation (Moshke) of the biblical Hebrew personal Moses ("Mosko" was a Polish pet form of the personal name Moses).
MuskatמוסקטGerman, Jewish Occupational name for a spice merchant from Middle High German muscāt meaning "nutmeg mace". As a Jewish name however it is mainly ornamental.
NadelGerman, Jewish Metonymic occupational name for a maker of needles, or in some cases for a tailor, from Middle High German nadel(e), German Nadel "needle".
NadolnyPolish, Jewish, Sorbian Topographic name from Polish nadól, Sorbian nadol "downwards", denoting someone who lived lower down in a village on a slope, or on relatively low-lying ground.
NaimanUkrainian, Jewish Before Genghis Khan conquered the world, he conquered his neighbors, and his last great victory, in 1204, was over a tribe of Turkic Christians called the Naiman. (Some Naimans today are Christian but most are Jewish.)... [more]
NakacheנקשJudeo-Spanish From Arabic نقاش (naqqash) meaning "engraver, inscriber, sculptor".
NassauGerman, Dutch, Jewish From the name of the town of Nassau in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (formerly the seat of an independent duchy in the 19th century), derived from Old High German naz meaning "damp, wet" and ouwa meaning "water meadow"... [more]
NatafנטףJudeo-Spanish Derived from Hebrew נטף (nataf) meaning "gum, resin" or "stacte", referring to a type of spice used in preparing incense.
NatesEnglish, Jewish It's probably from the given name Nate, the origin is said to be Jewish*, but the ancestors immigrated to English speaking countries.
NeedleEnglish, Jewish (Americanized) English: from Middle English nedle nadle ‘needle’ (Old English nǣdle) hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of needles or in some cases perhaps for a tailor. See also Nadler.... [more]
NegroItalian, Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish Nickname or ethnic name from negro "black" (Latin niger), denoting someone with dark hair or a dark complexion.
NegroItalian, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, Jewish Nickname or ethnic name from negro "black" (continuation of Latin niger), denoting someone with dark hair, dark eyes, a dark complexion, someone who wore dark clothes, someone who worked a job in the night, or was otherwise associated with the night.
NerenbergJewish Variant of the Ashkenazic Jewish surname Nierenberg, which is derived from Nirnberg, the Yiddish form of Nuremberg (German Nürnberg), hence becoming an Ashkenazic Jewish habitational surname for someone living in that city.
NeuhausGerman, Jewish Topographical name for someone who lived in a new house, Middle High German niuwe hus, modern German neu Haus, or a habitational name for someone from any of several places named Neuhaus ('new house') in various parts of Germany and Austria, also in Bohemia.
NichterנײַטערGerman, Yiddish Possibly means "negator, negate" from Middle High German nicht meaning "not", or "sober", from Middle High German nüchter. Perhaps it originally denoted a person who was a philosopher, judge, or bartender.
OchsGerman, Jewish Means "ox" in German, derived from Middle High German ohse, possibly denoting a strong person or someone who worked with oxen. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.
OfekאופקHebrew Means "horizon" in Hebrew, used both as a given name and a surname.
OffenbachGerman, Jewish From the name of the city of Offenbach am Main in Hesse, Germany. A famous bearer was the German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880).
OhanaאוחנהJudeo-Spanish From a name meaning "son of Hanna" in Tamazight, either from the given name Hanna 1 or perhaps Tamazight ḥenna meaning "grandmother".
OhayonאוחיוןJudeo-Spanish, Jewish Means "son of Chayyim" from the Berber prefix ou- or au- meaning "son (of)" and the given name Chayyim.
Olmertאוֹלְמֶרְט, אָלמערטJewish Possibly from a Germanic given name of uncertain meaning. It could be derived from the Old High German elements ol meaning "ancestor" and mert, a diminutive of merida meaning "fame" or "bright"... [more]
OphirאוֹפִירHebrew From the given name Ophir. Ophir (or Ofir) is originally a biblical place name. In the days of King Solomon, Ophir was mentioned as the name of a land, full of abundant natural treasures such as gold, silver, etc.
