ABBRUZZESEItalian From an Italian surname coming from the place name Abruzzi in eastern Italy (the modern name is Abruzzo). This place name may derive from the Praetutii, an ancient tribe inhabiting the region.
ABEGGGerman, German (Swiss) Topographic name for someone who lived near the corner of a mountain, from German ab meaning "off" and Egg, dialect form of Eck(e) meaning "promontory", "corner".
ABOUTFrench It is a french surname that comes from the french word 'about', meaning "an extremity of a metallic or wooden element or piece." This surname is notably born by the French novelist Edmond François Valentin About... [more]
ABPLANALPGerman, German (Swiss) Topographic name for someone living high on a mountainside, from German ab- "below", "off" + Planalp "high, flat mountain-meadow".
ABREOFrench, Italian Abreo or its variant Abreu comes from the French Alfred (alf = Elf; fred = conseil). The meaning is wise counselor.... [more]
ACCOLARomansh From Latin accola ‘neighbor’, ‘inhabitant’ (from Latin accolere 'to live near'). Accola also meant 'tenant' or 'farmer' in Medieval Latin, which is likely the definition of the word that this name comes from.
ACHENBACHGerman Habitational name from places in Hesse and Westphalia named Achenbach, from the obsolete word Ach or Ache (from Middle High German ahe meaning "water", "stream") + Bach meaning "brook".
ACORNGerman Origin uncertain; most probably an Americanized form of German EICHHORN.
ACQUAVIVAItalian From an Italian place name meaning "running water, spring", literally "living water".
ACRIItalian Habitational name from a place in Cosenza province named Acri.
AGASSIArmenian, Persian, Italian The surname Agassi most likely evolved from a nickname for someone resembling a mappie, perhaps jokingly referred to as chattering or nagging person. ... [more]
AGIRMOItalian two hypotheses: either from the Greek agyrmos meaning "symposium, meeting" which was the name of the first day of the Misteri Eleusini in Athens.... [more]
AGOSTINELLIItalian The earliest known instance of this name AGOSTINELLI was St. Aurelius Augustinus, also known as Augustine of Hippo (354-430) the greatest of the Latin church fathers. He was born in Tagaste in Numidia which is modern Tunisia.... [more]
ALBANESEItalian Southern Italian : ethnic name from albanese ‘(an) Albanian’, applied to someone from Albania or from one of the Albanian settlements in Abruzzo, Apulia, Campania, and Sicily.
ALBERGerman Alber family name was first found in Alsace. The nickname given to someone fair in complexion or blond haired is derived from Latin word Albanus, which means white.
ALBERTIItalian From given name Alberto, the Latin translation of Germanic Albert.
ALBINETFrench Derived from the medieval French masculine given name Albinet, which was a diminutive (as the -et suffix indicates) of the given name ALBIN.... [more]
ALDINGERGerman Habitational name for someone from Aldingen in Württemberg.
ALFANIItalian (or Alfano) three possibilities: from the German word halfer ("helper"), from a place called Alfano, which is supposed to be from the Arab al fannan ("wild donkey"), and Alfana is the name of a race (as in type) of Arab horses, so could be someone related to horses.
ALGIERIItalian Algieri is classified as a geographical surname. Specifically, it is a nation name, referring to the country of Algeria in northern Africa.
ALLEMANFrench (Cajun), Spanish (Canarian), German From the French and Spanish word for "German". Believed to have originated in the Alsace-Lorraine region. Some holders of the name migrated to the Canary Islands and are part of the larger Isleños population that settled throughout the Americas... [more]
ALLGEIERGerman The harried officials at Ellis Island began to assign surnames based upon the pronunciation of the name by the immigrant, rather than attempting to ferret out the actual spelling. ... [more]
ALMENDINGERGerman, German (Swiss) Habitational name for someone from a place called Allmendingen, of which there are two examples in Switzerland, in Bern canton, and one in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
ALPINIItalian (or Alpino) possibly denoting a person from the Alpes.
ALSCHEIDGerman Probably originally a locational surname and a place name for a village which no longer exists. Alscheid (Luxembourgish: Alschent) is a village in the commune of Kiischpelt, in northern Luxembourg. As of 2001, the village had a population of 47.... [more]
ALTGerman, Jewish From German alt ‘old’, typically applied as a distinguishing epithet to the older of two bearers of the same personal name.
ALTHOFFGerman A surname predominantly found in Westphalia and the Rhineland region of Germany which is derived from German alt "old" and Hof (Hoff in the local dialects) "farmstead; farm; manor".
ALTMANGerman Said to mean "Wise man" of German origin
ALTMEYERGerman Status name for an older steward, headman, or tenant farmer, as distinguished from a younger one, from Middle High German alt ‘old’ + meier ‘steward’, ‘headman’, ‘tenant farmer’
ALTRINGERGerman Habitational name for someone from a place called Altringen or Aldingen, of which there are two in Württemberg.
