1000 Most Common Last Names in Australia

English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smitan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

English and Welsh: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Jon(e) (see John). The surname is especially common in Wales and southern central England. In North America this name has absorbed various cognate and like-sounding surnames from other languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

English (also very common in Wales): patronymic from William.

English, Scottish, and Irish: generally a nickname referring to the color of the hair or complexion, Middle English br(o)un, from Old English brun or Old French brun. This word is occasionally found in Old English and Old Norse as a personal name or byname. Brun- was also a Germanic name-forming element. Some instances of Old English Brun as a personal name may therefore be short forms of compound names such as Brungar, Brunwine, etc. As a Scottish and Irish name, it sometimes represents a translation of Gaelic Donn. As an American family name, it has absorbed numerous surnames from other languages with the same meaning.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from the personal name Will, a very common medieval short form of William.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a tailor, from Old French tailleur (Late Latin taliator, from taliare ‘to cut’). The surname is extremely common in Britain and Ireland, and its numbers have been swelled by its adoption as an Americanized form of the numerous equivalent European names, most of which are also very common among Ashkenazic Jews, for example Schneider, Szabó, and Portnov.

Scottish and northern English: very common patronymic from the personal name Ander(s), a northern Middle English form of Andrew. See also Andreas. The frequency of the surname in Scotland is attributable, at least in part, to the fact that St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, so the personal name has long enjoyed great popularity there. Legend has it that the saint’s relics were taken to Scotland in the 4th century by a certain St. Regulus. The surname was brought independently to North America by many different bearers and was particularly common among 18th-century Scotch-Irish settlers in PA and VA. In the United States, it has absorbed many cognate or like-sounding names in other European languages, notably Swedish Andersson, Norwegian and Danish Andersen, but also Ukrainian Andreychyn, Hungarian Andrásfi, etc.

English and Scottish: patronymic from the personal name John. As an American family name, Johnson has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

English, Scottish, and Irish: from Middle English whit ‘white’, hence a nickname for someone with white hair or an unnaturally pale complexion. In some cases it represents a Middle English personal name, from an Old English byname, Hwit(a), of this origin. As a Scottish and Irish surname it has been widely used as a translation of the many Gaelic names based on bán ‘white’ (see Bain 1) or fionn ‘fair’ (see Finn 1). There has also been some confusion with Wight. Translated form of cognate and equivalent names in other languages, such as German Weiss, French Blanc, Polish Bialas (see Bialas), etc.

English: patronymic from Thomas. Thompson is widely distributed throughout Britain, but is most common in northern England and northern Ireland. Americanized form of Thomsen.

English: topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow or a patch of arable land, Middle English lee, lea, from Old English lea, dative case (used after a preposition) of leah, which originally meant ‘wood’ or ‘glade’. English: habitational name from any of the many places named with Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘glade’, as for example Lee in Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, and Shropshire, and Lea in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Wiltshire. Irish: reduced Americanized form of Ó Laoidhigh ‘descendant of Laoidheach’, a personal name derived from laoidh ‘poem’, ‘song’ (originally a byname for a poet). Americanized spelling of Norwegian Li or Lie. Chinese : variant of Li 1. Chinese : variant of Li 2. Chinese : variant of Li 3. Korean: variant of Yi.

English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak, Spanish (Martín), Italian (Venice), etc.: from a personal name (Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, genitive Martis, the Roman god of fertility and war, whose name may derive ultimately from a root mar ‘gleam’). This was borne by a famous 4th-century saint, Martin of Tours, and consequently became extremely popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. As a North American surname, this form has absorbed many cognates from other European forms. English: habitational name from any of several places so called, principally in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Worcestershire, named in Old English as ‘settlement by a lake’ (from mere or mær ‘pool’, ‘lake’ + tun ‘settlement’) or as ‘settlement by a boundary’ (from (ge)mære ‘boundary’ + tun ‘settlement’). The place name has been charged from Marton under the influence of the personal name Martin.

English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, and South Indian: from the medieval personal name, of Biblical origin, from Aramaic t’om’a, a byname meaning ‘twin’. It was borne by one of the disciples of Christ, best known for his scepticism about Christ’s resurrection (John 20:24–29). The th- spelling is organic, the initial letter of the name in the Greek New Testament being a theta. The English pronunciation as t rather than th- is the result of French influence from an early date. In Britain the surname is widely distributed throughout the country, but especially common in Wales and Cornwall. The Ukrainian form is Choma. It is found as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. is used as a family name among families from southern India.

English (especially Yorkshire) and Scottish: occupational name for a fuller, Middle English walkere, Old English wealcere, an agent derivative of wealcan ‘to walk, tread’. This was the regular term for the occupation during the Middle Ages in western and northern England. Compare Fuller and Tucker. As a Scottish surname it has also been used as a translation of Gaelic Mac an Fhucadair ‘son of the fuller’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceallaigh ‘descendant of Ceallach’, an ancient Irish personal name, originally a byname meaning ‘bright-headed’, later understood as ‘frequenting churches’ (Irish ceall). There are several early Irish saints who bore this name. Kelly is now the most common of all Irish family names in Ireland.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: distinguishing name (Middle English yunge, yonge ‘young’), for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, usually distinguishing a younger brother or a son. In Middle English this name is often found with the Anglo-Norman French definite article, for example Robert le Yunge. Americanization of a cognate, equivalent, or like-sounding surname in some other language, notably German Jung and Junk, Dutch (De) Jong(h) and Jong, and French Lejeune and LaJeunesse. assimilated form of French Dion or Guyon. Chinese: see Yang.

English and Welsh (very common in southern England and South Wales): patronymic from the medieval English personal name Harry, pet form of Henry. This name is also well established in Ireland, taken there principally during the Plantation of Ulster. In some cases, particularly in families coming from County Mayo, both Harris and Harrison can be Anglicized forms of Gaelic Ó hEarchadha. Greek: reduced form of the Greek personal name Kharalambos, composed of the elements khara ‘joy’ + lambein ‘to shine’. Jewish: Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish names.

English and Scottish: nickname from Middle English king, Old English cyning ‘king’ (originally merely a tribal leader, from Old English cyn(n) ‘tribe’, ‘race’ + the Germanic suffix -ing). The word was already used as a byname before the Norman Conquest, and the nickname was common in the Middle Ages, being used to refer to someone who conducted himself in a kingly manner, or one who had played the part of a king in a pageant, or one who had won the title in a tournament. In other cases it may actually have referred to someone who served in the king’s household. The American surname has absorbed several European cognates and equivalents with the same meaning, for example German König (see Koenig), Swiss German Küng, French Leroy. It is also found as an Ashkenazic Jewish surname, of ornamental origin. Chinese : variant of Jin 1. Chinese , , , : see Jing.

Irish: simplified form of Mulryan. Irish: reducednform of O’Ryan, an Anglicized form of Gaelic ÓnRiagháin (modern Irish Ó Riain) ‘descendant ofnRian’; Ó Maoilriain ‘descendant ofnMaoilriaghain’, or Ó Ruaidhín ‘descendant of thenlittle red one’. Ryan is one of the commonest surnames in Ireland;nthere has been considerable confusion with Regan. KaM Americanized spelling of German Rein. EG

English: patronymic from the personal name Robert. This surname is very frequent in Wales and west central England. It is also occasionally borne by Jews, presumably as an Americanized form of a like-sounding Jewish surname.

English, Scottish, Irish, German, and Scandinavian: from Middle English hall (Old English heall), Middle High German halle, Old Norse holl all meaning ‘hall’ (a spacious residence), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a hall or an occupational name for a servant employed at a hall. In some cases it may be a habitational name from places named with this word, which in some parts of Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages also denoted a salt mine. The English name has been established in Ireland since the Middle Ages, and, according to MacLysaght, has become numerous in Ulster since the 17th century.

Welsh: patronymic from the personal name Iefan (see Evan), with redundant English patronymic -s.

Southern English: patronymic from David.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: occupational name for a maker of machinery, mostly in wood, of any of a wide range of kinds, from Old English wyrhta, wryhta ‘craftsman’ (a derivative of wyrcan ‘to work or make’). The term is found in various combinations (for example, Cartwright and Wainwright), but when used in isolation it generally referred to a builder of windmills or watermills. Common New England Americanized form of French Le Droit, a nickname for an upright person, a man of probity, from Old French droit ‘right’, in which there has been confusion between the homophones right and wright.

English: occupational name, from Middle English bakere, Old English bæcere, a derivative of bacan ‘to bake’. It may have been used for someone whose special task in the kitchen of a great house or castle was the baking of bread, but since most humbler households did their own baking in the Middle Ages, it may also have referred to the owner of a communal oven used by the whole village. The right to be in charge of this and exact money or loaves in return for its use was in many parts of the country a hereditary feudal privilege. Compare Miller. Less often the surname may have been acquired by someone noted for baking particularly fine bread or by a baker of pottery or bricks. Americanized form of cognates or equivalents in many other languages, for example German Bäcker, Becker; Dutch Bakker, Bakmann; French Boulanger. For other forms see Hanks and Hodges (1988).

Scottish: nickname from Gaelic cam ‘crooked’, ‘bent’ + beul ‘mouth’. The surname was often represented in Latin documents as de bello campo ‘of the fair field’, which led to the name sometimes being ‘translated’ into Anglo-Norman French as Beauchamp. In New England documents, Campbell sometimes occurs as a representation of the French name Hamel.

English (also common in Wales): patronymic from Edward.

English: occupational name for a scribe or secretary, originally a member of a minor religious order who undertook such duties. The word clerc denoted a member of a religious order, from Old English cler(e)c ‘priest’, reinforced by Old French clerc. Both are from Late Latin clericus, from Greek klerikos, a derivative of kleros ‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’, with reference to the priestly tribe of Levites (see Levy) ‘whose inheritance was the Lord’. In medieval Christian Europe, clergy in minor orders were permitted to marry and so found families; thus the surname could become established. In the Middle Ages it was virtually only members of religious orders who learned to read and write, so that the term clerk came to denote any literate man.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Robin.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhomhnuill, a patronymic from the personal name Domhnall, which is composed of the ancient Celtic elements domno- ‘world’ + val- ‘might’, ‘rule’.

English and Scottish: extremely common and widely distributed topographic name for someone who lived on or by a hill, Middle English hill (Old English hyll). English: from the medieval personal name Hill, a short form of Hilary (see Hillary) or of a Germanic (male or female) compound name with the first element hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’. German: from a short form of Hildebrand or any of a variety of other names, male and female, containing Germanic hild as the first element. Jewish (American): Anglicized form of various Jewish names of similar sound or meaning. English translation of Finnish Mäki (‘hill’), or of any of various other names formed with this element, such as Mäkinen, Heinämaki, Kivimäki.

English: ethnic name for someone with Scottish connections. Scottish and Irish: ethnic name for a Gaelic speaker.

English: variant spelling of Clark.

from the Middle English, Old French personal name Michel, vernacular form of Michael. nickname for a big man, from Middle English michel, mechel, muchel ‘big’. Irish (County Connacht): surname adopted as equivalent of Mulvihill.

Scottish: originally an occupational name for an administrative official of an estate, from Middle English stiward, Old English stigweard, stiweard, a compound of stig ‘house(hold)’ + weard ‘guardian’. In Old English times this title was used of an officer controlling the domestic affairs of a household, especially of the royal household; after the Conquest it was also used more widely as the native equivalent of Seneschal for the steward of a manor or manager of an estate.

English: from Middle English more ‘moor’, ‘marsh’, ‘fen’, ‘area of uncultivated land’ (Old English mor), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in such a place or a habitational name from any of the various places named with this word, as for example Moore in Cheshire or More in Shropshire. English: from Old French more ‘Moor’ (Latin maurus). The Latin term denoted a native of northwestern Africa, but in medieval England the word came to be used informally as a nickname for any swarthy or dark-skinned person. English: from a personal name (Latin Maurus ‘Moor’). This name was borne by various early Christian saints. The personal name was introduced to England by the Normans, but it was never as popular in England as it was on the Continent. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Mórdha ‘descendant of Mórdha’, a byname meaning ‘great’, ‘proud’, or ‘stately’. Scottish: see Muir. Welsh: from Welsh mawr ‘big’, applied as a nickname or distinguishing epithet.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a maker of objects of wood, metal, or bone by turning on a lathe, from Anglo-Norman French torner (Old French tornier, Latin tornarius, a derivative of tornus ‘lathe’). The surname may also derive from any of various other senses of Middle English turn, for example a turnspit, a translator or interpreter, or a tumbler. English: nickname for a fast runner, from Middle English turnen ‘to turn’ + ‘hare’. English: occupational name for an official in charge of a tournament, Old French tornei (in origin akin to 1). Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name from a place called Turno or Turna, in Poland and Belarus, or from the city of Tarnów (Yiddish Turne) in Poland. Translated or Americanized form of any of various other like-meaning or like-sounding Jewish surnames. South German (T(h)ürner): occupational name for a guard in a tower or a topographic name from Middle High German turn ‘tower’, or a habitational name for someone from any of various places named Thurn, for example in Austria.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc. Southwestern and Swiss German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Müller (see Mueller).

English: one of the most common and widespread of English surnames, either a nickname for someone who was fond of dressing in this color (Old English grene) or who had played the part of the ‘Green Man’ in the May Day celebrations, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a village green, Middle English grene (a transferred use of the color term). In North America this name has no doubt assimilated cognates from other European languages, notably German Grün (see Gruen). Jewish (American): Americanized form of German Grün or Yiddish Grin, Ashkenazic ornamental names meaning ‘green’ or a short form of any of the numerous compounds with this element. Irish: translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’. See also Fahey. North German: short form of a habitational name from a place name with Gren- as the first element (for example Greune, Greubole).

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Wat (see Watt)

Scottish and northern English: from Middle English belle ‘bell’, in various applications; most probably a metonymic occupational name for a bell ringer or bell maker, or a topographic name for someone living ‘at the bell’ (as attested by 14th-century forms such as John atte Belle). This indicates either residence by an actual bell (e.g. a town’s bell in a bell tower, centrally placed to summon meetings, sound the alarm, etc.) or ‘at the sign of the bell’, i.e. a house or inn sign (although surnames derived from house and inn signs are rare in Scots and English). Scottish and northern English: from the medieval personal name Bel. As a man’s name this is from Old French beu, bel ‘handsome’, which was also used as a nickname. As a female name it represents a short form of Isobel, a form of Elizabeth. Scottish: Americanized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhaoil ‘son of the servant of the devotee’ (see Mullen 1). Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead in western Norway named Bell, the origin of which is unexplained. Scandinavian: of English or German origin; in German as a habitational name for someone from Bell in Rhineland, Germany, or possibly from Belle in Westphalia. Americanized spelling of German Böhl or Böll (see Boehle, Boll).

mainly a topographic name for someone who lived in or by a wood or a metonymic occupational name for a woodcutter or forester, from Middle English wode ‘wood’ (Old English wudu). nickname for a mad, eccentric, or violent person, from Middle English wod ‘mad’, ‘frenzied’ (Old English wad), as in Adam le Wode, Worcestershire 1221.

English: occupational name for a maker and repairer of wooden vessels such as barrels, tubs, buckets, casks, and vats, from Middle English couper, cowper (apparently from Middle Dutch kuper, a derivative of kup ‘tub’, ‘container’, which was borrowed independently into English as coop). The prevalence of the surname, its cognates, and equivalents bears witness to the fact that this was one of the chief specialist trades in the Middle Ages throughout Europe. In America, the English name has absorbed some cases of like-sounding cognates and words with similar meaning in other European languages, for example Dutch Kuiper. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of Kupfer and Kupper (see Kuper). Dutch: occupational name for a buyer or merchant, Middle Dutch coper.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Murchadha ‘descendant of Murchadh’, a personal name composed of the elements muir ‘sea’ + cath ‘battle’, i.e. ‘sea-warrior’. This was an important family in Tyrone.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from Jack 1. As an American surname this has absorbed other patronymics beginning with J- in various European languages.

English: from a personal name that has the same origin as Jacob. However, among English speakers, it is now felt to be a separate name in its own right. This is largely because in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) the form James is used in the New Testament as the name of two of Christ’s apostles (James the brother of John and James the brother of Andrew), whereas in the Old Testament the brother of Esau is called Jacob. The form James comes from Latin Jacobus via Late Latin Jac(o)mus, which also gave rise to Jaime, the regular form of the name in Spanish (as opposed to the learned Jacobo). See also Jack and Jackman. This is a common surname throughout the British Isles, particularly in South Wales.

English (but most common in Wales): from Lowis, Lodovicus, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements hlod ‘fame’ + wig ‘war’. This was the name of the founder of the Frankish dynasty, recorded in Latin chronicles as Ludovicus and Chlodovechus (the latter form becoming Old French Clovis, Clouis, Louis, the former developing into German Ludwig). The name was popular throughout France in the Middle Ages and was introduced to England by the Normans. In Wales it became inextricably confused with 2. Welsh: from an Anglicized form of the personal name Llywelyn (see Llewellyn). Irish and Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lughaidh ‘son of Lughaidh’. This is one of the most common Old Irish personal names. It is derived from Lugh ‘brightness’, which was the name of a Celtic god. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames.

English and Scottish: from a Celtic personal name of great antiquity and obscurity. In England the personal name is now usually spelled Alan, the surname Allen; in Scotland the surname is more often Allan. Various suggestions have been put forward regarding its origin; the most plausible is that it originally meant ‘little rock’. Compare Gaelic ailín, diminutive of ail ‘rock’. The present-day frequency of the surname Allen in England and Ireland is partly accounted for by the popularity of the personal name among Breton followers of William the Conqueror, by whom it was imported first to Britain and then to Ireland. St. Alan(us) was a 5th-century bishop of Quimper, who was a cult figure in medieval Brittany. Another St. Al(l)an was a Cornish or Breton saint of the 6th century, to whom a church in Cornwall is dedicated.

English: from the medieval personal name Benedict (Latin Benedictus meaning ‘blessed’). In the 12th century the Latin form of the name is found in England alongside versions derived from the Old French form Beneit, Benoit, which was common among the Normans. See also Benedict.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Robert. This surname is especially common in Scotland, where Robert was a popular personal name and the name of three kings of Scotland, including Robert the Bruce (1274–1329).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Coileáin and Mac Coileáin (see Cullen 1). English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Col(l)in, a pet form of Coll, itself a short form of Nicholas. Americanized form of French Colin.

English: occupational name for a cook, a seller of cooked meats, or a keeper of an eating house, from Old English coc (Latin coquus). There has been some confusion with Cocke. Irish and Scottish: usually identical in origin with the English name, but in some cases a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cúg ‘son of Hugo’ (see McCook). In North America Cook has absorbed examples of cognate and semantically equivalent names from other languages, such as German and Jewish Koch. Erroneous translation of French Lécuyer (see Lecuyer).