OrאוֹרHebrew Means "light" in Hebrew and used as both first name and surname in Israel.
OrgeriiJewish, Judeo-Provençal Aaron Orgerii is listed in the index of names of Jews in France in the late middle ages in Heinrich Gross' book Judaia Gallica. There is also an extent copy of a deed between "the Jew Nathan Orgerii and Johannes Raynaud", written in Arles in Provence in 1366... [more]
OsgoodEnglish, Jewish English: Old Norse personal name Asgautr, composed of the elements as'god'+the tribal name Gaul. This was established in England before the Conquest, in the late old English forms Osgot or Osgod and was later reinforce by the Norman Ansgot.... [more]
PaleyJewish, Yiddish, Belarusian, Ukrainian Occupational name for a distiller, derived from an East Slavic word (Russian палить (palitʹ), Ukrainian палити (palyty)) meaning "to burn". A famous bearer was Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley (1865-1929), the morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia.
PechtoldGerman, Dutch, Jewish From the Old German given name Pechtholt, which is composed of the elements pecht "rotation" and holdt "hero". As a Dutch-language surname, it is derived from the Middle Dutch given name Pechte combined with Old High German walt "power, authority"... [more]
PeledפלדJewish Derived from Hebrew פלדה (plada) meaning "steel".
PerlmutterJewish Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Perlmutter ‘mother-of-pearl'.
PerlsteinJewish Ornamental name composed of German Perle ‘pearl’ + Stein ‘stone’.
PermanaHebrew Permana is another form of Hebrew, namely Paramana (פרמנה) which means eternal.
PerskeBelarusian, Lithuanian, Jewish Variant form of Persky. This was the real surname of American actress Lauren Bacall (1924-2014), who was born Betty Joan Perske.
PerskyBelarusian, Lithuanian, Jewish Derived from the village of Pershai in the Valozhyn District of Belarus, or the place named Perki in Lithuania.
PfefferGerman, Jewish Occupational name for a spicer, or a nickname for a person with a fiery temper, for a small man, or for a dark-haired person. Derived from German Pfeffer "pepper".
PflaumGerman, Jewish metonymic occupational name or possibly a nickname from Middle High German pflūme, German pflaume "plum", as a Jewish name it is artificial... [more]
PolitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Habitational name derived from any one of several places called Police (known as Pölitz in German) in the Czech Republic. Hugh David Politzer (1949-) is an American theoretical physicist who, along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek, discovered asymptotic freedom.
PolskiPolish, Jewish Nickname for a Polish person, originating in areas of mixed populations.
PortnoyJewish, Belarusian, Ukrainian Occupational name for a tailor from Russian portnoj (an adjective derivative of port "uncut cloth").
PortreyJewish Origin uncertain. Perhaps an altered form of Jewish Portnoy of North German Portner.
PortugalSpanish, Portuguese, English, Catalan, French, Jewish Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, English, French, and Jewish surname meaning ethnic name or regional name for someone from Portugal or who had connections with Portugal. The name of the country derives from Late Latin Portucale, originally denoting the district around Oporto (Portus Cales, named with Latin portus ‘port’, ‘harbor’ + Cales, the ancient name of the city)... [more]
PoznanskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name from the city of Poznan in west-central Poland, or possibly from other places of this name, in Katowice and Siedlce voivodeships.
PremingerפרמינגרJewish Meaning unknown, possibly a nickname for a person deported to Spain, derived from the name of a location in Portugal.
PreponJewish This is the surname of American actress Laura Prepon (born March 7, 1980).
PressEnglish, Jewish A nickname for a pious individual from the Middle English form of "priest" or possibly someone employed by a priest. In the Jewish sense, one whose occupation was to iron clothes.
PrinsDutch, Jewish Means "prince" in Dutch, a doublet of Prince. Often a habitational name for someone who lived or worked near a location named Prins, such as an inn or windmill, or sign depicting the Prince of Orange... [more]
PulitzerHungarian, German, Jewish Variant form of Politzer. A famous bearer was the Hungarian-American businessman, newspaper publisher and politician Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911). His family came from Hungary, but they were of Czech origin.