AMBERGGerman, Jewish German and possibly Jewish (Ashkenazic) habitational name from any of several settlements called Amberg (literally ‘by the mountain’), including a city in Bavaria. It could also be a topographic name of identical etymology... [more]
AMEGLIOItalian There are two hypotheses: the first is it derived from the Latin name Amelius which came from Amius, name of Etruscan origin; the other is it derived from Amali, name of a mighty Ostrogothic family, which means "virgin of the forest".
AMESEnglish, German English: from the Old French and Middle English personal name AMYS, Amice, which is either directly from Latin amicus ‘friend’, used as a personal name, or via a Late Latin derivative of this, Amicius.... [more]
AMISTADIItalian From the Renaissance term amistade ("friendship").
AMMANNGerman A contraction of Ambetmann, for a court official. If there is a double "M", the origin might be Swiss.
AMMAZZALORSOItalian From the profession of bear hunter, meaning literally "slaughter the bear".
AMMERGerman, English (Rare) This surname may be derived from Middle High German amer which means "bunting (as in the bird)." As such, it is used as a nickname for someone with a fine voice or someone who is a flamboyant dresser.... [more]
AMSPACHERGerman Habitational name for someone from a place called Amsbach
AMSTUTZGerman (Swiss), German (Austrian) Topographic name for someone living near or at the foot of a steep mountainside, German am Stutz ‘at the escarpment’.
ANACKERGerman Nickname for a day laborer, as opposed to someone who owned fields, from Middle High German āne meaning "without" + acker meaning "field".
ANDROSGerman (Swiss), Hungarian Derivative of the personal name ANDREAS. Perhaps a reduced form of Greek Andronikos, Andronidis, or some other similar surname, all patronymics from ANDREAS.
ANGELOItalian From a popular medieval personal name, Angelo, Latin Angelus, from Greek angelos "messenger, angel" (considered as a messenger sent from God).
ANGELONIItalian Means "great angels" in Italian. It derives from Biblical Latin angelus meaning "angel", ultimately from Ancient Greek angelos, originally meaning "messenger", changing meaning in the Bible.
ANOUILHFrench From Catalan anull, meaning "slow worm". It is originally a nickname given to a spineless and slow person. The French author Jean Anouilh is a famous bearer of this surname.
ANSCHÜTZGerman Occupational name for someone whose job was to keep a dam or pool filled with water. (Anschützen "to fill up")
ANSELMOItalian, Spanish Comes from the personal name ANSELMO, which is of Germanic origin (see Anselm). This was a distinctively Langobardic name, and was especially common in Lombardy in the Middle Ages.
ANZALONEItalian The surname Anzalone was first found in Bolgna (Latin: Bononia).
APICELLAItalian Southern Italian: from a diminutive of apa ‘bee’, probably applied as a nickname for an industrious person, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for a beekeeper.
APOLLOItalian, Spanish From the Greek personal name Apollo. There are several saints Apollo in the Christian Church, including an Egyptian hermit and monastic leader who died in 395 ad. The personal name derives from the name in classical mythology of the sun god, Apollo, an ancient Indo-European name, found for example in Hittite as Apulana "god of the gate" (from pula "gate", cognate with Greek pylē), therefore "protector, patron".
ARÀBIAItalian, Spanish Ethnic name for someone from Arabia or some other Arabic-speaking country or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with one of these countries.
ARABIEFrench Ethnic name denoting someone from Arabia or an Arabic-speaking person.
ARALDIItalian Means “heralds” in Italian. Famous bearers include Italian painters Alessandro Araldi (c. 1460 – c. 1529) and Paolo Araldi (18th century – after 1820).
ARBEITERGerman Occupational name from Middle High German arbeiter ‘laborer’.
ARCHEAMBEAUFrench The name Archambeau is derived from the Latin personal name 'Arcambaldus'. In turn the name 'Arcambaldus', is derived from the Germanic word 'Ercan', which means precious in Germanic, and 'bald', meaning bold and daring.... [more]
ARGENTOItalian From argento "silver", perhaps sometimes applied as a nickname for someone with silvery gray hair, but more often a metonymic occupational name for a silversmith.
ARIESEnglish, French The name means either a person who worked in a fashion of the "Arras" cloth, as in the quotation "one bede Coveringe of Aries" (1562), or someone who was a former inhabitant of Arras in France, or Arras in Yorkshire; the latter being a particularly popular source of the name.
ARLINGHAUSGerman Perhaps a habitational name from Oerlinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia.