Scottish: regional name from Moray in northeastern Scotland, which is probably named with Old Celtic elements meaning ‘sea’ + ‘settlement’. Irish (southern Ulster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muireadhaigh ‘descendant of Muireadhach’ (the name of several different families in various parts of Ireland), or a shortened form of McMurray. Irish: reduced form of MacIlmurray, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhuire (see Gilmore).

English: occupational name for a watchman or guard, from Old English weard ‘guard’ (used as both an agent noun and an abstract noun). Irish: reduced form of McWard, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Bhaird ‘son of the poet’. The surname occurs throughout Ireland, where three different branches of the family are known as professional poets. Surname adopted by bearers of the Jewish surname Warshawski, Warshawsky or some other Jewish name bearing some similarity to the English name. Americanized form of French Guerin.

English, Dutch, North German, and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Philip. In North America this name has also absorbed cognate names from other European languages, for example Italian Filippi, Polish Filipowicz.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Briain ‘descendant of Brian’, a personal name probably based on the element bre- ‘hill’, with the transferred sense ‘eminence’, i.e. ‘exalted one’. See also Bryan. In Ireland there has also been some confusion with O’Byrne (see Byrne).

Vietnamese (Nguy[ecirctilde]n): unexplained. This was the family name of a major Vietnamese royal dynasty.

Welsh and English: patronymic from the personal name Davy (Welsh Dafydd, Dewi), a pet form of David.

English (also common in Wales): patronymic from the Middle English and Anglo-Norman French personal name Hugh. Welsh: variant of Howells. Irish and Scottish: variant Anglicization of Gaelic Mac Aodha (see McCoy).

English and Scottish: from Maurice, an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans, Latin Mauritius, a derivative of Maurus (see Moore). This was the name of several early Christian saints. In some cases it may be a nickname of the same derivation for someone with a swarthy complexion. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muirghis, a variant of Ó Muirgheasa (see Morrissey). Welsh: Anglicized form of the Welsh personal name Meurig (from Latin Mauritius), which was gradually superseded in Wales by Morus, Morys, a derivative of the Anglo-Norman French form of the name (see 1). German: variant of Moritz. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames (see Morse).

English (very common in England, especially in the south Midlands, and in Wales) and German (especially northwestern Germany): patronymic from the personal name Adam. In the U.S. this form has absorbed many patronymics and other derivatives of Adam in languages other than English. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

habitational name, deriving in most cases from the place so called in Annandale, in Dumfriesshire. This is derived from the genitive case of the personal name John + Middle English tone, toun ‘settlement’ (Old English tun). There are other places in Scotland so called, including the city of Perth, which used to be known as St. John’s Toun, and some of these may also be sources of the surname. variant of Johnson (see John), with intrusive -t-.

English: occupational name for a gamekeeper employed in a medieval park, from an agent derivative of Middle English parc ‘park’ (see Park 1). This surname is also found in Ireland. Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish names.

Scottish and English (of Norman origin): habitational name for someone from Rots near Caen in Normandy, probably named with the Germanic element rod ‘clearing’. Compare Rhodes. This was the original home of a family de Ros, who were established in Kent in 1130. Scottish and English: habitational name from any of various places called Ross or Roos(e), deriving the name from Welsh rhós ‘upland’ or moorland, or from a British ancestor of this word, which also had the sense ‘promontory’. This is the sense of the cognate Gaelic word ros. Known sources of the surname include Roos in Humberside (formerly in East Yorkshire) and the region of northern Scotland known as Ross. Other possible sources are Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, Ross in Northumbria (which is on a promontory), and Roose in Lancashire English and German: from the Germanic personal name Rozzo, a short form of the various compound names with the first element hrod ‘renown’, introduced into England by the Normans in the form Roce. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a breeder or keeper of horses, from Middle High German ros, German Ross ‘horse’; perhaps also a nickname for someone thought to resemble a horse or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a horse. Jewish: Americanized form of Rose 3.

English: nickname for someone with gray hair or a gray beard, from Old English græg ‘gray’. In Scotland and Ireland it has been used as a translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from riabhach ‘brindled’, ‘gray’ (see Reavey). In North America this name has assimilated names with similar meaning from other European languages. English and Scottish (of Norman origin): habitational name from Graye in Calvados, France, named from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gratus, meaning ‘welcome’, ‘pleasing’ + the locative suffix -acum. French and Swiss French: habitational name from Gray in Haute-Saône and Le Gray in Seine-Maritime, both in France, or from Gray-la-ville in Switzerland, or a regional name from the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

Scottish and English: habitational name from Grantham in Lincolnshire, recorded in Domesday Book as Graham (as well as Grantham, Grandham, and Granham). See also Grantham.

English, Scottish, and Irish: from Rousel, a commonnAnglo-Norman French nickname for someone with red hair, a diminutivenof Rouse with the hypocoristic suffix -el.n Americanized spelling of German Rüssel, from a pet formnof any of the various personal names formed with the Old High Germannelement hrod ‘renown’. EG

Welsh: from the Old Welsh personal name Morcant, which is of uncertain but ancient etymology. Irish: importation of the Welsh surname, to which has been assimilated more than one Gaelic surname, notably Ó Muireagáin (see Merrigan). Scottish: of uncertain origin; probably from a Gaelic personal name cognate with Welsh Morcant.

nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Older Scots reid ‘red’. topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, from Old English r¯d ‘woodland clearing’. Compare English Read.

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’.

English and Scottish: status name or occupational name from Middle English, Old French maresc(h)al ‘marshal’. The term is of Germanic origin (compare Old High German marah ‘horse’, ‘mare’ + scalc ‘servant’). Originally it denoted a man who looked after horses, but by the heyday of medieval surname formation it denoted on the one hand one of the most important servants in a great household (in the royal household a high official of state, one with military responsibilities), and on the other a humble shoeing smith or farrier. It was also an occupational name for a medieval court officer responsible for the custody of prisoners. An even wider range of meanings is found in some other languages: compare for example Polish Marszalek (see Marszalek). The surname is also borne by Jews, presumably as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

“Lion” in Sanskrit (Sinha). Hence Singapore - “City of the Lion”.

English: from Cocke in any the senses described + the suffix -s denoting ‘son of’ or ‘servant of’. Irish (Ulster): mistranslation of Mac Con Coille (‘son of Cú Choille’, a personal name meaning ‘hound of the wood’), as if formed with coileach ‘cock’, ‘rooster’.

Northern English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Harry.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Simon,' from the nick. Sim, whence Simpson, with intrusive 'p', as in Thompson, Hampson, &c. Sims or Simms is the genitive of Sim; compare William and Williams.Robertus Symmes, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

English: patronymic from the personal name Richard. This has undoubtedly also assimilated like-sounding cognates from other languages, such as Swedish Richardsson.

English and German: patronymic from the personal name Richard. Richards is a frequent name in Wales.

English: occupational name for a transporter of goods, Middle English cartere, from an agent derivative of Middle English cart(e) or from Anglo-Norman French car(e)tier, a derivative of Old French caret (see Cartier). The Old French word coalesced with the earlier Middle English word cart(e) ‘cart’, which is from either Old Norse kartr or Old English cræt, both of which, like the Late Latin word, were probably originally derived from Celtic. Northern Irish: reduced form of McCarter.

English: patronymic from the personal name Roger.

Irish: Anglicized form (translation) of Breathnach ‘Briton’. It was used in particular to denote the Welshmen who arrived in Ireland in the wake of Strongbow’s Anglo-Norman invasion of 1170.

Scottish spelling of Thompson.

status name for a steward or official, Middle English bail(l)i (Old French baillis, from Late Latin baiulivus, an adjectival derivative of baiulus ‘attendant’, ‘carrier’ ‘porter’). topographic name for someone who lived by the outer wall of a castle, Middle English bail(l)y, baile ‘outer courtyard of a castle’, from Old French bail(le) ‘enclosure’, a derivative of bailer ‘to enclose’, a word of unknown origin. This term became a place name in its own right, denoting a district beside a fortification or wall, as in the case of the Old Bailey in London, which formed part of the early medieval outer wall of the city. habitational name from Bailey in Lancashire, named with Old English beg ‘berry’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Anglicized form of French Bailly.

English: patronymic from Matthew. In North America, this form has assimilated numerous vernacular derivatives in other languages of Latin Mat(t)hias and Matthaeus. Irish (Ulster and County Louth): used as an Americanized form of McMahon.

as a Highland clan name it is from a nickname from Gaelic cam ‘crooked’, ‘bent’ + sròn ‘nose’. in the Lowlands it is also a habitational name from any of various places called Cameron, especially in Fife.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a weaver, early Middle English webbe, from Old English webba (a primary derivative of wefan ‘to weave’; compare Weaver 1). This word survived into Middle English long enough to give rise to the surname, but was already obsolescent as an agent noun; hence the secondary forms with the agent suffixes -er and -ster. Americanized form of various Ashkenazic Jewish cognates, including Weber and Weberman.

English: occupational name for a merchant or trader, Middle English chapman, Old English ceapmann, a compound of ceap ‘barter’, ‘bargain’, ‘price’, ‘property’ + mann ‘man’.

English: patronymic from the personal name Steven. It is also found in this spelling as a Dutch and North German name, and as an Americanized form of some like-sounding Jewish name, as well as cognate names in other European languages such as Stefan and Steffen and their derivatives.

English and Welsh: from the medieval personal name Elis, a vernacular form of Elijah (see Elias). In Wales this surname absorbed forms derived from the Welsh personal name Elisedd, a derivative of elus ‘kindly’, ‘benevolent’.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Coinnich, patronymic from the personal name Coinneach meaning ‘comely’. Compare Menzies.

English and (especially) Scottish (of Norman origin), and French: nickname from Anglo-Norman French graund, graunt ‘tall’, ‘large’ (Old French grand, grant, from Latin grandis), given either to a person of remarkable size, or else in a relative way to distinguish two bearers of the same personal name, often representatives of different generations within the same family. English and Scottish: from a medieval personal name, probably a survival into Middle English of the Old English byname Granta (see Grantham). Probably a respelling of German Grandt or Grand.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a copse or thicket, Middle English s(c)hage, s(c)hawe (Old English sceaga), or a habitational name from any of the numerous minor places named with this word. The English surname was also established in Ireland in the 17th century. Scottish and Irish: adopted as an English form of any of various Gaelic surnames derived from the personal name Sitheach ‘wolf’. Americanized form of some like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish surname. Chinese : variant of Shao.

English: occupational name for a hunter, Old English hunta (a primary derivative of huntian ‘to hunt’). The term was used not only of the hunting on horseback of game such as stags and wild boars, which in the Middle Ages was a pursuit restricted to the ranks of the nobility, but also to much humbler forms of pursuit such as bird catching and poaching for food. The word seems also to have been used as an Old English personal name and to have survived into the Middle Ages as an occasional personal name. Compare Huntington and Huntley. Irish: in some cases (in Ulster) of English origin, but more commonly used as a quasi-translation of various Irish surnames such as Ó Fiaich (see Fee). Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Hundt.

English and Scottish: from the Breton personal name Aeruiu or Haerviu, composed of the elements haer ‘battle’, ‘carnage’ + vy ‘worthy’, which was brought to England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, for the most part in the Gallicized form Hervé. (The change from -er- to -ar- was a normal development in Middle English and Old French.) Reaney believes that the surname is also occasionally from a Norman personal name, Old German Herewig, composed of the Germanic elements hari, heri ‘army’ + wig ‘war’. Irish: mainly of English origin, in Ulster and County Wexford, but sometimes a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAirmheadhaigh ‘descendant of Airmheadhach’, a personal name probably meaning ‘esteemed’. It seems to be a derivative of Airmheadh, the name borne by a mythological physician. Irish (County Fermanagh): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEarchaidh ‘descendant of Earchadh’, a personal name of uncertain origin.

English and Irish: from a word that originally denoted a wine steward, usually the chief servant of a medieval household, from Norman French butuiller (Old French bouteillier, Latin buticularius, from buticula ‘bottle’). In the large households of royalty and the most powerful nobility, the title came to denote an officer of high rank and responsibility, only nominally concerned with the supply of wine, if at all. Anglicized form of French Boutilier. Jewish (from Poland and Ukraine): occupational name for a bottle maker, from Yiddish butl ‘bottle’ + the agent suffix -er.

English and Scottish: variant of Mill 1. English: either a metronymic form of Mill 2, or a variant of Miles. Irish: in Ulster this is the English name, but elsewhere in Ireland it may be a translation of a Gaelic topographic byname, an Mhuilinn ‘of the mill’.

Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Rhys ‘son of Rhys’ (see Reece). This is one of the commonest of Welsh surnames. It has also been established in Ireland since the 14th century, where it is sometimes a variant of Bryson. English: the name is also found very early in parts of England far removed from Welsh influence (e.g. Richard Prys, Essex 1320), and in such cases presumably derives from Middle English, Old French pris ‘price’, ‘prize’, perhaps as a metonymic occupational name for a fixer of prices. Americanized spelling of Jewish Preuss or Preis.

Welsh, English, and Irish: variant spelling of Pierce.

English: topographic name or metonymic occupational name for someone who lived by or worked at a barn or barns, from Middle English barn ‘barn’, ‘granary’. In some cases, it may be a habitational name from Barnes (on the Surrey bank of the Thames in London), which was named in Old English with this word. English: name borne by the son or servant of a barne, a term used in the early Middle Ages for a member of the upper classes, although its precise meaning is not clear (it derives from Old English beorn, Old Norse barn ‘young warrior’). Barne was also occasionally used as a personal name (from an Old English, Old Norse byname), and some examples of the surname may derive from this use. Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bearáin ‘descendant of Bearán’, a byname meaning ‘spear’. French: variant of Bern. Jewish: variant of Parnes.

Scottish and northern Irish: patronymic from Hendry, a chiefly Scottish variant of the personal name Henry 1. Some Scottish families with this name have ancestors whose name was Henryson.

English (common in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders): Middle English nickname for someone who was strong in the arm. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Labhradha Tréan ‘strong O’Lavery’ or Mac Thréinfhir, literally ‘son of the strong man’, both from Ulster.

Scottish: of uncertain origin. The earliest recorded forms of this family name, dating from the mid-12th century, are de Fresel, de Friselle, and de Freseliere. These appear to be Norman, but there is no place in France with a name answering to them. It is possible, therefore, that they represent a Gaelic name corrupted beyond recognition by an Anglo-Norman scribe. The modern Gaelic form is Friseal, sometimes Anglicized as Frizzell. The surname Fraser is also borne by Jews, in which case it represents an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

English: occupational name for a fisherman, Middle English fischer. The name has also been used in Ireland as a loose equivalent of Braden. As an American family name, this has absorbed cognates and names of similar meaning from many other European languages, including German Fischer, Dutch Visser, Hungarian Halász, Italian Pescatore, Polish Rybarz, etc. In a few cases, the English name may in fact be a topographic name for someone who lived near a fish weir on a river, from the Old English term fisc-gear ‘fish weir’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a fisherman, Yiddish fisher, German Fischer. Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó Bradáin ‘descendant of Bradán’, a personal name meaning ‘salmon’. See Braden. Mistranslation of French Poissant, meaning ‘powerful’, but understood as poisson ‘fish’ (see Poisson), and assimilated to the more frequent English name.

English: status name from Middle English knyghte ‘knight’, Old English cniht ‘boy’, ‘youth’, ‘serving lad’. This word was used as a personal name before the Norman Conquest, and the surname may in part reflect a survival of this. It is also possible that in a few cases it represents a survival of the Old English sense into Middle English, as an occupational name for a domestic servant. In most cases, however, it clearly comes from the more exalted sense that the word achieved in the Middle Ages. In the feudal system introduced by the Normans the word was applied at first to a tenant bound to serve his lord as a mounted soldier. Hence it came to denote a man of some substance, since maintaining horses and armor was an expensive business. As feudal obligations became increasingly converted to monetary payments, the term lost its precise significance and came to denote an honorable estate conferred by the king on men of noble birth who had served him well. Knights in this last sense normally belonged to ancient noble families with distinguished family names of their own, so that the surname is more likely to have been applied to a servant in a knightly house or to someone who had played the part of a knight in a pageant or won the title in some contest of skill. Irish: part translation of Gaelic Mac an Ridire ‘son of the rider or knight’. See also McKnight.

Scottish and northern Irish: habitational name from what is now a deserted village in the parish of Barkby, Leicestershire. This is named from Old English hamel ‘crooked’ + dun ‘hill’. Hamilton near Glasgow was founded by the Hamiltons and named after them. In Ireland, this name may have replaced Hamill in a few cases. It has also been used as the equivalent of the Irish (Cork) name Ó hUrmholtaigh.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a stonemason, Middle English, Old French mas(s)on. Compare Machen. Stonemasonry was a hugely important craft in the Middle Ages. Italian (Veneto): from a short form of Masone. French: from a regional variant of maison ‘house’.

Scottish, English, and northern Irish: variant of Hunt, a Middle English secondary derivative formed with the addition of the agent noun suffix -er.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAodha ‘descendant of Aodh’, a personal name meaning ‘fire’ (compare McCoy). In some cases, especially in County Wexford, the surname is of English origin (see below), having been taken to Ireland by the Normans. English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Devon and Worcestershire, so called from the plural of Middle English hay ‘enclosure’ (see Hay 1), or a topographic name from the same word. English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Dorset, Greater London (formerly in Kent and Middlesex), and Worcestershire, so called from Old English h?se ‘brushwood’, or a topographic name from the same word. English: patronymic from Hay 3. French: variant (plural) of Haye 3. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metronymic from Yiddish name Khaye ‘life’ + the Yiddish possessive suffix -s.

Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Fergus.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Duinn, Ó Doinn ‘descendant of Donn’, a byname meaning ‘brown-haired’ or ‘chieftain’. English: nickname for a man with dark hair or a swarthy complexion, from Middle English dunn ‘dark-colored’. Scottish: habitational name from Dun in Angus, named with Gaelic dùn ‘fort’. Scottish: nickname from Gaelic donn ‘brown’. Compare 1.

Scottish and northern Irish: from Anglo-Norman French waleis ‘Welsh’ (from a Germanic cognate of Old English wealh ‘foreign’), hence an ethnic name for a Welsh speaker. In some cases this clearly denoted an incomer to Scotland from Wales or the Welsh Marches, but it may also have denoted a Welsh-speaking Scot: in western Scotland around Glasgow, the Welsh-speaking Strathclyde Britons survived well into the Middle Ages. Jewish: this surname has been adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries as an Americanized form of various Ashkenazic Jewish surnames, e.g. Wallach.

English: topographic name for someone who lived near a ford, Middle English, Old English ford, or a habitational name from one of the many places named with this word, such as Ford in Northumberland, Shropshire, and West Sussex, or Forde in Dorset. Irish: Anglicized form (quasi-translation) of various Gaelic names, for example Mac Giolla na Naomh ‘son of Gilla na Naomh’ (a personal name meaning ‘servant of the saints’), Mac Conshámha ‘son of Conshnámha’ (a personal name composed of the elements con ‘dog’ + snámh ‘to swim’), in all of which the final syllable was wrongly thought to be áth ‘ford’, and Ó Fuar(th)áin (see Foran). Jewish: Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Translation of German Fürth (see Furth).

