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]
PolańskimPolish, Rusyn, Jewish Topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing or a habitational name for someone from any of various places called Polana or Polany, all derived from Polish polana meaning "glade, clearing".
PolanskimPolish, Rusyn, Jewish Unaccented form of Polański. A famous bearer of the name is French film director Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (1933-), who was born to a Polish-Jewish father.
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.
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.