ARMAND PILONFrench Armand is the original surname, and it is a French modification from a German surname. The original being Hartmann, that spelled by a francophone becomes Armand.... [more]
ARMENIAItalian, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese Ethnic name or regional name for someone from Armenia or who had connections with Armenia. This surname is derived from the feminine form of Armenio, which is ultimately from Greek Αρμένιος (Armenios) meaning "Armenian"... [more]
AROUETFrench A famous bearer was French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778), whose birth name was François-Marie Arouet.
ARQUETTEFrench From arquet meaning "little bow" or "little arch" (diminutive of arche, from Latin arcus). It was originally an occupational name for an archer, but the French word arquet(te) is also found in the sense 'market trader' (originally, perhaps, one with a stall underneath an arch)... [more]
ASCENCIOSpanish, Italian From the personal name (Latin Ascensius), favored by the early Christians, by whom it was bestowed with reference to the ascension of Christ (Late Latin ascensio).
ASCHERGerman Derived from German asche meaning "ash" (tanners worked with ash)
ASHENGerman The medieval name originated from the German dukedom of Swabia. It denoted that the original bearer of the name probably held land in Swabia. Otherwise it could have been a name given to somebody who was from or born in Swabia.
ASPERGESItalian It means "you bless", and it is also the device used by priests to spread holy water over people or places
ASTONIItalian It is the surname of the Home and Away family, The Astoni family, consisting of 4 members, Ben, Maggie, Coco and Ziggy.
ASTOREItalian Derived from Italian astore meaning "goshawk", which is a bird of prey that was used for hunting in the Middle Ages. The surname had first started out as a nickname: either for a falconer, or for a person who had aquiline features or who was cunning by nature.
AUBINEFrench (Rare) Derived from the medieval French feminine given name Aubine, which was the French form of ALBINA. But in other words, you could also say that Aubine was the feminine form of AUBIN.
AUBINETFrench (Rare) Derived from the medieval French masculine given name Aubinet, which was a diminutive (as the -et suffix indicates) of the given name AUBIN.... [more]
AUBUCHONFrench (Modern, ?) The Aubuchon name is French, but of uncertain origin. It is probably from the patronymic prefix au + buchon, a dialect term for a woodcutter (Standard French bûcheron).
AUCLAIRFrench Patronymic from the personal name CLAIR or the nickname Leclair (‘the cheerful one’): (fils) à Leclair ‘(son) of Leclair’. It has also absorbed cases of Auclerc (from LeClerc).
AUDELINFrench Variant of ODELIN, which is not to be confused with ODELÍN as it is Spanish while the other one is French, though they could have similar origins in name.
AUDETFrench Southern French nickname from Gascon dialect audet "bird", variant of standard Occitan ausèl (modern French oiseau).
AUDINOItalian Derived from first name 'Alda' which means 'wise and experienced.'
AUERBACHGerman, Jewish Topographical name for someone who lived by a stream (Middle High German bach) that was near a swamp or marsh (auer).
AUGELLOItalian Italian (Campania) dialect variant of Uccello ‘bird’, hence either a nickname for a diminutive, birdlike person or an occupational name for a fowler. Compare Auciello.
AUTRYEnglish, French A habitational name from any of the places in France named Autrey or Autry. French: from the Old French personal name Audry, from Germanic Aldric ‘ancient power’.
AVALLONEItalian Topographic name for someone who lived in a deep valley.
AVAMILANOSpanish, Italian Of Spanish origin, but probably has its roots in Italy due to the word "milano" which means Milan in Italian.
AVENASpanish, Italian A traditionally Spanish and Italian occupational surname for a "grain grower or merchant", or the Italian habitation surname for Avena, Calabria. Means "oats". From the Latin avēna meaning 'oats, wild oats, straw'.
AYOTTEFrench It means 'small hedge' or 'small woody plot of land' in Old French.
AZUAJE-FIDALGOPortuguese (Rare), Spanish, Italian Fidalgo from Galician and Portuguese filho de algo — equivalent to "nobleman", but sometimes literally translated into English as "son of somebody" or "son of some (important family)"—is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility that refers to a member of the titled or untitled nobility... [more]
BABELFrench Either (i) from the medieval French personal name Babel, apparently adopted from that of St Babylas, a 3rd-century Christian patriarch of Antioch, the origins of which are uncertain; or (ii) an invented Jewish name based on German or Polish Babel "Babylon".
BACKMANEnglish, Swedish, German Combination of Old English bakke "spine, back" and man "man". In Swedish, the first element is more likely to be derived from Swedish backe "hill", and in German the first element can be derived from German backen "to bake"... [more]
BACONEnglish, French, Norman An occupational surname for someone who sold pork, from Middle English and Old French bacun or bacon, meaning 'bacon', which is ultimately of Germanic origin. Can also be derived from the Germanic given names Baco, Bacco, or Bahho, from the root bag-, meaning 'to fight'... [more]
BAERGerman Derived from Old High German bero "bear".