English: from a Middle English personal name, Elyat, Elyt. This represents at least two Old English personal names which have fallen together: the male name A{dh}elgeat (composed of the elements a{dh}el ‘noble’ + Geat, a tribal name; see Jocelyn), and the female personal name A{dh}elg¯{dh} (composed of the elements a{dh}el ‘noble’ + g¯{dh} ‘battle’). The Middle English name seems also to have absorbed various other personal names of Old English or Continental Germanic origin, as for example Old English Ælfweald (see Ellwood). English: from a pet form of Ellis. Scottish: Anglicized form of the originally distinct Gaelic surname Elloch, Eloth, a topographic name from Gaelic eileach ‘dam’, ‘mound’, ‘bank’. Compare Eliot.

English: reduced form of Forster. English: nickname from Middle English foster ‘foster parent’ (Old English fostre, a derivative of fostrian ‘to nourish or rear’). Jewish: probably an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames, such as Forster.

Scottish and English: patronymic from Gibb.

Scottish: habitational name from a place in Berwickshire (Borders), named with Welsh gor ‘spacious’ + din ‘fort’. English (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from Gourdon in Saône-et-Loire, so called from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gordus + the locative suffix -o, -onis. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mag Mhuirneacháin, a patronymic from the personal name Muirneachán, a diminutive of muirneach ‘beloved’. Jewish (from Lithuania): probably a habitational name from the Belorussian city of Grodno. It goes back at least to 1657. Various suggestions, more or less fanciful, have been put forward as to its origin. There is a family tradition among some bearers that they are descended from a son of a Duke of Gordon, who converted to Judaism in the 18th century, but the Jewish surname was in existence long before the 18th century; others claim descent from earlier Scottish converts, but this is implausible. Spanish and Galician Gordón, and Basque: habitational name from a place called Gordon (Basque) or Gordón (Spanish, Galician), of which there are examples in Salamanca, Galicia, and Basque Country. Spanish: possibly in some instances from an augmentative of the nickname Gordo (see Gordillo).

English: from the Norman personal name Huard, Heward, composed of the Germanic elements hug ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘spirit’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. English: from the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Haward, composed of the Old Norse elements há ‘high’ + varðr ‘guardian’, ‘warden’. English: variant of Ewart 2. Irish: see Fogarty. Irish (County Clare) surname adopted as an equivalent of Gaelic Ó hÍomhair, which was formerly Anglicized as O’Hure.

Scottish and northern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a stream or streams, from the Middle English nominative plural or genitive singular of burn (see Bourne). Scottish: variant of Burnhouse, habitational name from a place named with burn ‘stream’ + house ‘house’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Broin (see Byrne). Jewish (American): Americanized and shortened form of Bernstein.

Irish (Derry, Connacht, Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conchobhair ‘descendant of Conchobhar’, a personal name which is said to have begun as Cú Chobhair, from cú ‘hound’ (genitive con) + cobhar ‘desiring’, i.e. ‘hound of desire’. Present-day bearers of the surname claim descent from a 10th-century king of Connacht of this name. In Irish legend, Conchobhar was a king of Ulster who lived at around the time of Christ and who adopted the youthful Cú Chulainn.

English: patronymic from Jenkin. Jenkins is one of the most common names in England, especially southwestern England, but is also especially associated with Wales.

English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived in the woods (see Wood). Irish: English name adopted as a translation of Ó Cuill ‘descendant of Coll’ (see Quill), or in Ulster of Mac Con Coille ‘son of Cú Choille’, a personal name meaning ‘hound of the wood’, which has also been mistranslated Cox, as if formed with coileach ‘cock’, ‘rooster’.

English: from Middle English, Old French palmer, paumer (from palme, paume ‘palm tree’, Latin palma), a nickname for someone who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Such pilgrims generally brought back a palm branch as proof that they had actually made the journey, but there was a vigorous trade in false souvenirs, and the term also came to be applied to a cleric who sold indulgences. Swedish (Palmér): ornamental name formed with palm ‘palm tree’ + the suffix -ér, from Latin -erius ‘descendant of’. Irish: when not truly of English origin (see 1 above), a surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Maolfhoghmhair (see Milford) perhaps because they were from an ecclesiastical family. German: topographic name for someone living among pussy willows (see Palm 2). German: from the personal name Palm (see Palm 3).

English: patronymic from Reynold.

English (chiefly central and northern England): variant of Holme. Scottish: probably a habitational name from Holmes near Dundonald, or from a place so called in the barony of Inchestuir. Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Thomáis, Mac Thómais (see McComb). In part of western Ireland, Holmes is a variant of Cavish (from Gaelic Mac Thámhais, another patronymic from Thomas).

Scottish and English: from Middle English blak(e) ‘black’ (Old English blæc, blaca), a nickname given from the earliest times to a swarthy or dark-haired man. Scottish and English: from Old English blac ‘pale’, ‘fair’, i.e. precisely the opposite meaning to 1, and a variant of Blake 2. Blake and Black are found more or less interchangeably in several surnames and place names. English: variant of Blanc as a Norman name. The pronunciation of the nasalized vowel gave considerable difficulty to English speakers, and its quality was often ignored. Scottish and Irish: translation of various names from Gaelic dubh ‘black’ (see Duff). Danish and Swedish: generally, probably the English and Scottish name, but in some cases perhaps a variant spelling of Blak, a nickname from blak ‘black’. In some cases, a translation of various names meaning ‘black’, for example German and Jewish Schwarz.

Welsh: patronymic from Griffith.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Eathain, a patronymic from a personal name meaning ‘servant of (Saint) John’. The family bearing this name were chieftains in several islands of the Inner Hebrides. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Eóin, cognate with 1, from a different Gaelic form of Johannes (John). Compare McGlone.

English: from a pet form of David. English: from the Middle English personal name Day(e) or Dey(e), Old English Dæi, apparently from Old English dæg ‘day’, perhaps a short form of Old English personal names such as Dægberht and Dægmund. Reaney, however, points to the Middle English word day(e), dey(e) ‘dairy maid’, ‘(female) servant’ (from Old English d?ge, cognate with Old Norse deigja ‘female servant’, ultimately from a root meaning ‘to knead’, and related to the word for dough), which he says came to be used for a servant of either sex. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Deaghaidh (see O’Dea). Scottish: from an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name Daìdh, a colloquial form of David. Welsh: from Dai, a pet form of the personal name Dafydd, Welsh form of David.

English: patronymic from the personal name Andrew. This is the usual southern English patronymic form, also found in Wales; the Scottish and northern English form is Anderson. In North America this name has absorbed numerous cases of the various European cognates and their derivatives. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

Welsh: descriptive nickname from Welsh llwyd ‘gray’. In Welsh the color term llwyd also includes shades of brown, and it is likely that, when used with reference to younger men, llwyd denoted brown or mouse-colored hair.

Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Morris.

English and German: from Middle English, Middle High German west ‘west’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived to the west of a settlement, or a regional name for someone who had migrated from further west.

Scottish and Irish (of Scottish origin): from the Gaelic personal name Donnchadh, composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + a derivative of cath ‘battle’, Anglicized in Ireland as Donagh or Donaghue. Compare Donahue. Irish (Sligo): used as an Anglicized equivalent of Gaelic Ó Duinnchinn ‘descendant of Donncheann’, a byname composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + ceann ‘head’.

Chinese : from a character meaning ‘prince’. There are numerous unrelated Wang clans, descendants of various princes of the Shang (1766–1122 bc) and Zhou (1122–221 bc) dynasties, including in particular descendants of the Shang dynasty prince Bi Gan and descendants of Bi Gonggao, 15th son of the virtuous duke Wen Wang, who was granted the state of Wei (a different state of Wei than that granted the eighth son; compare Sun). Chinese : from the name of a state or area called Wang. From ancient times through the Xia (2205–1766 bc) and Shang (1766–1122 bc) dynasties there existed a state of Wang. Later, during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), there also existed an area named Wang in the state of Lu. Some descendants of the ruling class of both areas took the place name Wang as their surname. Korean: there is one Chinese character for the surname Wang. Some sources indicate that there are fifteen Wang clans, but only two can be identified: the Kaesong Wang clan and the Chenam Wang clan. The Kaesong Wang clan, which originated in China, ruled the Korean peninsula for almost five hundred years as the ruling dynasty of the Koryo period (918–1392). There are some indications that the Kaesong Wang clan was present in the ancient Choson Kingdom (?194 bc). When the Chonju Yi clan seized power in 1392 and established the Choson kingdom, many of the members of the Kaesong Wang clan changed their names and went into hiding to avoid being persecuted by the new ruling dynasty. The Chenam Wang clan is also of Chinese origin. The Chenam Wang clan is much smaller than the Kaesong Wang clan. German and Dutch: from Middle German wang, Middle Dutch waenge, literally ‘cheek’, but also in southern German having the transferred sense ‘grassy slope’ or ‘field of grass’. It was thus either a topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow or a descriptive nickname for someone with noticeable cheeks (for example, round or rosy). Jewish (Ashkenazic): either a borrowing of the German name (see 4), or else a regional name for a Jew from Hungary (compare Russian Vengria ‘Hungary’). Scandinavian: variant spelling of Vang 1.

Irish: reduced form of O’Sullivan, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Súileabháin ‘descendant of Súileabhán’, a personal name composed of the elements súil ‘eye’ + dubh ‘black’, ‘dark’ + the diminutive suffix -án.

English, Scottish, French, and German: from the name of the flower, Middle English, Old French, Middle High German rose (Latin rosa), in various applications. In part it is a topographic name for someone who lived at a place where wild roses grew, or a habitational name for someone living at a house bearing the sign of the rose. It is also found, especially in Europe, as a nickname for a man with a ‘rosy’ complexion. As an American surname, this name has absorbed cognates and similar-sounding names from other European languages. English: variant of Royce. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from the word for the flower (German Rose, Yiddish royz), or a metronymic name from the Yiddish female personal name Royze, derived from the word for the flower.

Chinese : from name of the region of Chen (in present-day Henan province). After overthrowing the Shang dynasty and becoming the first king of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, Wu Wang searched for a descendant of the great ancient emperors to guard their memory and offer sacrifices, to help retain the ‘Mandate of Heaven’, which was considered essential to remain in power. He found Gui Man, a descendant of the model emperor Shun (2257–2205 bc), and granted him the region of Chen, along with the title Marquis of Chen and one of his daughters in marriage. Gui Man was posthumously named Chen Hugong, and his descendants came to adopt the surname Chen.

English (of Welsh origin): Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hywel ‘son of Hywel’, a personal name meaning ‘eminent’ (see Howell). Irish: mainly of Welsh origin as in 1 above, but sometimes a surname adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Mac Giolla Phóil ‘son of the servant of St. Paul’ (see Guilfoyle).

English: from the possessive case of Brook (i.e. ‘of the brook’). Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Americanized spelling of German Brucks.

English: patronymic from Daw 1.

Scottish: see McDonald.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Dick.

Chinese: variant of Wang. Chinese: variant of Huang.

English and Scottish: patronymic from the medieval personal name Saunder, reduced vernacular form of Alexander.

English: patronymic from Watt. This surname is also well established in South Wales.

English: from the personal name Francis (Old French form Franceis, Latin Franciscus, Italian Francisco). This was originally an ethnic name meaning ‘Frank’ and hence ‘Frenchman’. The personal name owed much of its popularity during the Middle Ages to the fame of St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), whose baptismal name was actually Giovanni but who was nicknamed Francisco because his father was absent in France at the time of his birth. As an American family name this has absorbed cognates from several other European languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988). Jewish (American): an Americanization of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames, or an adoption of the non-Jewish surname.

English: occupational name for an arrowsmith, Middle English, Old French flech(i)er (from Old French fleche ‘arrow’).

Vietnamese: unexplained. Scottish: nickname from Old Norse trani ‘crane’.

topographic name for someone who lived by a hedgerow or in a row of houses built next to one another, from Middle English row (northern Middle English raw, from Old English raw). from the medieval personal name Row, a variant of Rou(l) (see Rollo, Rolf) or a short form of Rowland. English name adopted by bearers of French Baillargeon.

Chinese : from a character meaning ‘minister’. This was part of the title of Gao Yao, a great-grandson of the legendary emperor Zhuan Xu, who became famous as a minister under the model emperors Yao and Shun in the 23rd century bc; he was the first to introduce laws for the repression of crime. His descendants adopted this part of his title as their surname. The use of this name continued for over a millennium to the twelfth century bc, down to the rule of the last king of the Shang dynasty, the despotic Zhou Xin. Li Zhi, the head of the Li clan at that time, displeased Zhou Xin and was executed, leaving the rest of the clan facing imminent disaster. They fled, and nearly starved to death, surviving only by eating a fruit called mu zi. When the characters for mu and zi are combined, they form the character for plum, pronounced Li. In token of this salvation, the clan changed their name to the current character for li ‘plum’. Li is now the most common surname in China. Among the many famous bearers are Lee Kwan Yew, prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990; Lee Teng-hui, president of Taiwan from 1988; Li Peng, prime minister of China from 1988; and Bruce Lee (1941–73), movie actor. Chinese : from the name of a state of Li (in present-day Shanxi province), which existed during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc). Descendants of the state’s rulers adopted the name of the state as their surname. Chinese : this character for Li is an altered form of 1 above. Norwegian: habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads named Li, from Old Norse hlíð ‘mountain slope’, ‘hillside’.

English and Scottish: patronymic from the medieval personal name Nel or Neal, Anglo-Scandinavian forms of the Gaelic name Niall (see Neill). This was adopted by the Scandinavians in the form Njal and was introduced into northern England and East Anglia by them, rather than being taken directly from Gaelic. Americanized spelling of the like-sounding Scandinavian names Nilsen, Nielsen, and Nilsson.

Northern English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from William.

English: from the Middle English and Old French personal name Lorens, Laurence (Latin Laurentius ‘man from Laurentum’, a place in Italy probably named from its laurels or bay trees). The name was borne by a saint who was martyred at Rome in the 3rd century ad; he enjoyed a considerable cult throughout Europe, with consequent popularity of the personal name (French Laurent, Italian, Spanish Lorenzo, Catalan Llorenç, Portuguese Lourenço, German Laurenz; Polish Wawrzyniec (assimilated to the Polish word wawrzyn ‘laurel’), etc.). The surname is also borne by Jews among whom it is presumably an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Ashkenazic surnames.

English and Scottish: occupational name for the gatekeeper of a walled town or city, or the doorkeeper of a great house, castle, or monastery, from Middle English porter ‘doorkeeper’, ‘gatekeeper’ (Old French portier). The office often came with accommodation, lands, and other privileges for the bearer, and in some cases was hereditary, especially in the case of a royal castle. As an American surname, this has absorbed cognates and equivalents in other European languages, for example German Pförtner (see Fortner) and North German Poertner. English: occupational name for a man who carried loads for a living, especially one who used his own muscle power rather than a beast of burden or a wheeled vehicle. This sense is from Old French porteo(u)r (Late Latin portator, from portare ‘to carry or convey’). Dutch: occupational name from Middle Dutch portere ‘doorkeeper’. Compare 1. Dutch: status name for a freeman (burgher) of a seaport, Middle Dutch portere, modern Dutch poorter. Jewish (Ashkenazic): adoption of the English or Dutch name in place of some Ashkenazic name of similar sound or meaning.

English: variant spelling of Paine. This is also a well-established surname in Ireland.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Broin ‘descendant of Bran’, a personal name based on bran ‘raven’. Bran was the name of a son of the King of Leinster, who died at Cologne in 1052, and also of the hero of an 8th century voyage tale.

Son of Gerald: v. Gerald.

Scottish, English, and northern Irish: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Lanarkshire (Scotland) and Dorset and Lancashire (England) called Crawford, named in Old English with crawe ‘crow’ + ford ‘ford’. English: variant of Crowfoot (see Crofoot).

'What craftsman art thou?' said the king.

Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Herry ‘son of Herry’, a variant of Harry (see Harris). English: topographic name for someone who lived near a pear tree, Middle English per(r)ie (Old English pyrige, a derivative of pere ‘pear’). This surname and a number of variants have been established in Ireland since the 17th century.

English and North German: from a personal name or nickname meaning ‘stag’, Middle English hert, Middle Low German hërte, harte. German: variant spelling of Hardt 1 and 2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name or a nickname from German and Yiddish hart ‘hard’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAirt ‘descendant of Art’, a byname meaning ‘bear’, ‘hero’. The English name became established in Ireland in the 17th century. French: from an Old French word meaning ‘rope’, hence possibly a metonymic occupational name for a rope maker or a hangman. Dutch: nickname from Middle Dutch hart, hert ‘hard’, ‘strong’, ‘ruthless’, ‘unruly’.

Scottish, northern English, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name David. As a Jewish name, the last element comes from German Sohn ‘son’. Americanized spelling of Norwegian and Danish Davidsen or Swedish Davidsson, patronymics from the personal name David.

English: patronymic from Wilkin.

English: nickname from the animal, Middle English, Old English fox. It may have denoted a cunning individual or been given to someone with red hair or for some other anecdotal reason. This relatively common and readily understood surname seems to have absorbed some early examples of less transparent surnames derived from the Germanic personal names mentioned at Faulks and Foulks. Irish: part translation of Gaelic Mac an tSionnaigh ‘son of the fox’ (see Tinney). Jewish (American): translation of the Ashkenazic Jewish surname Fuchs. Americanized spelling of Focks, a North German patronymic from the personal name Fock (see Volk). Americanized spelling of Fochs, a North German variant of Fuchs, or in some cases no doubt a translation of Fuchs itself.

English: from a Middle English pet form of Nicholas. English: from a Middle English personal name derived from the Old English byname Cola (from col ‘(char)coal’, presumably denoting someone of swarthy appearance), or the Old Norse cognate Koli. Scottish and Irish: when not of English origin, this is a reduced and altered form of McCool. In some cases, particularly in New England, Cole is a translation of the French surname Charbonneau. Probably an Americanized spelling of German Kohl.

English: topographic name for someone who lived in a lane, Middle English, Old English lane, originally a narrow way between fences or hedges, later used to denote any narrow pathway, including one between houses in a town. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laighin ‘descendant of Laighean’, a byname meaning ‘spear’, or ‘javelin’. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Luain ‘descendant of Luan’, a byname meaning ‘warrior’. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Liatháin (see Lehane). Southern French: variant of Laine. Possibly also a variant of Southern French Lande.

English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of wet ground overgrown with brushwood, northern Middle English kerr (Old Norse kjarr). A legend grew up that the Kerrs were left-handed, on theory that the name is derived from Gaelic cearr ‘wrong-handed’, ‘left-handed’. Irish: see Carr. This surname has also absorbed examples of German Kehr.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Loingsigh ‘descendant of Loingseach’, a personal name meaning ‘mariner’ (from long ‘ship’). This is now a common surname in Ireland but of different local origins, for example chieftain families in counties Antrim and Tipperary, while in Ulster and Connacht there were families called Ó Loingseacháin who later shortened their name to Ó Loingsigh and also Anglicized it as Lynch. Irish (Anglo-Norman): Anglicized form of Gaelic Linseach, itself a Gaelicized form of Anglo-Norman French de Lench, the version found in old records. This seems to be a local name, but its origin is unknown. One family of bearers of this name was of Norman origin, but became one of the most important tribes of Galway. English: topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or hillside, Old English hlinc, or perhaps a habitational name from Lynch in Dorset or Somerset or Linch in Sussex, all named with this word.

English (chiefly Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Midlands) and Scottish: occupational name for a weaver, early Middle English webber, agent derivative of Webb.

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Piers (see Pierce). The surname is also quite common in Ireland, where it has been established for many centuries. Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish surnames.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cárthaigh ‘son of Cárthach’, a personal name meaning ‘loving’. This is the name of an important Munster family.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dubhghaill ‘descendant of Dubhghall’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘black’ + gall ‘stranger’. This was used as a byname for Scandinavians, in particular to distinguish the darker-haired Danes from fair-haired Norwegians. Compare McDougall, McDowell.

English: from Old English stan ‘stone’, in any of several uses. It is most commonly a topographic name, for someone who lived either on stony ground or by a notable outcrop of rock or a stone boundary-marker or monument, but it is also found as a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in stone, a mason or stonecutter. There are various places in southern and western England named with this word, for example in Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Somerset, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire, and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of these. Translation of various surnames in other languages, including Jewish Stein, Norwegian Steine, and compound names formed with this word.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cearbhaill or Ó Cearbhaill ‘son (or descendant) of Cearbhall’, a personal name of uncertain origin, perhaps from cearbh ‘hacking’ and hence a byname for a butcher or nickname for a fierce warrior.

English, Scottish, Dutch, and North German: patronymic from the personal name Peter. Irish: Anglicized form (translation) of Gaelic Mac Pheadair ‘son of Peter’. Americanized form of cognate surnames in other languages, for example Dutch and North German Pieters.

English: patronymic from the personal name Stephen (see Steven).

English: variant of Free. Irish: Anglicized (‘translated’) form of Gaelic Ó Saoraidhe (see Seery). In New England, an English equivalent of French Foissy (see Foisy). Translation of German Freimann (see Freiman).

English, Welsh, French, South Indian, etc.: from the personal name George, Greek Georgios, from an adjectival form, georgios ‘rustic’, of georgos ‘farmer’. This became established as a personal name in classical times through its association with the fashion for pastoral poetry. Its popularity in western Europe increased at the time of the Crusades, which brought greater contact with the Orthodox Church, in which several saints and martyrs of this name are venerated, in particular a saint believed to have been martyred at Nicomedia in ad 303, who, however, is at best a shadowy figure historically. Nevertheless, by the end of the Middle Ages St. George had become associated with an unhistorical legend of dragon-slaying exploits, which caught the popular imagination throughout Europe, and he came to be considered the patron saint of England among other places. As an American family name, this has absorbed cognates from other European languages, including German Georg and Greek patronymics such as Georgiou, Georgiadis, Georgopoulos, and the status name Papageorgiou ‘priest George’. In English-speaking countries, this surname is also found as an Anglicized form of Greek surnames such as Hatzigeorgiou ‘George the Pilgrim’ and patronymics such as Giorgopoulos ‘son of George’. It is used as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a surname among families from southern India.

English: habitational name from any of several places named with the plural of Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’, or a topopgraphical name from this word (in its plural form), for example Wells in Somerset or Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. Translation of French Dupuis or any of its variants.

Scottish, English, German, Dutch; also found in many other cultures: from the personal name Alexander, classical Greek Alexandros, which probably originally meant ‘repulser of men (i.e. of the enemy)’, from alexein ‘to repel’ + andros, genitive of aner ‘man’. Its popularity in the Middle Ages was due mainly to the Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great (356–323 bc)—or rather to the hero of the mythical versions of his exploits that gained currency in the so-called Alexander Romances. The name was also borne by various early Christian saints, including a patriarch of Alexandria (ad c.250–326), whose main achievement was condemning the Arian heresy. The Gaelic form of the personal name is Alasdair, which has given rise to a number of Scottish and Irish patronymic surnames, for example McAllister. Alexander is a common forename in Scotland, often representing an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name. In North America the form Alexander has absorbed many cases of cognate names from other languages, for example Spanish Alejandro, Italian Alessandro, Greek Alexandropoulos, Russian Aleksandr, etc. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) It has also been adopted as a Jewish name.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Mathghamhna, a patronymic from the byname Mathghamhain meaning ‘good calf’. This was the name of two (unrelated) chieftain families in counties Clare and Monaghan. In northern Ireland it is sometimes Anglicized as Matthews, since Matha was the Irish form of the Biblical name.

Chinese : Cantonese variant of Chen. Chinese : variant transcription of Zhan. Vietnamese (Chân): unexplained. Galician and Portuguese: topographic name from a field named Chan (Galician) or Chã (Portuguese), from Latin plana ‘level’, ‘flat’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Craith, a patronymic from a personal name, possibly Mac Raith ‘son of grace’, from rath ‘grace’, ‘prosperity’.

English: occupational name for someone employed in the pantry of a great house or monastery, from Middle English spense ‘larder’ + the agent suffix -er.

English, French, Danish, Dutch, and German: from a short form of the personal name Matthias (see Matthew) or any of its many cognates, for example Norman French Maheu. English, French, Dutch, and German: from a nickname or personal name taken from the month of May (Middle English, Old French mai, Middle High German meie, from Latin Maius (mensis), from Maia, a minor Roman goddess of fertility). This name was sometimes bestowed on someone born or baptized in the month of May; it was also used to refer to someone of a sunny disposition, or who had some anecdotal connection with the month of May, such as owing a feudal obligation then. English: nickname from Middle English may ‘young man or woman’. Irish (Connacht and Midlands): when not of English origin (see 1–3 above), this is an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Miadhaigh ‘descendant of Miadhach’, a personal name or byname meaning ‘honorable’, ‘proud’. French: habitational name from any of various places called May or Le May. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from Mayen, a place in western Germany. Americanized spelling of cognates of 1 in various European languages, for example Swedish Ma(i)j. Chinese : possibly a variant of Mei 1, although this spelling occurs more often for the given name than for the surname.

English and Scottish: variant spelling of Low. German (Löwe): see Loewe. Jewish (Ashkenazic; Löwe): ornamental name from German Löwe ‘lion’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Germanized form of Levy.

Chinese : the origin of this name goes back 4500 years to a grandson of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), surnamed Hui. Hui invented bows and arrows, and was put in charge of their production. In honor of his deeds, he was given as surname the character pronounced Zhang, which is composed of the symbols for ‘bow’ and ‘long’, meaning to ‘stretch open a bow’. Zhang has now become one of the most common names in China. Chinese : from the name of an area called Zhang in present-day Shandong province. During the Western Zhou dynasty (1122–771 bc) a fief was made of this area. It was later conquered by the state of Qi; at that time the former rulers of conquered states were not allowed to take the name of their state as their surname. The former ruling class of Zhang fortunately were able to drop off a small portion of the character for Zhang and still leave another character also pronounced Zhang. This modified character became their surname.

Scottish: habitational name from any of the various places called Douglas from their situation on a river named with Gaelic dubh ‘dark’, ‘black’ + glas ‘stream’ (a derivative of glas ‘blue’). There are several localities in Scotland and Ireland so named, but the one from which the surname is derived in most if not all cases is 20 miles south of Glasgow, the original stronghold of the influential Douglas family and their retainers.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Colmáin ‘descendant of Colmán’. This was the name of an Irish missionary to Europe, generally known as St. Columban (c.540–615), who founded the monastery of Bobbio in northern Italy in 614. With his companion St. Gall, he enjoyed a considerable cult throughout central Europe, so that forms of his name were adopted as personal names in Italian (Columbano), French (Colombain), Czech (Kollman), and Hungarian (Kálmán). From all of these surnames are derived. In Irish and English, the name of this saint is identical with diminutives of the name of the 6th-century missionary known in English as St. Columba (521–97), who converted the Picts to Christianity, and who was known in Scandinavian languages as Kalman. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Clumháin ‘descendant of Clumhán’, a personal name from the diminutive of clúmh ‘down’, ‘feathers’. English: occupational name for a burner of charcoal or a gatherer of coal, Middle English coleman, from Old English col ‘(char)coal’ + mann ‘man’. English: occupational name for the servant of a man named Cole. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of Kalman. Americanized form of German Kohlmann or Kuhlmann.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Néill ‘descendant of Niall’ (see Neill).

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Berold,' the French Berraud. This great surname appears as a personal name in Domesday: Baret, Yorkshire.Stephanus fil. Beroldi, Pipe Roll, 5 Henry II.Berard de Wattlesfeld, Suffolk, 1273.

Scottish: habitational name from the island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, the Gaelic name of which is Bód (genitive Bóid).

English and Scottish: status name from Middle English burge(i)s, Old French burgeis ‘inhabitant and (usually) freeman of a (fortified) town’ (see Burke), especially one with municipal rights and duties. Burgesses generally had tenure of land or buildings from a landlord by burgage. In medieval England burgage involved the payment of a fixed money rent (as opposed to payment in kind); in Scotland it involved payment in service, guarding the town. The -eis ending is from Latin -ensis (modern English -ese as in Portuguese). Compare Burger.

English: habitational name from any of the extremely numerous places called Sutton, from Old English suð ‘south’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Irish (of Anglo-Norman origin): habitational name from Burgh in Suffolk, England. This is named with Old English burh ‘fortification’, ‘fortified manor’. Norwegian: Americanized form of Børke, a habitational name from any of eight farms in southeastern Norway, named with Old Norse birki ‘birch wood’. German: variant of Burk.

English: topographic name from Middle English dene ‘valley’ (Old English denu), or a habitational name from any of several places in various parts of England named Dean, Deane, or Deen from this word. In Scotland this is a habitational name from Den in Aberdeenshire or Dean in Ayrshire. English: occupational name for the servant of a dean or nickname for someone thought to resemble a dean. A dean was an ecclesiastical official who was the head of a chapter of canons in a cathedral. The Middle English word deen is a borrowing of Old French d(e)ien, from Latin decanus (originally a leader of ten men, from decem ‘ten’), and thus is a cognate of Deacon. Irish: variant of Deane. Italian: occupational name cognate with 2, from Venetian dean ‘dean’, a dialect form of degan, from degano (Italian decano).

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Atkin.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from a pet form of Pate, a short form of Patrick. Irish: in Ulster of English or Scottish origin; in County Galway, a surname taken by bearers of Gaelic Ó Caisín ‘descendant of the little curly-headed one’ (from Gaelic casán), which is usually Anglicized as Cussane.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÓgáin ‘descendant of Ógán’, a personal name from a diminutive of óg ‘young’, also ‘young warrior’. In the south, some bearers claim descent from an uncle of Brian Boru. In northern Ireland a surname of the same form was Anglicized as Hagan.

English: from a short form of the personal names Giles, Julian, or William. In theory the name would have a soft initial when derived from the first two of these, and a hard one when from William or from the other possibilities discussed in 2–4 below. However, there has been much confusion over the centuries. Northern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a ravine or deep glen, Middle English gil(l), Old Norse gil ‘ravine’. Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille (Scottish), Mac Giolla (Irish), patronymics from an occupational name for a servant or a short form of the various personal names formed by attaching this element to the name of a saint. See McGill. The Old Norse personal name Gilli is probably of this origin, and may lie behind some examples of the name in northern England. Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac An Ghoill (see Gall 1). Norwegian: habitational name from any of three farmsteads in western Norway named Gil, from Old Norse gil ‘ravine’. Dutch: cognate of Giles. Jewish (Israeli): ornamental name from Hebrew gil ‘joy’. German: from a vernacular short form of the medieval personal name Aegidius (see Gilger). Indian (Panjab): Sikh name, probably from Panjabi gil ‘moisture’, also meaning ‘prosperity’. There is a Jat tribe that bears this name; the Ramgarhia Sikhs also have a clan called Gill.

(predominantly southern) Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Braonáin ‘descendant of Braonán’, a personal name from a diminutive of braon ‘moisture’, ‘drop’. Compare Breen. (predominantly northern) Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Branáin ‘descendant of Branán’, a personal name meaning ‘little raven’ (see Brannigan).

Scottish and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aodha ‘son of Aodh’, an ancient personal name meaning ‘fire’. Etymologically, this is the same name as McCoy.

English and Irish (of Norman origin): habitational name from La Varrenne in Seine-Maritime, France, named with a Gaulish element probably descriptive of alluvial land or sandy soil. English: topographic name for someone who lived by a game park, or an occupational name for someone employed in one, from Anglo-Norman French warrene or Middle English wareine ‘warren’, ‘piece of land for breeding game’. Irish: adopted as an Englsih form of Gaelic Ó Murnáin (see Murnane, Warner).

English and Dutch: patronymic from the personal name Nichol.

English, Scottish, and French: status name for a young servant, Middle English and Old French page (from Italian paggio, ultimately from Greek paidion, diminutive of pais ‘boy’, ‘child’). The surname is also common in Ireland (especially Ulster and eastern Galway), having been established there since the 16th century. North German: metonymic occupational name for a horse dealer, from Middle Low German page ‘horse’. (Pagé): North American form of French Paget.

Irish (Galway and Mayo): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Béara or Ó Beargha (see Barry 1). Scottish and northern Irish: variant spelling of Barrie. English: habitational name from any of several places named with Old English byrig, dative case of burh ‘fortified manor house’, ‘stronghold’, such as Berry in Devon or Bury in Cambridgeshire, Greater Manchester, Suffolk, and West Sussex. French: regional name for someone from Berry, a former province of central France, so named with Latin Boiriacum, apparently a derivative of a Gaulish personal name, Boirius or Barius. In North America, this name has alternated with Berrien. Swiss German: pet form of a Germanic personal name formed with Old High German bero ‘bear’ (see Baer).

English: nickname for a newcomer to a place, from Middle English newe ‘new’ + man ‘man’. This form has also absorbed several European cognates with the same meaning, for example Neumann. (For other forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

English: variant spelling of Burke.

English: topographic name for someone who lived near a stone cross set up by the roadside or in a marketplace, from Old Norse kross (via Gaelic from Latin crux, genitive crucis), which in Middle English quickly and comprehensively displaced the Old English form cruc (see Crouch). In a few cases the surname may have been given originally to someone who lived by a crossroads, but this sense of the word seems to have been a comparatively late development. In other cases, the surname (and its European cognates) may have denoted someone who carried the cross in processions of the Christian Church, but in English at least the usual word for this sense was Crozier. Irish: reduced form of McCrossen. In North America this name has absorbed examples of cognate names from other languages, such as French Lacroix.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Leòid, a patronymic from a Gaelic form of the Old Norse personal name Ljótr ‘ugly’.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dubhuidhir, a variant of Ó Duibhidhir (see Diver) ‘descendant of Duibhuidhir’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘dark’, ‘black’ + odhar ‘sallow’, ‘tawny’.

English: ethnic name for someone from Flanders. In the Middle Ages there was considerable commercial intercourse between England and the Netherlands, particularly in the wool trade, and many Flemish weavers and dyers settled in England. The word reflects a Norman French form of Old French flamenc, from the stem flam- + the Germanic suffix -ing. The surname is also common in south and east Scotland and in Ireland, where it is sometimes found in the Gaelicized form Pléimeann. German: variant of Flemming, cognate with 1.

English: habitational name from any of the many places throughout England named Bradley, from Old English brad ‘broad’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Scottish: habitational name from Braidlie in Roxburghshire. Irish (Ulster): adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Brolcháin.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hUiginn ‘descendant of Uiginn’, a byname meaning ‘viking’, ‘sea-rover’ (from Old Norse víkingr). Irish: variant of Hagan. English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Higgin, a pet form of Hick.

English (mainly southern England and South Wales) and Irish: from the Old English personal name Hearding, originally a patronymic from Hard 1. The surname was first taken to Ireland in the 15th century, and more families of the name settled there 200 years later in Tipperary and surrounding counties. North German and Dutch: patronymic from a short form of any of the various Germanic compound personal names beginning with hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

English: habitational name from a place name that is very common in central and northern England. The derivation in most cases is from Old English burh ‘fort’ (see Burke) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

English: occupational name for the servant of a parish priest or parson, or a patronymic denoting the child of a parson, from the possessive case of Middle English persone, parsoun (see Parson). English: many early examples are found with prepositions (e.g. Ralph del Persones 1323); these are habitational names, with the omission of house, hence in effect occupational names for servants employed at the parson’s house. Irish: usually of English origin (see above), but sometimes a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Phearsain, which is of Highland Scottish origin (see McPherson).

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Coinn ‘descendant of Conn’ (see O’Quinn). This is the name of several families in Ulster and counties Clare, Longford, and Mayo.

English: variant of Lum. Dutch: perhaps from a short form of a Germanic personal name, Lieman or Liemaar. Korean: variant of Im. Chinese : Fujian variant of Lin 1. Filipino: unexplained.

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, etc.: from the Latin personal name Lucas (Greek Loukas) ‘man from Lucania’. Lucania is a region of southern Italy thought to have been named in ancient times with a word meaning ‘bright’ or ‘shining’. Compare Lucio. The Christian name owed its enormous popularity throughout Europe in the Middle Ages to St. Luke the Evangelist, hence the development of this surname and many vernacular derivatives in most of the languages of Europe. Compare Luke. This is also found as an Americanized form of Greek Loukas. Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lùcais (see McLucas).

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÓileáin, a variant of Ó hAoláin, from a form of Faolán (with loss of the initial F-), a personal name representing a diminutive of faol ‘wolf’. Compare Whelan. English and Scottish: habitational name from Holland, a division of Lincolnshire, or any of the eight villages in various parts of England so called, from Old English hoh ‘ridge’ + land ‘land’. The Scottish name may also be from places called Holland in Orkney, Houlland in Shetland, Hollandbush in Stirlingshire, and Holland-Hirst in the parish of Kirkintilloch. English, German, Jewish (Ashkenazic), Danish, and Dutch: regional name from Holland, a province of the Netherlands.

English, Scottish, Welsh, and German: from the Old French personal name Olivier, which was taken to England by the Normans from France. It was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as having been borne by one of Charlemagne’s paladins, the faithful friend of Roland, about whose exploits there were many popular romances. The name ostensibly means ‘olive tree’ (see Oliveira), but this is almost certainly the result of folk etymology working on an unidentified Germanic personal name, perhaps a cognate of Alvaro. The surname is also borne by Jews, apparently as an adoption of the non-Jewish surname. Catalan and southern French (Occitan): generally a topographic name from oliver ‘olive tree’, but in some instances possibly related to the homonymous personal name (see 1 above).

Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, and North German: patronymic from the personal name Hans.

English: reduced form of Gardener. Probably a translated form of German Gärtner (see Gartner).