BAFFAItalian The origins of this surname are uncertain, but it may be from Italian baffo "mustache", with the Latinate feminine suffix probably due to the influence of the word famiglia "family". Alternatively it may be Albanian in origin, of unexplained meaning.
BAINScottish, French, English Nickname for a hospitable person from northern Middle English beyn, bayn meaning "welcoming", "friendly".... [more]
BAIOItalian From a nickname for someone with light brown or reddish-brown hair or beard, from baio meaning "bay horse", ultimately derived from Late Latin badius meaning "red-brown".
BALDACCHINOMaltese, Italian, Sicilian Occupational name for an artisan who made the baldachin, also spelled baldaquin, a type of canopy used in cathedrals, from Italian baldacchino "baldachin". This word is derived from Italian Baldacca, a doublet of Bagdad "Baghdad", the city where the material originally came from.
BALDINGERGerman German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from a place called Baldingen, either in Württemberg, Germany, or Aargau, Switzerland.
BALLOUHaitian Creole, French (Caribbean), French The Ballou name comes from that Medieval landscape of northwestern France known as Brittany. The name Ballou was originally derived from the family having lived in Brittany, where this distinguished family was established from ancient times... [more]
BALMAItalian Perhaps a topographic name from the dialect word balma meaning ‘grotto’, ‘cave’, ‘jutting rock’.
BALSANOGerman (Austrian), Italian The roots of the distinguished surname Balzano lie in Austria. The name derives itself from "Balthasar," the name of one of the three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem, and was popular as both a first name and a family name during the 18th century.... [more]
BANDYGerman This interesting surname of German and Ashkenazic origin is a diminutive of the metonymic occupational name Band, originally given to someone who made the wooden hoops with which wooden barrels were fastened together, deriving from the Germanic band meaning "hoop", "band"... [more]
BARBEGerman From Middle High German barbe, the name of a species of fish resembling the carp; hence by metonymy an occupational name for a fisherman or fish dealer, or possibly a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish in some way.
BARBERAItalian Derogatory nickname from barbera ‘barber’s wife’, a term also used to denote a prostitute or dishonest woman. Catalan (Barberà): habitational name from a place in Tarragona province, named with Late Latin Barbarianum ‘place of Barbarius’, a derivative of Barbarus (see Barbaro)... [more]
BARILFrench During the middle ages, when people were named after their given job, Baril was what winemakers and brewers were named. Baril simply means "Barrel" or "Keg"
BARNOItalian, Ukrainian, French, Ancient Aramaic, Russian The surname Barno was first found in the north of Italy, especially in Tuscany. The name occasionally appears in the south, usually in forms which end in "o," but the northern forms ending in "i" are much more common... [more]
BARONEnglish, French From a title of nobility derived from Old French baron of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly from Frankish barō meaning "servant, man, warrior". It was used as a nickname for someone who worked for a baron or for a peasant with ideas above their station.
BARREAUFrench Possibly a variant of Barreur, an agent derivative of barrer ‘to bar’, ‘to close or block off’, hence possibly an occupational name for a jailer or doorkeeper.
BARRIEREFrench Occupational name for a gatekeeper, from Old French barier.
BARRINEAUFrench The history of the Barrineau family goes back to the Medieval landscape of northern France, to that coastal region known as Normandy. Barrineau is a habitation name, derived from the place name Barrault, in Normandy.... [more]
BARTEKPolish, Czech, Slovak, German Polish, Czech, Slovak, and eastern German: from a pet form of a vernacular form of the personal name Bartolomaeus (Czech Bartoloměj, Polish Bartłomiej, German Bartolomäus)
BARTOLOTTAItalian Bartolotta was the name taken by the followers of Saint Bartholomew. Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. He is credited as bringing Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century.
BARWICKEnglish, German English: habitational name from any of various places called Barwick, for example in Norfolk, Somerset, and West Yorkshire, from Old English bere ‘barley’ + wic ‘outlying farm’, i.e. a granary lying some distance away from the main village.... [more]
BASCÖURTFrench The Bascourt or Bascur surname is from France, from that place dates the beginning of the surname, however the French of previous centuries had no records of that surname. ... [more]
BASTIATFrench Meaning of this name is unknown. Possibly derived from SEBASTIAN The surname Bastiat was first found in Poitou, where this family held a family seat since ancient times.
BATTISTELLAItalian From St. John the Baptist, the first bearers of this name were devoted to this saint. Another etymology would be a patronymic from the given name BATTISTA, anyway linked to the aforementioned saint.
BAUDELAIREFrench A French surname, coming from the word "baudelaire", which is a short, broad, and curved sword used in heraldry.