Scottish: variant of Johnston.

Irish (Leinster and Munster) and English (of Norman origin): habitational name for someone from Pois, a place in Picardy (said to have been named with Old French pois ‘fish’ because of its well-stocked river), from Old French Pohier ‘native of Pois’. English: nickname for a poor man, or ironically for a miser, from Middle English, Old French povre, poure ‘poor’ (Latin pauper). Woulfe gives this also as the meaning of the Norman Irish name, which in early records is found as le Poer, believing it to be a nickname for someone who has taken a vow of poverty.

Northern English and Scottish: variant of Kerr. Irish (Ulster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Carra ‘descendant of Carra’, a byname meaning ‘spear’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Chathair, a Donegal name meaning ‘son of the servant of Cathair’.

Indian (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka): Hindu and Parsi name which goes back to an official title meaning ‘village headman’, p??tel in Gujarati, Marathi, and Kannada (where it is pa?tela). It comes ultimately from Sanskrit pa?t?takila ‘tenant of royal land’. Among the Indians in the U.S, it is the most common family name.

English: from Middle English biscop, Old English bisc(e)op ‘bishop’, which comes via Latin from Greek episkopos ‘overseer’. The Greek word was adopted early in the Christian era as a title for an overseer of a local community of Christians, and has yielded cognates in every European language: French évêque, Italian vescovo, Spanish obispo, Russian yepiskop, German Bischof, etc. The English surname has probably absorbed at least some of these continental European cognates. The word came to be applied as a surname for a variety of reasons, among them service in the household of a bishop, supposed resemblance in bearing or appearance to a bishop, and selection as the ‘boy bishop’ on St. Nicholas’s Day.

English and French: nickname for a tall person, from Old English lang, long, Old French long ‘long’, ‘tall’ (equivalent to Latin longus). Irish (Ulster (Armagh) and Munster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Longáin (see Langan). Chinese : from the name of an official treasurer called Long, who lived during the reign of the model emperor Shun (2257–2205 bc). his descendants adopted this name as their surname. Additionally, a branch of the Liu clan (see Lau 1), descendants of Liu Lei, who supposedly had the ability to handle dragons, was granted the name Yu-Long (meaning roughly ‘resistor of dragons’) by the Xia emperor Kong Jia (1879–1849 bc). Some descendants later simplified Yu-Long to Long and adopted it as their surname. Chinese : there are two sources for this name. One was a place in the state of Lu in Shandong province during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). The other source is the Xiongnu nationality, a non-Han Chinese people. Chinese : variant of Lang. Cambodian: unexplained.

English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hudde (see Hutt 1). This surname is particularly common in Yorkshire and is also well established in Ireland.

Scottish (of Norman origin): name of a powerful Scottish clan, originally a habitational name from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in La Manche or Saint-Clair-l’Évêque in Calvados, so called from the dedication of their churches to St. Clarus (see Clare 3). Jewish: Americanized form of some like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish surname.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from Law 1. Americanized form of Swedish Larsson.

English: nickname for a refined person, sometimes no doubt given ironically, from Old French, Middle English curteis, co(u)rtois ‘refined’, ‘accomplished’ (a derivative of Old French court, see Court 1). English: from Middle English curt ‘short’ + hose ‘leggings’, hence a nickname for a short person or one who wore short stockings. This nickname was borne by William the Conqueror’s son Robert, but it is not clear whether it has given rise to any surnames. Altered form of French Courtois.

Scottish: variant of Monroe. In Ireland, Munroe has come to replace the surname Mulroy in some cases.

Scottish and northern English: variant spelling of Allen. This is the more common spelling of the name in Scotland and northern England; in Scotland it is often found as an English form of the Gaelic name McAllen (see McAllan).

Scottish: habitational name from a district in Ayrshire, first recorded in 1153 in the form Cunegan, a Celtic name of uncertain origin. The spellings in -ham, first recorded in 1180, and in -ynghame, first recorded in 1227, represent a gradual assimilation to the English place-name element -ingham. Irish: surname adopted from Scottish by bearers of Gaelic Ó Cuinneagáin ‘descendant of Cuinneagán’, a personal name from a double diminutive of the Old Irish personal name Conn meaning ‘leader’, ‘chief’.

English: habitational name from any of the many places so named, from Old English neowe ‘new’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. According to Ekwall, this is the commonest English place name. For this reason, the surname has a highly fragmented origin.

English: variant spelling of Davy.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Steven. As a North American surname, it has assimilated some European cognates such as Stefan and Steffen and their derivatives.

Welsh: from the Welsh personal name Owain, probably a borrowing in Roman times of Latin Eugenius (see Eugene), but possibly of more ancient Celtic origin, cognate with Gaelic Eoghan. Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Eoghain ‘son of Eoghan’ (see McEwen).

Scottish: patronymic from a pet form of Pate 1.

English and German: from a very widely used personal name of Germanic origin, composed of the elements arn ‘eagle’ + wald ‘rule’. In addition, it has probably absorbed various European cognates and their derivatives (for the forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988). English: habitational name from either of the two places called Arnold (see Arnall). Jewish (Ashkenazic): adoption of the German personal name, at least in part on account of its resemblance to the Jewish name Aaron.

English: variant of Black 1, meaning ‘swarthy’ or ‘dark-haired’, from a byform of the Old English adjective blæc, blac ‘black’, with change of vowel length. English: nickname from Old English blac ‘wan’, ‘pale’, ‘white’, ‘fair’. In Middle English the two words blac and blac, with opposite meanings, fell together as Middle English blake. In the absence of independent evidence as to whether the person referred to was dark or fair, it is now impossible to tell which sense was originally meant. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bláthmhaic ‘descendant of Bláthmhac’, a personal name from bláth ‘flower’, ‘blossom’, ‘fame’, ‘prosperity’ + mac ‘son’. In some instances, however, the Irish name is derived from Old English blæc ‘dark’, ‘swarthy’, as in 1 above. Many bearers are descended from Richard Caddell, nicknamed le blac, sheriff of Connacht in the early 14th century. The English name has been Gaelicized de Bláca.

Irish: variant spelling of Reilly. English: habitational name from Ryley in Lancashire, so named from Old English ryge ‘rye’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. There is a Riley with the same meaning in Devon, but it does not seem to have contributed to the surname, which is more common in northern England.

Chinese : from the name of the state of Liu, which was granted to a descendant of the model emperor Yao (2357–2257 bc). Chinese : variant of Liao. Chinese : from the name of an area called Liu Xia in the state of Lu (in present-day Shanxi province). During the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), this was granted to a counselor famous for his high moral character. His descendants adopted the name of this area as their surname.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Meachair ‘descendant of Meachar’, a personal name meaning ‘kindly’, ‘fine’, ‘majestic’.

Northern English and Scottish: patronymic from Nichol.

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the bird' perhaps from the singing propensities of the original bearer; compare 'He sings like a bird.' Also compare Nightingale, Sparrow, Finch, Lark, &c.David le Brid, Oxfordshire, 1273.

English: from Middle English schepherde ‘shepherd’ (composed of words meaning ‘sheep’ + ‘herdsman’ or ‘guardian’), hence an occupational name for a shepherd. This English form of the name has absorbed cognates and equivalents from several other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

English and German: patronymic from John. As a German name it may also be a reduced form of Johannes. Americanized form of Swiss German Schantz.

English: patronymic from an altered form of the personal name Walter. English: variant of Water 2. Irish: when not the English surname, an Anglicized form of various Gaelic names taken to be derived from uisce ‘water’ (see for example Haskin, Hiskey, Tydings).

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Hawkin, a diminutive of Hawk 1 with the Anglo-Norman French hypocoristic suffix -in. English: in the case of one family (see note below), this is a variant of Hawkinge, a habitational name from a place in Kent, so called from Old English Hafocing ‘hawk place’. Irish: sometimes used as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó hEacháin (see Haughn).

English and German: patronymic from Walter.

English (of Norman origin): from a personal name, Hamo(n), which is generally from a continental Germanic name Haimo, a short form of various compound names beginning with haim ‘home’, although it could also be from the Old Norse personal name Hámundr, composed of the elements hár ‘high’ + mund ‘protection’. As an Irish name it is generally an importation from England, but has also been used to represent Hamill 3 and, more rarely, McCammon.

English: from the Middle English personal name Hann + the hypocoristic suffix -cok, which was commonly added to personal names (see Cocke). Dutch: from Middle Dutch hanecoc ‘winkle’, ‘periwinkle’ (a type of shellfish), probably a metonymic occupational name for someone who gathered and sold shellfish.

English: nickname for a small man, or distinguishing epithet for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, from Middle English littel, Old English l¯tel, originally a diminutive of l¯t (see Light 3). Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó Beagáin ‘descendant of Beagán’ (see Begin). Translation of French Petit and Lepetit; also used as an English form of names such as Jean-Petit ‘little John’. Translation of any of various other European name meaning ‘little’.

English, German, Dutch (De Mann), and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a fierce or strong man, or for a man contrasted with a boy, from Middle English, Middle High German, Middle Dutch man. In some cases it may have arisen as an occupational name for a servant, from the medieval use of the term to describe a person of inferior social status. The Jewish surname can be ornamental. English and German: from a Germanic personal name, found in Old English as Manna. This originated either as a byname or else as a short form of a compound name containing this element, such as Hermann. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Man (cognate with 1). Indian (Panjab): Hindu (Jat) and Sikh name of unknown meaning.

English: nickname from Middle English scharp ‘keen’, ‘active’, ‘quick’. Irish (County Donegal): Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic Ó Géaráin ‘descendant of Géarán’, a byname from a diminutive of géar ‘sharp’. Americanized form of any of several European names with similar meaning, for example German Scharf.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Barry.' There can be little doubt that this was of Norman extraction; compare the French Du Barry. The Irish Barrys have made a large inroad in the American directories. I cannot say whether they are of the same parentage or not.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Conmara, a patronymic from Cú Mhara, a personal name composed of the elements cú ‘hound’ + muir ‘sea’.

English (of Norman origin), French, and North German: from Giselbert, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements gisil ‘pledge’, ‘hostage’, ‘noble youth’ (see Giesel) + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. This personal name enjoyed considerable popularity in England during the Middle Ages, partly as a result of the fame of St. Gilbert of Sempringham (1085–1189), the founder of the only native English monastic order. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Scottish: regional name from the former county of this name, so named from Old Norse suðr ‘south’ + land ‘land’ because the territory lay south of Scandinavia and the Norse colonies in the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

Welsh: from a medieval Latinized form, Griffinus, of the Welsh personal name Gruffudd (see Griffith). English: nickname for a fierce or dangerous person, from Middle English griffin ‘gryphon’ (from Latin gryphus, Greek gryps, of Assyrian origin). Irish: Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic Ó Gríobhtha ‘descendant of Gríobhtha’, a personal name from gríobh ‘gryphon’.

English: from the Old Norse personal name Ásbjorn, composed of the elements ás ‘god’ + björn ‘bear’. This was established in England before the Conquest, in the late Old English form Osbern, and was later reinforced by Norman Osbern. The surname Osborne has also been widely established in Ireland since the 16th century.

English: patronymic from the personal name Will.

Northern English and Scottish: occupational name from Old English bæcestre ‘baker’, variant (originally a feminine form) of bæcere (see Baker).

Scottish and English: from an extremely common Middle English personal name, Wat(t), a short form of Walter.

English (of Norman origin): via Old French from the Germanic personal name Milo, of unknown etymology. The name was introduced to England by the Normans in the form Miles (oblique case Milon). In English documents of the Middle Ages the name sometimes appears in the Latinized form Milo (genitive Milonis), although the normal Middle English form was Mile, so the final -s must usually represent the possessive ending, i.e. ‘son or servant of Mile’. English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Mihel, an Old French contracted form of Michael. English: occupational name for a servant or retainer, from Latin miles ‘soldier’, sometimes used as a technical term in this sense in medieval documents. Irish (County Mayo): when not the same as 1 or 3, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maolmhuire, Myles being used as the English equivalent of the Gaelic personal name Maol Muire (see Mullery). Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): unexplained. Dutch: variant of Miels, a variant of Miele 3.

English, Scottish, Dutch, and North German: status name for a champion, Middle English and Middle Low German kempe. In the Middle Ages a champion was a professional fighter on behalf of others; for example the King’s Champion, at the coronation, had the duty of issuing a general challenge to battle to anyone who denied the king’s right to the throne. The Middle English word corresponds to Old English cempa and Old Norse kempa ‘warrior’; both these go back to Germanic campo ‘warrior’, which is the source of the Dutch and North German name, corresponding to High German Kampf. Dutch: metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or processed hemp, from Middle Dutch canep ‘hemp’.

English: occupational name for someone who fitted wooden or metal hoops on wooden casks and barrels, from an agent derivative of Middle English hoop ‘hoop’, ‘band’.

Korean: there is one Chinese character for the surname Kim. Kim is the most common Korean surname, comprising about 20 percent of the Korean population. According to some sources, there are over 600 different Kim clans, but only about 100 have been documented. Kims can be found in virtually every part of Korea. The two largest Kim clans, the Kim family of Kimhae and the Kim family of Kyongju, are descended from semi-mythological characters who lived two thousand years ago. According to legend, the Kimhae Kim family founder, Kim Suro, came in answer to a prayer offered by the nine elders of the ancient Karak Kingdom. In 42 ad, these elders met together to pray for a king. In answer to their prayer, they were sent a golden box containing six golden eggs. From the first egg emerged King Su-ro, Karak’s first king. The other five eggs became the five kings of Karak’s neighboring kingdom, Kaya. The founder of the Kim family of Kyongju, Kim Al-ji, had similar origins. In 65 ad the king of Shilla, T’alhae, heard a strange sound from a forest near the Shilla capital, Kyongju. On investigation he found a crowing white rooster standing next to a golden egg. From this egg emerged Al-ji, founder of the Kyongju Kim family and subsequent king of the Shilla Kingdom. Because Al-ji emerged from a golden egg, King T’alhae bestowed upon the child the surname Kim, which means ‘gold’. It is estimated that about half of the one hundred or so Kim clans of modern Korea are descended from the Kyongju Kim clan. Swiss German: unexplained.

English: variant of Lyon 3. Irish: variant of Lyon 4.

English (mainly southwestern England): variant of Bryan.

English: occupational name for a dresser of cloth, Old English fullere (from Latin fullo, with the addition of the English agent suffix). The Middle English successor of this word had also been reinforced by Old French fouleor, foleur, of similar origin. The work of the fuller was to scour and thicken the raw cloth by beating and trampling it in water. This surname is found mostly in southeast England and East Anglia. See also Tucker and Walker. In a few cases the name may be of German origin with the same form and meaning as 1 (from Latin fullare). Americanized version of French Fournier.

Northern English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived in a small hut or bothy, Middle English both(e), especially a cowman or shepherd. The word is of Scandinavian origin (compare Old Danish both, Old Norse buð) and was used to denote various kinds of temporary shelter, typically a cowshed or a herdsman’s hut. In the British Isles the surname is still more common in northern England, where Scandinavian influence was more marked, and in Scotland, where the word was borrowed into Gaelic as both(an).

English (chiefly southwestern England and South Wales): occupational name for a fuller, from an agent derivative of Middle English tuck(en) ‘to full cloth’ (Old English tucian ‘to torment’). This was the term used for the process in the Middle Ages in southwestern England, and the surname is more common there than elsewhere. Compare Fuller and Walker. Americanized form of Jewish To(c)ker (see Tokarz). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Tuachair ‘descendant of Tuachar’, a personal name composed of the elements tuath ‘people’ + car ‘dear’, ‘beloved’. Possibly also an Americanized form of German Tucher, from an occupational name for a cloth maker or merchant, from an agent derivative of Middle High German tuoch ‘cloth’.

English, French, and German: from the personal name Austin, a vernacular form of Latin Augustinus, a derivative of Augustus. This was an extremely common personal name in every part of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, owing its popularity chiefly to St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whose influence on Christianity is generally considered to be second only to that of St. Paul. Various religious orders came to be formed following rules named in his honor, including the ‘Austin canons’, established in the 11th century, and the ‘Austin friars’, a mendicant order dating from the 13th century. The popularity of the personal name in England was further increased by the fact that it was borne by St. Augustine of Canterbury (died c. 605), an Italian Benedictine monk known as ‘the Apostle of the English’, who brought Christianity to England in 597 and founded the see of Canterbury. German: from a reduced form of the personal name Augustin.

Scottish: see McKenzie.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by or in a marsh or fen, Middle English mershe (Old English mersc), or a habitational name from any of various minor places named with this word, for example in Shropshire and Sussex.

ethnic name for someone from France, Middle English frensche, or in some cases perhaps a nickname for someone who adopted French airs. variant of Anglo-Norman French Frain.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an tSaoir ‘son of the craftsman’. Compare Irish McAteer.

English: from the Middle English personal name Bartlet, a pet form of Bartholomew.

Scottish and northern Irish: patronymic from the personal name Dick.

English: patronymic from Hick 1. This is a widespread surname in England, and is common in the southwest and southern Wales. Dutch and German: patronymic from Hick. Compare Hix.

English: habitational name from any of the many places so named, most of which are from Old English bucc ‘buck’, ‘male deer’ or bucca ‘he-goat’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Places called Buckley and Buckleigh, in Devon, are named with Old English boga ‘bow’ + clif ‘cliff’. English: possibly a variant of Bulkley, from the local pronunciation. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Buachalla ‘descendant of Buachaill’, a byname meaning ‘cowherd’, ‘servant’, ‘boy’. Altered spelling of German Büchler (see Buechler), or of Büchle, a variant of Buechel.

Northern English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hutchin, a pet form of Hugh.

English: from a personal name that was popular throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages. The Greek original, Gregorios, is a derivative of gregorein ‘to be awake’, ‘to be watchful’. However, the Latin form, Gregorius, came to be associated by folk etymology with grex, gregis, ‘flock’, ‘herd’, under the influence of the Christian image of the good shepherd. The Greek name was borne in the early Christian centuries by two fathers of the Orthodox Church, St. Gregory Nazianzene (c. 325–390) and St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 331–395), and later by sixteen popes, starting with Gregory the Great (c. 540–604). It was also the name of 3rd- and 4th-century apostles of Armenia. In North America the English form of the name has absorbed many cognates from other European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

English, etc.: variant spelling of Cook.

English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindrich, etc.). As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInnéirghe ‘descendant of Innéirghe’, a byname based on éirghe ‘arising’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Éinrí or Mac Einri, patronymics from the personal names Éinrí, Einri, Irish forms of Henry. It is also found as a variant of McEnery. Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Janyn, Jenyn, a pet form of John. German: patronymic from a pet form of the personal name Johannes (see John).

Irish (Leinster and Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Nualláin ‘descendant of Nuallán’, a personal name representing a diminutive of nuall ‘famous’, ‘noble’.

English, Scottish, and Irish: occupational name for a player on the harp, from an agent derivative of Middle English, Middle Dutch harp ‘harp’. The harper was one of the most important figures of a medieval baronial hall, especially in Scotland and northern England, and the office of harper was sometimes hereditary. The Scottish surname is probably an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Chruiteir ‘son of the harper’ (from Gaelic cruit ‘harp’, ‘stringed instrument’). This surname has long been present in Ireland.

English: occupational name for someone who was employed in the private living quarters of his master, rather than in the public halls of the manor. The name represents a genitive or plural form of Middle English cha(u)mbre ‘chamber’, ‘room’ (Latin camera), and is synonymous in origin with Chamberlain, but as that office rose in the social scale, this term remained reserved for more humble servants of the bedchamber.

English: occupational name for a bird-catcher (a common medieval occupation), Middle English fogelere, foulere (Old English fugelere, a derivative of fugol ‘bird’).

Scottish and Irish: see McKay.

English: nickname for a short, fat person, from Middle English bal(le) ‘ball’ (Old English ball, Old Norse b{o,}llr). English: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a knoll or rounded hill, from the same Middle English word, bal(le), used in this sense. English: from the Old Norse personal name Balle, derived either from ballr ‘dangerous’ or b{o,}llr ‘ball’. South German: from Middle High German bal ‘ball’, possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a juggler, or a habitational name from a place so named in the Rhine area. Dutch and German: short form of any of various Germanic personal names formed with the element bald (see Bald).

Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived near a steep or precipitous rock, from Gaelic creag, a word that has been borrowed in Middle English as crag(g).

nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Middle English re(a)d ‘red’. topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, from an unattested Old English ried, r¯d ‘woodland clearing’. habitational name from various places: Read in Lancashire, the name of which is a contracted form of Old English r?gheafod, from r?ge ‘female roe deer’, ‘she-goat’ + heafod ‘head(land)’; Rede in Suffolk, so called from Old English hreod ‘reeds’; or Reed in Hertfordshire, so called from an Old English ryhð ‘brushwood’.

English: variant spelling of Read 1.

English, Scottish, and French: nickname for a brave or foolhardy man, from Old French, Middle English hardi ‘bold’, ‘courageous’ (of Germanic origin; compare Hard 1). Irish: in addition to being an importation of the English name, this is also found as an Anglicized form (by partial translation) of Gaelic Mac Giolla Deacair ‘son of the hard lad’. Scottish: variant spelling of Hardie 2.

English: status name for a peasant farmer or husbandman, Middle English bonde (Old English bonda, bunda, reinforced by Old Norse bóndi). The Old Norse word was also in use as a personal name, and this has given rise to other English and Scandinavian surnames alongside those originating as status names. The status of the peasant farmer fluctuated considerably during the Middle Ages; moreover, the underlying Germanic word is of disputed origin and meaning. Among Germanic peoples who settled to an agricultural life, the term came to signify a farmer holding lands from, and bound by loyalty to, a lord; from this developed the sense of a free landholder as opposed to a serf. In England after the Norman Conquest the word sank in status and became associated with the notion of bound servitude. Swedish: variant of Bonde.

English: variant spelling of Gardener.

English: habitational name for someone from Kent, an ancient Celtic name. The surname is also frequent in Scotland and Ireland. In Irrerwick in East Lothian English vassals were settled in the middle of the 12th century and in Meath in Ireland in the 13th century.

English: occupational name for someone who stripped the hide from animals, to be used in the production of fur garments or to be tanned for leather, from an agent derivative of Middle English skin ‘hide’, ‘pelt’ (Old Norse skinn).

English: from the Middle English personal name Godewyn, Old English Godwine, composed of the elements god ‘good’ + wine ‘friend’.

Vietnamese (Lê): a royal or aristocratic name, the family name of the Lê Dynasty.

English, French, German, Polish, and Slovenian; Spanish and Hungarian (Jordán): from the Christian baptismal name Jordan. This is taken from the name of the river Jordan (Hebrew Yarden, a derivative of yarad ‘to go down’, i.e. to the Dead Sea). At the time of the Crusades it was common practice for crusaders and pilgrims to bring back flasks of water from the river in which John the Baptist had baptized people, including Christ himself, and to use it in the christening of their own children. As a result Jordan became quite a common personal name.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the many places called Mor(e)ton, named in Old English as ‘settlement (tun) by or on a marsh or moor (mor)’. Swedish: variant of Martin. French: contracted form of Moreton 2. Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames or of various other non-English names bearing some kind of similarity to it.

Irish: variant spelling of Gleason.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by an ash tree, a variant of Ash by misdivision of Middle English atten ash ‘at the ash’, or a habitational name from any of the many places in England and Wales named Nash, from this phrase, as for example Nash in Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire, or Shropshire. The name was established from an early date in Wales and Ireland. Jewish: of unknown origin, possibly an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

English, Dutch, and North German (Pötter): occupational name for a maker of drinking and storage vessels, from an agent derivative of Middle English, Middle Low German pot. In the Middle Ages the term covered workers in metal as well as earthenware and clay.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Toisich ‘son of the chief’.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Phearsain ‘son of the parson’ (see Parsons). This is the surname of various ecclesiastical families in Aberdeenshire and Argyll; it is also established in northern Ireland.

English: patronymic from Bate (see Bartholomew). Americanized form of German Betz. See also Betts.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cathasaigh ‘descendant of Cathasach’, a byname meaning ‘vigilant’ or ‘noisy’.

Northern English and Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Stephen (see Steven).

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fearghail ‘descendant of Fearghal’, a personal name composed of the elements fear ‘man’ + gal ‘valor’.

Irish (Donegal): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Baoithghill ‘descendant of Baoithgheall’, a personal name of uncertain meaning, perhaps from baoth ‘rash’ + geall ‘pledge’.

Son of Patrick: v. Patrick.

English: occupational name for a barber, Anglo-Norman French barber, Old French barbier, from Late Latin barbarius, a derivative of barba ‘beard’. In the Middle Ages barbers not only cut hair and shaved beards, but also practised surgery and pulled teeth. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from German Barbier ‘barber’. Catalan: occupational name for a barber, barber (see 1). Americanized form of any of numerous cognates of 1 in different languages, for example Spanish Barbero, Portuguese Barbeiro, French Barbier, Italian Barbieri.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Old English bere or bær ‘barley’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’, i.e. an outlying grange. Compare Barwick. German and central European (e.g. Czech and Slovak Barton): from a pet form of the personal name Bartolomaeus (see Bartholomew).

Irish and English variant of Brown.

English: topographic name for someone who lived at the extremity of a village, from Middle English toun ‘village’, ‘settlement’ + ende ‘end’.

English, German, Danish, and Swedish: nickname for someone of an icy and unbending disposition or who had white hair or a white beard, from Old English, Old High German, Old Norse frost ‘frost’, or in the case of the Swedish name from a byname with the same meaning.

Scottish: habitational name from Lindsey in Lincolnshire, England. This is first found in the form Lindissi, apparently a derivative of the British name of Lincoln. To this was later added the Old English element eg ‘island’, since the place was virtually cut off by the surrounding fenland. The surname was taken to Scotland at an early date and is the name of an important and powerful Scottish family. Irish: adopted as an equivalent of various Gaelic names (see Lindsey).

English: from the medieval personal name Den(n)is (Latin Dionysius, Greek Dionysios ‘(follower) of Dionysos’, an eastern god introduced to the classical pantheon at a relatively late date and bearing a name of probably Semitic origin). The name was borne by various early saints, including St Denis, the martyred 3rd-century bishop of Paris who became the patron of France; the popularity of the name in England from the 12th century onwards seems to have been largely due to French influence. The feminine form Dionysia (in the vernacular likewise Den(n)is) is also found, and some examples of the surname may represent a metronymic form. English: variant of Dench. Irish (mainly Dublin and Cork): of the same origin as 1 and 2, sometimes an alternative form to Donohue but more often to MacDonough, since the personal name Donnchadh was Anglicized as Donough or Denis. Irish (Ulster and Munster): Anglicized form of the rare Gaelic name Ó Donnghusa ‘descendant of Donnghus’, a personal name from donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + gus ‘vigor’.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German smit, German Schmied ‘blacksmith’. The German surname is found in many other parts of Europe, from Slovenia to Sweden.

Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Súileabháin ‘descendant of Súileabháin’ (see Sullivan).

Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived on a moor, from a Scots form of Middle English more ‘moor’, ‘fen’.

regional name for someone who had migrated from the North (i.e. further north in England, or from Scotland or Scandinavia), from Old French nor(r)eis ‘northerner’. topographic name for someone who lived in a house on the north side of a settlement or estate, from Middle English north ‘north’ + hous ‘house’. occupational name for a wet-nurse or foster mother, from Old French nurice, norrice (Latin nutrix, genitive nutricis).

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Griogair ‘son of Griogar’, Gaelic form of the personal name Gregory.

English: occupational name for a maker of wheels (for vehicles or for use in spinning or various other manufacturing processes), from an agent derivative of Middle English whele ‘wheel’. The name is particularly common on the Isle of Wight; on the mainland it is concentrated in the neighboring region of central southern England.

(Celtic) Eager Help [Irish Gal(l)chobhair-gall, eager (also a foreigner) + the aspirated form of cobhair, help]

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAodhagáin (see Hagan).

Welsh: variant spelling of Reese. German: habitational name from a place in the Rhineland called Rees. German: short form of Andreas.

English: from the Middle English personal name Wade, Old English Wada, from wadan ‘to go’. (Wada was the name of a legendary sea-giant.) English: topographic name for someone who lived near a ford, Old English (ge)wæd (of cognate origin to 1), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Wade in Suffolk. Dutch and North German: occupational name or nickname from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German wade ‘garment’, ‘large net’.

Chinese : variant of Wu 1. Chinese : variant of Wu 4.

English, Scottish, and North German: patronymic from Sander 1.

Danish, Norwegian, and North German: patronymic from the personal name Jens, a reduced form of Johannes (see John). This is Denmark’s most frequent surname.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Brádaigh ‘descendant of Brádach’, a byname the meaning of which is not clear. It is unlikely to be connected with Gaelic bradach ‘thieving’, ‘dishonest’, which has a short first vowel.

Scottish: variant of Stewart.

Irish (Donegal, Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Domhnaill ‘descendant of Domhnall’ (see McDonnell). This name is borne by several different Irish families.

Northern English (chiefly Northumbrian) and Scottish: variant, altered by folk etymology, of Trumble, on theory that it denoted a nickname for a man thought to be strong and brave enough to turn back a charging bull, from Middle English turn(en) ‘to turn’ + bul(l)e ‘bull’.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Maoláin, a patronymic from the byname Maolán, a diminutive of maol ‘bald’, ‘tonsured’. In Scotland the usual spelling is Macmillan. Compare Mullen.

Northern English form of Bridge, from Old Norse bryggja.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Braose' or 'Brause,' the castle of Braose, 'now Brieuse, two leagues from Falaise in Normandy' (Lower). Spelt in every conceivable manner. I only furnish a few instances. Sussex, I believe, was the original home of the family.

English: topographic name for someone who lived on land which had been cleared of forest, but not brought into cultivation, from Old English feld ‘pasture’, ‘open country’, as opposed on the one hand to æcer ‘cultivated soil’, ‘enclosed land’ (see Acker) and on the other to weald ‘wooded land’, ‘forest’ (see Wald). Possibly also Scottish or Irish: reduced form of McField (see McPhail). Jewish (American): Americanized and shortened form of any of the many Jewish surnames containing Feld.

= Daley, q.v.

English and French: from a medieval personal name of which the original form was Latin Aegidius (from Greek aigidion ‘kid’, ‘young goat’). This was the name of a 7th-century Provençal hermit, whose cult popularized the name in a variety of more or less mutilated forms: Gidi and Gidy in southern France, Gil(l)i in the area of the Alpes-Maritimes, and Gil(l)e elsewhere. This last form was taken over to England by the Normans, but by the 12th century it was being confused with the Germanic names Gisel, a short form of Gilbert, and Gilo, which is from Gail (as in Gaillard). Irish: adopted as an Anglicized equivalent of Gaelic Ó Glaisne, a County Louth name, based on glas ‘green’, ‘blue’, ‘gray’.

Indian: Hindu name found in several communities, from Sanskrit kumara ‘child’, ‘son’, ‘prince’. It is also an epithet of the god Kartikeya, the son of Shiva. It commonly occurs as the final element of compound given names, and sometimes as a personal name in its own right. Slovenian: either a variant spelling of Kumer or a variant of Humar, a topographic name for someone who lived on a hill, from holm (dialectally hum ‘hill’, ‘height’).

German (Müller) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): see Mueller. Dutch: variant of Mulder.

English: patronymic from Hopkin. The surname is widespread throughout southern and central England, but is at its most common in South Wales. Irish (County Longford and western Ireland): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Oibicín, itself a Gaelicized form of an Anglo-Norman name. In other parts of the country this name is generally of English origin.

English, French, Dutch, and German: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements land ‘land’, ‘territory’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. In England, the native Old English form Landbeorht was replaced by Lambert, the Continental form of the name that was taken to England by the Normans from France. The name gained wider currency in Britain in the Middle Ages with the immigration of weavers from Flanders, among whom St. Lambert or Lamprecht, bishop of Maastricht in around 700, was a popular cult figure. In Italy the name was popularized in the Middle Ages as a result of the fame of Lambert I and II, Dukes of Spoleto and Holy Roman Emperors.

habitational name from various places, for example Chipping (High) Barnet, East Barnet, and Friern Barnet in Greater London, named with Old English bærnet ‘place cleared by burning’ (a derivative of bærnan ‘to burn’, ‘to set light to’). from a medieval personal name, a variant of Bernard.

English: patronymic from the personal name Atkin.

Scottish (common in Aberdeenshire): occupational name for a miller or someone who lived at a mill, Old English mylen ‘mill’ (see Mill, Milner). The Scottish name found its way to Ireland; MacLysaght records that it has been in Dublin since the early 18th century. In some cases it has absorbed Irish Moyle.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhionghuin, a patronymic from a Gaelic personal name meaning ‘fair born’ or ‘fair son’. It is also translated as Love, and has been taken as being from Gaelic Mac Ionmhuinn ‘son of the beloved one’.

English: patronymic from Perkin, also found throughout mid and south Wales. Dutch: patronymic from a pet form of Peer, a Dutch form of Peter.

English, Scottish, and Irish (of Norman origin); also French: nickname from Middle English, Old French noble ‘high-born’, ‘distinguished’, ‘illustrious’ (Latin nobilis), denoting someone of lofty birth or character, or perhaps also ironically someone of low station. The surname has been established in Ireland since the 13th century, but was re-introduced in the 17th century and is now found mainly in Ulster. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of Knöbel, a surname derived from an archaic German word for a servant. This was the name of a famous rabbinical family which moved from Wiener Neustadt to Sanok in Galicia in the 17th century; several members subsequently emigrated to the U.S. Jewish: Americanized form of Nobel. German: probably a Huguenot name (see 1). Possibly an altered form of German Knobel or Nobel.

English and Scottish: from Middle English stele ‘steel’, hence a nickname for someone considered as hard and durable as steel, or metonymic occupational name for a foundry worker.

English and French: from a medieval personal name (Latin Vincentius, a derivative of vincens, genitive vincentis, present participle of vincere ‘to conquer’). The name was borne by a 3rd-century Spanish martyr widely venerated in the Middle Ages and by a 5th-century monk and writer of Lérins, as well as various other early saints. In eastern Europe the name became popular in honor of Wincenty Kadlubek (died 1223), a bishop of Kraków and an early chronicler. Irish: the English surname has been established in the south of Ireland since the 17th century, and has also been adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mac Dhuibhinse ‘son of the dark man of the island’.

English (southern): patronymic either from the personal name Simon (see Simon) or, as Reaney and Wilson suggest, from the medieval personal name Simund (composed of Old Norse sig ‘victory’ + mundr ‘protection’), which after the Norman Conquest was taken as an equivalent Simon, with the result that the two names became confused.

Scottish: habitational name from a place near Melrose in Roxburghshire. The place name is first recorded in 1144 in the form Mackeswell ‘Mack’s spring or stream (Old English well(a))’. Irish: this surname is common in Ulster, where it has sometimes been adopted as an alternative to Miskell. Jewish: arbitrary adoption of the Scottish name, or Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

English, Irish (Ulster), Scottish, and Dutch: name applied either to a Scandinavian or to someone from Normandy in northern France. The Scandinavian adventurers of the Dark Ages called themselves norðmenn ‘men from the North’. Before 1066, Scandinavian settlers in England were already fairly readily absorbed, and Northman and Normann came to be used as bynames and later as personal names, even among the Saxon inhabitants. The term gained a new use from 1066 onwards, when England was settled by invaders from Normandy, who were likewise of Scandinavian origin but by now largely integrated with the native population and speaking a Romance language, retaining only their original Germanic name. French: regional name for someone from Normandy. Dutch: ethnic name for a Norwegian. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Nordman. Jewish: Americanized form of some like-sounding Ashkenazic name. In at least one case it is an Americanized form of Novominsky, the name of a family from Uman in Ukraine. On coming to the United States around 1900, a member of this family changed his name to Norman, after which some relatives in Russia adopted this name in place of Novominsky. Swedish: from norr ‘north’ + man ‘man’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Coileáin ‘descendant of Coileán’, a byname meaning ‘puppy’ or ‘young dog’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuilinn ‘descendant of Cuileann’, a byname meaning ‘holly’. Scottish: habitational name from Cullen in Banff, so named from Gaelic cùilen, a diminutive of còil, cùil ‘nook’, ‘recess’. English: habitational name from the Rhineland city of Cologne (Old French form of Middle High German Köln, named with Latin colonia ‘colony’). English: variant of Cooling.

German, Dutch, English, and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements heri, hari ‘army’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. In Britain, this Old French name, introduced by the Normans, reinforced the less common Old English cognate Herebeorht. The surname was taken to Ireland after the Anglo-Norman invasion and in the 16th century. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the German personal name.

Scottish, English, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a tall person, from Older Scots, Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle German, and Danish lang ‘long’, Swedish lång. Hungarian: from láng ‘flame’, hence probably a nickname for a passionate person, or a man with a fighting spirit. Alternatively it may be an indirect occupational name for a smith or someone who worked with fire. Chinese : from the name of a place called Lang City in the state of Lu, founded during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) by a grandson of the ruler. His descendants lived there and adopted Lang as their surname. Vietnamese (Lãng): unexplained.

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). Alternatively, it may be a habitational name from any of various places named with this word, including Les Hays and La Haye in Normandy. The Old French and Middle English word was used in particular to denote an enclosed forest. Compare Haywood. This name was taken to Ireland (County Wexford) by the Normans. Scottish and English: nickname for a tall man, from Middle English hay, hey ‘tall’, ‘high’ (Old English heah). Scottish and English: from the medieval personal name Hay, which represented in part the Old English byname Heah ‘tall’, in part a short form of the various compound names with the first element heah ‘high’. French: topographic name from a masculine form of Old French haye ‘hedge’, or a habitational name from Les Hays, Jura, or Le Hay, Seine-Maritime. Spanish: topographic name from haya ‘beech tree’ (ultimately derived from Latin fagus). German: occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘guardian’, ‘custodian’ (see Hayer). Dutch and Frisian: variant of Haye 1.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dochartaigh ‘descendant of Dochartach’, a byname from do + cartach ‘not loving’. The family were chieftains in Donegal.

English, French, German, and Dutch: from the personal name Paul (Latin Paulus ‘small’), which has always been popular in Christendom. It was the name adopted by the Pharisee Saul of Tarsus after his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus in about ad 34. He was a most energetic missionary to the Gentiles in the Roman Empire, and played a very significant role in establishing Christianity as a major world religion. The name was borne also by numerous other early saints. The American surname has absorbed cognates from other European languages, for example Greek Pavlis and its many derivatives. It is also occasionally borne by Jews; the reasons for this are not clear. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Phóil ‘son of Paul’. Compare McFall. Catalan (Paül): habitational name from any of several places named Paül. Spanish: topographic name from paúl ‘marsh’, ‘lagoon’. Spanish: Castilianized form of Basque Padul, a habitational name from a town of this name in Araba province.

English, North German, Danish, and Norwegian: topographic name for someone who lived in or by a small wood, Middle English, Middle Low German, Danish, Norwegian holt, or a habitational name from one of the very many places named with this word. In England the surname is widely distributed, but rather more common in Lancashire than elsewhere. Shortened form of Dutch van Holt, a habitational name from places named Holt (see 1).

English (also frequent in Wales): patronymic from the personal name Watkin.

English: from Middle English yates ‘gates’, plural of yate, Old English geat ‘gate’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived near the gates of a walled town, or a metonymic occupational name for a gatekeeper.

English and Scottish: from Middle English abbott ‘abbot’ (Old English abbod) or Old French abet ‘priest’. Both the Old English and the Old French term are derived from Late Latin abbas ‘priest’ (genitive abbatis), from Greek abbas, from Aramaic aba ‘father’. This was an occupational name for someone employed in the household of or on the lands of an abbot, and perhaps also a nickname for a sanctimonious person thought to resemble an abbot. In the U.S. this name is also sometimes a translation of a cognate or equivalent European name, e.g. Italian Abate, Spanish Abad, or German Abt.

English: from Anglo-Norman French waleis ‘Welsh’ (from a Germanic cognate of Old English wealh ‘foreign’), hence an ethnic name for a Welsh speaker. Compare Scottish Wallace.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Floinn ‘descendant of Flann’, a byname meaning ‘red(dish)’, ‘ruddy’. There were families of this name in various parts of Ireland.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the numerous places throughout England and Scotland so called, from Old English þorn ‘thorn bush’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. Irish: Anglicized (translated) form of Gaelic Mac Sceacháin ‘son of Sceachán’ (see Skehan). Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Draighneáin ‘descendant of Draighneán’ (see Drennan). Irish: possibly a translated form of Gaelic Ó Muineacháin (see Monahan).

English: topographic name for someone who lived on a heath (Middle English hethe, Old English h?ð) or a habitational name from any of the numerous places, for example in Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and West Yorkshire, named with this word. The same word also denoted heather, the characteristic plant of heathland areas. This surname has also been established in Dublin since the late 16th century.

Scottish and northern Irish: patronymic from James.

English: patronymic from Gibb.

English: patronymic from Mann 1 and 2. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Mainnín ‘descendant of Mainnín’, probably an assimilated form of Mainchín, a diminutive of manach ‘monk’. This is the name of a chieftain family in Connacht. It is sometimes pronounced Ó Maingín and Anglicized as Mangan.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a stone-built wall, e.g. one used to fortify a town or to keep back the encroachment of the sea (Old English w(e)all, from Latin vallum ‘rampart’, ‘palisade’). Northern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a spring or stream, northern Middle English wall(e) (Old English (Mercian) wæll(a); compare Well). Irish: re-Anglicized form of de Bhál, a Gaelicized form of de Valle, the name of a Norman family established in Munster and Connacht. German: topographic name for someone who lived by a defensive wall, Middle High German wal. German: variant of Wahl 2. German: from a short form of the personal name Walther. Swedish: ornamental name from Swedish vall ‘grassy bank’, ‘pasture’, ‘grazing ground’, or in some cases a habitational name from a place named with this element.

Chinese : from the name of the ancient state of Wu in what is now Jiangsu province. In the 13th century bc, the state of Zhou was ruled by Tai Wang, who had three sons: Tai Bo, Zhong Yong, and Ji Li. The eldest sons, Tai Bo and Zhong Yong, believing that their father wished the youngest son, Ji Li, to inherit the reins of power, left the Zhou homeland with a group of followers and traveled southeastward to east-central China, where they established the state of Wu. Their descendants eventually adopted Wu as their surname. Ji Li stayed on to rule the Zhou and became the father of the famed virtuous duke Wu Wang, to whom those named Zhou (see Chow) trace their ancestry. Thus, the surnames Wu and Zhou are traced to the same ancestor, Tai Wang. Chinese : Cantonese variant of Hu. Chinese : from the name of Ji Wu, a son of Ping Wang (770–719 bc), the first king of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. His descendants adopted the given name Wu as their surname. Chinese : from the name of Wu Can, an official of the state of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). At one time, the states of Chu and Jin were at war. The general of Chu viewed the strong position of the Jin and recommended retreat. However, a minor official, Wu Can, performed an analysis of the situation which concluded that an attack would be better. The prince of Chu agreed with Wu Can, which resulted in a victory over the Jin. Wu Can then became a senior official and used part of his given name, Wu, as his new surname. Chinese : from the name of Wu Peng, doctor of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc).

English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived on the slope of a hillside or by a riverbank, from northern Middle English banke (from Old Danish banke). The final -s may occasionally represent a plural form, but it is most commonly an arbitrary addition made after the main period of surname formation, perhaps under the influence of patronymic forms with a possessive -s. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bruacháin ‘descendant of Bruachán’, a byname for a large-bellied person. The English form was chosen because of a mistaken association of the Gaelic name with bruach ‘bank’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ciardha, a midland family name meaning ‘descendant of Ciardha’, a personal name derived from ciar ‘dark’, ‘black’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhiachra ‘son of Fiachra’. English: habitational name from Carey in Devon or Cary in Somerset, named for the rivers on which they stand; both river names probably derive from the Celtic root car- ‘love’, ‘liking’, perhaps with the meaning ‘pleasant stream’. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from the manor of Carrey, near Lisieux, Normandy, France, of uncertain origin. Welsh and Cornish: variant of Carew. Possibly an Americanized form of German Gehrig or Gehring.

Korean: there are four Chinese characters used for the Yang surname, but only two are common enough to consider here; they have between them eight clans. The founding ancestor of the Ch’ongju Yang clan was Chinese and stayed in Korea after escorting Koryo, King Kongmin’s future queen to Korea. The first historical ancestor of the Cheju Yang clan was a Shilla figure named Yang T’ang, but according to legend, his distant ancestor was one of three men who ascended from a cave on the north side of Cheju Island’s Halla Mountain. These three men were the founders of the Yang, Pu, and Ko clans. The legendary founder of the Yang clan was named Yang Ul-la. Some days after their emergence, a box washed up on the shore of the island. In the box were three women, horses, cows, and agricultural seed. From these beginnings, the three established Cheju’s T’amnaguk kingdom and ruled peacefully for 900 years. Later, descendants of the three men settled throughout Korea, although 40 percent of the Yang clan still live on Cheju island and in Cholla province. Chinese : from the name of the state of Yang during the Zhou Dynasty. The first king of this dynasty, Wu Wang (1122–1116 bc), had a son named Tang Shuyu; a descendant of his was enfeoffed the state of Yang, and later descendants adopted the name of the state as their surname. Chinese : from a region called Yang that existed in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). Chinese : in the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), there existed in the state of Jin a senior adviser with the surname Yang-she. During the Warring States period (403–221 bc) his descendants fled to escape destruction by the conquering Qin, and simplified their surname to Yang. Laotian: unexplained.

Scottish: from the personal name Christie, a pet form of Christian.

Scottish: habitational name from a place near Aberdeen, so named from Gaelic forba ‘field’, ‘district’ + the locative suffix -ais. The place name is pronounced in two syllables, with the stress on the second, and the surname until recently reflected this. Today, however, it is generally a monosyllable. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Firbhisigh ‘son of Fearbhisigh’, a personal name composed of Celtic elements meaning ‘man’ + ‘prosperity’. A family of this name in Connacht was famous for its traditional historians, compilers of the Book of Lecan.

Scottish and northern Irish: habitational name from any of the places in Scotland so called, principally that near Auchinleck. They all get their names from Gaelic lagan, a diminutive of lag ‘hollow’. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Leocháin ‘descendant of Leochán’ (earlier spelled Lothchán), a personal name of unexplained origin.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the places so called. In over thirty instances from many different areas, the name is from Old English midel ‘middle’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. However, Middleton on the Hill near Leominster in Herefordshire appears in Domesday Book as Miceltune, the first element clearly being Old English micel ‘large’, ‘great’. Middleton Baggot and Middleton Priors in Shropshire have early spellings that suggest gem¯ðhyll (from gem¯ð ‘confluence’ + hyll ‘hill’) + tun as the origin.

Chinese : from an ancient territory called Huang. Perhaps the most famous and revered of the ancient Chinese emperors is Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), considered father of the Chinese people. He is also known as ‘the Yellow Emperor’, since Huang also means ‘yellow’. Surprisingly, though, Huang Di is not credited with being a direct source of the surname. A descendant of his was granted the fief of the territory of Huang, which later served as the surname for certain descendants of the ruling family.

Chinese : variant of Lin 1. Chinese : variant of Lan. Vietnamese (Lâm): unexplained. Dutch and North German: from a short form of the personal name Lambert. Danish: nickname for a gentle person, from Old Norse lamb ‘lamb’, or possibly for a lame man, Old Norse lami.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Dalton,' parishes in Lancashire, Durham, and Yorkshire (East Riding); townships in Lancashire, Northumberland, Yorkshire (North and West Ridings), and Durham. Meaning 'the town in the dale.

English: habitational name from any of the many places so called, from Old English norð ‘north’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. In some cases, it is a variant of Norrington. Irish: altered form of Naughton, assimilated to the English name. Jewish (American): adoption of the English name in place of some like-sounding Ashkenazic name.

English: nickname from Middle English ca ‘jackdaw’, from an unattested Old Norse ká. See also Daw. English: nickname from Middle English cai, kay, kei ‘left-handed’, ‘clumsy’. English: metonymic occupational name for a locksmith, from Middle English keye, kaye ‘key’. Compare Care, Kear. English: topographic name for someone living on or near a quay, Middle English kay(e), Old French cay. English: from a Middle English personal name which figures in Arthurian legend. It is found in Old Welsh as Cai, Middle Welsh Kei, and is ultimately from the Latin personal name Gaius. Scottish and Irish: reduced form of McKay. French: variant of Quay, cognate with 2. Much shortened form of any of various names, mostly Eastern European, beginning with the letter K-. Variant of Danish and Frisian Kai.

Scottish: from a pet form of the personal name Rich, a short form of Richard.

English and Welsh: from the personal name Moss, a Middle English vernacular form of the Biblical name Moses. English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived by a peat bog, Middle English, Old English mos, or a habitational name from a place named with this word. (It was not until later that the vocabulary word came to denote the class of plants characteristic of a peat-bog habitat, under the influence of the related Old Norse word mosi.) Americanized form of Moses or some other like-sounding Jewish surname. Irish (Ulster): part translation of Gaelic Ó Maolmhóna ‘descendant of Maolmhóna’, a personal name composed of the elements maol ‘servant’, ‘tonsured one’, ‘devotee’ + a second element which was assumed to be móin (genitive móna) ‘moorland’, ‘peat bog’.

patronymic from Reeve. topographic name for someone who lived on the margin of a wood, from a misdivision of the Middle English phrase atter eves ‘at the edge’ (Old English æt þære efese).

English: nickname for a clever trickster, from Old English prætt ‘trick’, ‘tricky’, ‘cunning’ (which is found in use as a byname in the 11th century). This surname is quite common in southeastern Ireland.

Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived by a dam or weir on a river. Compare Ware. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Mhaoir ‘son of the steward’ (see McNair). Irish: Anglicized form, based on an erroneous translation (as if from Gaelic cora ‘weir’, ‘stepping stones’), of various Gaelic names such as Ó Corra and Ó Comhraidhe (see Corr and Curry).

Welsh: from the personal name Hywel ‘eminent’, popular since the Middle Ages in particular in honor of the great 10th-century law-giving Welsh king. English: habitational name from Howell in Lincolnshire, so named from an Old English hugol ‘mound’, ‘hillock’ or hune ‘hoarhound’.

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Coinnigh ‘descendant of Coinneach’, an Old Irish personal name equivalent to Scottish Kenneth. This was borne by a 6th-century monk and saint who gave his name to the town of Kilkenny ‘church of Coinneach’. Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cionaodha ‘descendant of Cionaodh’, a personal name of unexplained etymology.

Chinese : from a word meaning ‘forest’. Bi Gan was a half-brother to Zhou Xin, the cruel and corrupt last king (1154–1123 bc) of the Shang dynasty. Bi Gan criticized his half-brother’s excesses, and for this he had his belly ripped open and his heart cut out. His wife fled to Chang Forest, where she gave birth to a son. When Zhou Xin was toppled by the new Zhou dynasty, the new Zhou ruler granted the son some land together with the name Lin. Chinese : variant of Lian 1. Scottish and English: perhaps a variant of Lynn. Dutch: probably a variant of Lyn.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Móráin ‘descendant of Mórán’, a personal name meaning ‘great’, ‘large’; the stress is normally on the first syllable. English: variant of Morant, normally pronounced with the stress on the second syllable. Spanish (Morán): habitational name from places called Morán in Asturies, Galicia (Pontevedra) and Aragon (Zaragoza).

English, Scottish, and German: patronymic from Peter. Americanized form of similar surnames of non-English origin (such as Petersen, or Swedish Pettersson). In VT, there are Petersons who were originally called by the French name Beausoleil; in some documentation this was translated fairly literally as Prettysun, which was then assimilated to Peterson.

German: status name for a village headman, from a contracted form of Middle High German schultheize. The term originally denoted a man responsible for collecting dues and paying them to the lord of the manor; it is a compound of sculd(a) ‘debt’, ‘due’ + a derivative of heiz(z)an ‘to command’. The surname is also established in Scandinavia. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Schulze (see 1 above). The reason for adoption are uncertain, but may perhaps have referred to a rabbi, seen as the head of a Jewish community, or to a trustee of a synagogue.

English (mainly northern) and Scottish: nickname for someone thought to resemble a fox, for example in cunning or slyness, or perhaps more obviously in having red hair, from northern Middle English tod(de) ‘fox’ (of unknown origin).

English: variant of Stoke.

English and Scottish: occupational name for an archer, Middle English bow(e)man, bouman (from Old English boga ‘bow’ + mann ‘man’). This word was distinguished from Bowyer, which denoted a maker or seller of the articles. It is possible that in some cases the surname referred originally to someone who untangled wool with a bow. This process, which originated in Italy, became quite common in England in the 13th century. The vibrating string of a bow was worked into a pile of tangled wool, where its rapid vibrations separated the fibers, while still leaving them sufficiently entwined to produce a fine, soft yarn when spun. Americanized form of German Baumann (see Bauer) or the Dutch cognate Bouman.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Donnghaile ‘descendant of Donnghal’, a personal name composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + gal ‘valor’. It is claimed that most bearers of this surname in Donegal descend from Donnghal O’Neill, 17th in descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages; there were also other families of the same name in Sligo and Cork.

Korean (Ho): there is only one Chinese character for the Ho surname. Some records indicate that there are fifty-nine Ho clans, but only four have been identified and documented. All four clans descend from the same founding ancestor. In ad 48, a sixteen-year-old Indian princess is said to have arrived by boat on the shores of Korea. The Karak Kingdom’s King Suro married the woman, and out of respect for her origins allowed the second of their ten children to retain his mother’s surname, Ho. The Ho surname is very common and is widely distributed throughout the Korean peninsula. Vietnamese (Hô`): unexplained. Chinese: variant of He.

English: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Derbyshire, County Durham, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire, and West Yorkshire, so named from Old English stan ‘stone’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding names in other European languages, for example Polish Stanislawski and Greek Anastasiou.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the dale,' from residence therein. Dale is a common suffix in place-names; compare Dunderdale, Tyndale, Martindale, Tweedall, &c.Ralph de la Dale, Suffolk 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Rob, a short form of Robert.

Scottish: habitational name from Buchanan, a place near Loch Lomond, perhaps named with Gaelic buth chanain ‘house of the canon’.

English (chiefly south and southwestern England): variant of Free, from the Old English byform frig. English: nickname for a small person, from Middle English fry ‘small person’, ‘child’, ‘offspring’ (Old Norse frjó ‘seed’). Americanized spelling of German Frei, Frey.

English, Welsh, German, etc.: ultimately from the Hebrew personal name yo?hanan ‘Jehovah has favored (me with a son)’ or ‘may Jehovah favor (this child)’. This personal name was adopted into Latin (via Greek) as Johannes, and has enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe throughout the Christian era, being given in honor of St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ, and of St. John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel, as well as others of the nearly one thousand other Christian saints of the name. Some of the principal forms of the personal name in other European languages are Welsh Ieuan, Evan, Siôn, and Ioan; Scottish Ia(i)n; Irish Séan; German Johann, Johannes, Hans; Dutch Jan; French Jean; Italian Giovanni, Gianni, Ianni; Spanish Juan; Portuguese João; Greek Ioannes (vernacular Yannis); Czech Jan; Russian Ivan. Polish has surnames both from the western Slavic form Jan and from the eastern Slavic form Iwan. There were a number of different forms of the name in Middle English, including Jan(e), a male name (see Jane); Jen (see Jenkin); Jon(e) (see Jones); and Han(n) (see Hann). There were also various Middle English feminine versions of this name (e.g. Joan, Jehan), and some of these were indistinguishable from masculine forms. The distinction on grounds of gender between John and Joan was not firmly established in English until the 17th century. It was even later that Jean and Jane were specialized as specifically feminine names in English; bearers of these surnames and their derivatives are more likely to derive them from a male ancestor than a female. As a surname in the British Isles, John is particularly frequent in Wales, where it is a late formation representing Welsh Siôn rather than the older form Ieuan (which gave rise to the surname Evan). As an American family name this form has absorbed various cognates from continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) It is used as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a surname among families from southern India.

English, German, Danish, and Swedish: nickname or byname for someone of a frosty or gloomy temperament, from Middle English, Middle High German, Danish, Swedish winter (Old English winter, Old High German wintar, Old Norse vetr). The Swedish name can be ornamental. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Winter ‘winter’, either an ornamental name or one of the group of names denoting the seasons, which were distributed at random by government officials. Compare Summer, Fruhling, and Herbst. Irish: Anglicized form ( part translation) of Gaelic Mac Giolla-Gheimhridh ‘son of the lad of winter’, from geimhreadh ‘winter’. This name is also Anglicized McAlivery. Mistranslation of French Livernois, which is in fact a habitational name, but mistakenly construed as l’hiver ‘winter’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a small hill or a man-made mound or barrow, Middle English how (Old Norse haugr), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, such as Howe in Norfolk and North Yorkshire. English: variant of Hugh. Jewish (American): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Americanized form of Norwegian Hove.

Scottish and Irish: variant of McCormick.

Scottish: patronymic from Donald, often representing a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhomhnaill (see McDonald).

English and Scottish: from Middle English, Old French parc ‘park’; a metonymic occupational name for someone employed in a park or a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a park. In the Middle Ages a park was a large enclosed area where the landowner could hunt game. English and Scottish: from a medieval pet form of the personal name Peter. Compare Parkin. Swedish: ornamental name from park ‘park’. Korean: variant of Pak.

Muslim: from a personal name or status name based on Turkish khan ‘ruler’, ‘nobleman’. This was originally a hereditary title among Tartar and Mongolian tribesmen (in particular Genghis Khan, 1162–1227), but is now very widely used throughout the Muslim world as a personal name. In Iran and parts of the Indian subcontinent it is used as an honorific title after a person’s name.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Walton. The first element in these names was variously Old English walh ‘foreigner’, ‘Briton’, genitive plural wala (see Wallace), w(e)ald ‘forest’, w(e)all ‘wall’, or wæll(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’.

English: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements bald ‘bold’, ‘brave’ + wine ‘friend’, which was extremely popular among the Normans and in Flanders in the early Middle Ages. It was the personal name of the Crusader who in 1100 became the first Christian king of Jerusalem, and of four more Crusader kings of Jerusalem. It was also borne by Baldwin, Count of Flanders (1172–1205), leader of the Fourth Crusade, who became first Latin Emperor of Constantinople (1204). As an American surname it has absorbed Dutch spellings such as Boudewijn. Irish: surname adopted in Donegal by bearers of the Gaelic name Ó Maolagáin (see Milligan), due to association of Gaelic maol ‘bald’, ‘hairless’ with English bald.

nickname for a person with a large or unusually shaped head, from Middle English poll ‘head’ (Middle Low German polle ‘(top of the) head’) + the pejorative suffix -ard. The term pollard in the sense denoting an animal that has had its horns lopped is not recorded before the 16th century, and as applied to a tree the word is not recorded until the 17th century; so both these senses are almost certainly too late to have contributed to the surname. pejorative derivative of the personal name Paul. The surname has been established in Ireland since the 14th century.

Scottish and northern English, and Danish: from northern Middle English, Danish kirk ‘church’ (Old Norse kirkja), a topographic name for someone who lived near a church.

English (of Norman origin) and North German: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements war(in) ‘guard’ + heri, hari ‘army’. The name was introduced into England by the Normans in the form Warnier. English (of Norman origin): reduced form of Warrener (see Warren 2). Irish (Cork): Anglicization of Gaelic Ó Murnáin (see Murnane), found in medieval records as Iwarrynane, from a genitive or plural form of the name, in which m is lenited.

Scottish and English: ethnic name for someone from Wales or a speaker of the Welsh language. Compare Walsh and Wallace. Irish: variant of Walsh. Americanized spelling of German Welsch. Americanized form of Ukrainian Volosin (see Woloszyn).

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian (Dániel), Romanian, and Jewish: from the Hebrew personal name Daniel ‘God is my judge’, borne by a major prophet in the Bible. The major factor influencing the popularity of the personal name (and hence the frequency of the surname) was undoubtedly the dramatic story in the Book of Daniel, recounting the prophet’s steadfast adherence to his religious faith in spite of pressure and persecution from the Mesopotamian kings in whose court he served: Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar (at whose feast Daniel interpreted the mysterious message of doom that appeared on the wall, being thrown to the lions for his pains). The name was also borne by a 2nd-century Christian martyr and by a 9th-century hermit, the legend of whose life was popular among Christians during the Middle Ages; these had a minor additional influence on the adoption of the Christian name. Among Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe the name was also popular as being that of a 4th-century Persian martyr, who was venerated in the Orthodox Church. Irish: reduced form of McDaniel, which is actually a variant of McDonnell, from the Gaelic form of Irish Donal (equivalent to Scottish Donald), erroneously associated with the Biblical personal name Daniel. See also O’Donnell.

Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÍceadh ‘descendant of Ícidhe’, a byname meaning ‘doctor’, ‘healer’. English: from a pet form of Hick.

English (northern): patronymic from Hodge.

English: patronymic from Sim.

from the medieval personal name Hodge, a short form of Roger. (For the change of initial, compare Hick.) nickname from Middle English hodge ‘hog’, which occurs as a dialect variant of hogge, for example in Cheshire place names.

English: nickname for a stupid person, Middle English dolling, a derivative of Old English dol ‘dull’, ‘stupid’ (see Doll). Irish: variant of Dolan 1.

English and Dutch: patronymic from Nichol. Jewish (American): Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish names.

English: from a Middle English personal name derived from the Old English female personal name Lufu ‘love’, or the masculine equivalent Lufa. Compare Leaf 2. English and Scottish: nickname from Anglo-Norman French lo(u)ve ‘female wolf’ (a feminine form of lou). This nickname was fairly commonly used for men, in an approving sense. No doubt it was reinforced by crossing with post-Conquest survivals of the masculine version of 1. Scottish: see McKinnon. Dutch (de Love): respelling and reinterpretation of Delhove, a habitational name from Hove and L’Hoves in Hainault, for example.

English: variant of Gold.

English, Welsh, and Scottish: from the medieval personal name Huet, a diminutive of Hugh. See also Hew. The surname has also long been established in Ireland. English: topographic name for someone who lived in a newly made clearing in a wood, Middle English hewett (Old English hiewet, a derivative of heawan ‘to chop’,‘to hew’).

Scottish, also common in northern Ireland: habitational name from Irvine in Ayrshire, which is named from a Celtic river, Welsh ir, yr ‘green’, ‘fresh’ + afon ‘water’. There has been much confusion with Irving and Irwin.

English and Scottish: nickname for someone with fair or prematurely white hair, from Middle English whit ‘white’ + heved ‘head’. Irish (Connacht): erroneous translation of Ó Ceanndubháin ‘descendant of the little black-headed one’ (see Canavan), as if from Gaelic ceann ‘head’ + bán ‘white’. Translated form of German Weisshaupt (see Weishaupt) or Weisskopf (see Weiskopf).

English: from the Norman personal name Gervase, composed of the Germanic element gari, ger ‘spear’ + a second element of uncertain meaning and original form. The name was borne by a saint, martyred under the Roman Emperor Domitian, who became one of the patrons of Milan.

English: from Middle English lamb, a nickname for a meek and inoffensive person, or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of lambs. See also Lamm. English: from a short form of the personal name Lambert. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Luain (see Lane 3). MacLysaght comments: ‘The form Lamb(e), which results from a more than usually absurd pseudo-translation (uan ‘lamb’), is now much more numerous than O’Loan itself.’ Possibly also a translation of French agneau.

English: occupational name for an official who was responsible for protecting land or enclosed forest from damage by animals, poachers, or vandals, from Middle English hay ‘enclosure’ (see Hay 1) + ward ‘guardian’.

English and Scottish: from the usual vernacular English form (recorded from the 13th century onward) of the New Testament Greek personal name Andreas.

English and Irish: from the Breton personal name Iodoc, a diminutive of iudh ‘lord’, introduced by the Normans in the form Josse. Iodoc was the name of a Breton prince and saint, the brother of Iudicael (see Jewell), whose fame helped to spread the name through France and western Europe and, after the Norman Conquest, England as well. The name was occasionally borne also by women in the Middle Ages, but was predominantly a male name, by contrast with the present usage.

English: habitational name from places in Berkshire and Devon. The former is probably named with Old French bray ‘marsh’, the latter from the Cornish element bre ‘hill’.

English: status name from Middle English frankelin ‘franklin’, a technical term of the feudal system, from Anglo-Norman French franc ‘free’ (see Frank 2) + the Germanic suffix -ling. The status of the franklin varied somewhat according to time and place in medieval England; in general, he was a free man and a holder of fairly extensive areas of land, a gentleman ranked above the main body of minor freeholders but below a knight or a member of the nobility. The surname is also borne by Jews, in which case it represents an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. In modern times, this has been used to Americanize François, the French form of Francis.

English: occupational name for a maker and seller of candles, from Middle English cha(u)ndeler (Old French chandelier, Late Latin candelarius, a derivative of candela ‘candle’). While a medieval chandler no doubt made and sold other articles beside candles, the extended sense of modern English chandler does not occur until the 16th century. The name may also, more rarely, have denoted someone who was responsible for the lighting arrangements in a large house, or else one who owed rent in the form of wax or candles.

Vietnamese (Ph?am): unexplained.

English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hobb(e), a short form of Robert. For the altered initial, compare Hick.

English and Scottish: ethnic name for someone from Ireland, Old English Iraland. The country gets its name from the genitive case of Old English Iras ‘Irishmen’ + land ‘land’. The stem Ir- is taken from the Celtic name for Ireland, Èriu, earlier Everiu. The surname is especially common in Liverpool, England, which has a large Irish population.

English: from a short form of Andrew. English (Norman): from the Germanic personal name Drogo, which is of uncertain origin; it is possibly akin to Old Saxon (gi)drog ‘ghost’, ‘phantom’, or with a stem meaning ‘to bear’, ‘to carry’ (Old High German tragan). Whatever its origin, the name was borne by one of the sons of Charlemagne, and was subsequently popular throughout France in the forms Dreus, Drues (oblique case Dreu, Dr(i)u), whence it was introduced to England by the Normans. Drogo de Monte Acuto (as his name appears in its Latinized form) was a companion of William the Conqueror and founder of the Montagu family, among whom the personal name Drogo was revived in the 19th century. English (of Norman origin): nickname from Middle English dreue, dru, Old French dru, ‘favorite’, ‘lover’ (originally an adjective, apparently from a Gaulish word meaning ‘strong’, ‘vigorous’, ‘lively’, but influenced by the sense of the Old High German element trut, drut ‘dear’, ‘beloved’). English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in France called Dreux, from the Gaulish tribal name Durocasses. English (of Norman origin): habitational name, with the preposition de, from any of the numerous places in France named from Old French rieux ‘streams’. Irish: when not an adoption of the English surname, a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Druaidh or Ó Druaidh or Ó Draoi ‘son’ and ‘descendant of the druid’, from draoi ‘druid’, genitive druadh or draoi.

English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Benne, a pet form of Benedict (see Benn). English: habitational name from a place in Oxfordshire named Benson, from Old English Benesingtun ‘settlement (Old English tun) associated with Benesa’, a personal name of obscure origin, perhaps a derivative of Bana meaning ‘slayer’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic composed of a pet form of the personal name Beniamin (see Bien, Benjamin) + German Sohn ‘son’. Scandinavian: altered form of such names as Bengtsson, Bendtsen, patronymics from Bengt, Bendt, etc., Scandinavian forms of Benedict.

Scottish and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Pharthaláin, a patronymic from the personal name Parthalán, which is most probably from Latin Bartholomaeus (see Bartholomew).

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the savage' (compare Wild). It is curious that Wild and Savage should be so popular as sobriquets, but fierceness was fascinating. The invariable forms are Salvage, Sauvage, and Savage.Geoffrey le Sauvage, Leicestershire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of numerous places named Weston, from Old English west ‘west’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. English: variant of Whetstone.

Scottish: variant spelling of McInnis.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dubhthaigh ‘descendant of Dubhthach’, a byname derived from dubh ‘black’ (see Duff). This name was borne by a 6th-century saint who was archbishop of Armagh. Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhuibhshíthe ‘son of Duibhshíth’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘black’ (see Duff) + síth ‘peace’.

from a Middle English short form of Lawrence. topographic name for someone who lived near a hill, northern Middle English law (from Old English hlaw ‘hill’, ‘burial mound’).

Scottish and English: from Middle English swan ‘swan’, hence a nickname for a person noted for purity or excellence (which were taken to be attributes of the swan), or resembling a swan in some other way. This was also an Old Norse and Old English personal name, from which the surname may be derived. In some cases it may be a habitational name for someone who lived at a house with the sign of a swan. variant of English Swain. Americanized form of German Schwan. Americanized form of Norwegian Sveen or Swedish Swahn.

English: from a common Norman personal name, Ingram, of Germanic origin, composed of the elements Ing (the name of a Germanic god) + hraban ‘raven’.

English: habitational name from any of the extremely numerous places (most notably one in Lancashire) so called from Old English preost ‘priest’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the meaning may have been either ‘village with a priest’ or ‘village held by the Church’. Scottish: habitational name from Presto(u)n, now Craigmillar, in Midlothian. This name has also been established in Ireland since the 13th century.

Irish and Scottish: reduced form of McConnell or O’Connell.

Scottish and northern Irish: from the medieval personal name Rankin, a diminutive of Ronald or Rand, with the diminutive suffix -kin.

English: from the Norman personal name Rainer, composed of the Germanic elements ragin ‘counsel’ + hari, heri ‘army’ Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from an inflected form of German rein or central Yiddish rayn ‘pure’. Probably also an altered spelling of German Reiner.

Southern Italian, Maltese: variant of Bella.

Northern Irish, Scottish, and English: variant of Irvin. English: from the Middle English personal name Irwyn, Erwyn, or Everwyn, Old English Eoforwine, composed of the elements eofor ‘wild boar’ + wine ‘friend’. From the Welsh personal name Urien (see Uren).

Welsh: from fychan, a lenited form of bychan, a diminutive of bach ‘little’. This was often used to distinguish the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, typically the son of a father with the same name.

English: topographic name for someone who lived in or near a royal forest, or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper or worker in one. Middle English forest was not, as today, a near-synonym of wood, but referred specifically to a large area of woodland reserved by law for the purposes of hunting by the king and his nobles. The same applied to the European cognates, both Germanic and Romance. The English word is from Old French forest, Late Latin forestis (silva). This is generally taken to be a derivative of foris ‘outside’; the reference was probably to woods lying outside a habitation. On the other hand, Middle High German for(e)st has been held to be a derivative of Old High German foraha ‘fir’ (see Forster), with the addition of a collective suffix.

English (mainly Yorkshire): patronymic from Mayer 1, i.e. ‘son of the mayor’. English: patronymic from mire ‘physician’ (see Myer 1). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Midhir, probably a variant of Ó Meidhir ‘mayor’ (see Mayer 1).

English (of Norman origin): habitational name for someone from any of various minor places in northern France named from Old French aunaie ‘alder grove’. Irish: Anglicized form, influenced by the Norman name, of Gaelic Ó Dubhshláine ‘descendant of Dubhshláine’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘black’ + slán ‘challenge’, ‘defiance’. MacLysaght, however, suggests that this element may be from the Sláinge river.

English: occupational name for a butcher or slaughterer, Middle English bo(u)cher (Old French bouchier, a derivative of bouc ‘ram’).

English: habitational name from any of various places called Clifford, for example in Devon, Gloucestershire, West Yorkshire, and in particular Herefordshire. The place name is derived from Old English clif ‘slope’ + ford ‘ford’.

(southern) reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Foghladha ‘descendant of Foghlaidh’, a byname meaning ‘pirate’, ‘marauder’. (northern) Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Searraigh (see McSharry), chosen because of its phonetic approximation to English foal.

English, of Welsh origin: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Owain ‘son of Owain’ (see Owen). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Buadhacháin ‘descendant of Buadhachán’, a diminutive of Buadhach ‘victorious’ (see Bohan).

Scottish: from the Older Scots personal name Aitken, a pet form of Adam. See also Aiken.

Scottish and northern Irish: variant spelling of Miller.

Scandinavian: habitational name from various farms and other minor places so named, from Old Norse borg ‘fortification’, ‘stronghold’. In some cases the name is topographical, often referring to a hill that resembles a fortification, rather than an actual fortification. North German: habitational name from the common place name Borg, a Low German form of Burg. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a money lender, from Yiddish borg ‘credit’.

Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Rhisiart ‘son of Richard’ (see Richard).

Irish (Galway): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Madáin ‘descendant of Madán’, a reduced form of Madadhán, from madadh ‘dog’ (see Madigan).

Indian (chiefly Panjab): term used by Hindu and Sikh women either as the final element of a compound personal name or as a last name. It cannot be regarded as a true surname or family name. It goes back to Sanskrit kumari ‘girl’, ‘daughter’, which was reduced to kuar and then changed into kaur by metathesis. Among Sikhs, female names are often derived from male names by the addition of Kaur to the male name: e.g. Mahinder Kaur, from the male name Mahinder.

English and French: from the Germanic personal name Dillo (of uncertain origin, perhaps a byname from the root dil ‘destroy’), introduced to Britain from France by the Normans. English: habitational name from Dilwyn near Hereford, recorded in 1138 as Dilun, probably from Old English diglum, dative plural of digle ‘recess’, ‘retreat’, i.e. ‘at the shady or secret places’. Irish (of Norman origin): altered form of de Leon (see Lyon). Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Duilleáin ‘descendant of Duilleán’, a personal name, a variant of Dallán meaning ‘little blind one’. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): of uncertain origin; either an ornamental name from the Biblical place name Dilon (Joshua 15:38), or an altered form of Sephardic de León (see Lyon).

Variant spelling, especially in Ireland, of Smith.

English (Shropshire): from the Welsh personal name Einws, a diminutive of Einion (of uncertain origin, popularly associated with einion ‘anvil’). English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hain 2. English: habitational name from Haynes in Bedfordshire. This name first appears in Domesday Book as Hagenes, which Mills derives from the plural of Old English hægen, hagen ‘enclosure’. Irish: variant of Hines.

Jewish and English: patronymic from the personal name Jacob. As a Jewish surname it has also assimilated various other patronymics from the same personal name, as for example Jacobowitz.

English: variant spelling of Shepherd.

Irish (very common in northern Ireland) and English: variant spelling of Crow.

English: from Old French arch(i)er, Middle English archere, hence an occupational name for an archer. This Norman French word partially replaced the native English word bowman in the 14th century. In North America this surname may have absorbed some cases of European cognates such as French Archier.

Scottish, Irish, Welsh, English, and French: from the ancient Celtic personal name Arthur. In many cases it is a shortened form of Scottish or Irish McArthur, the patronymic Mac- often being dropped in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries under English influence. The personal name is most probably from an old Celtic word meaning ‘bear’. Compare Gaelic art, Welsh arth, both of which mean ‘bear’. It has been in regular use as a personal name in Britain since the early Middle Ages, owing its popularity in large part to the legendary exploits of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which gave rise to a prolific literature in Welsh, French, English, German, and other European languages.

Welsh: variant of Reese. Americanized spelling of German Reis.

Southern English: variant spelling of Pool 1. Possibly an Americanized form of German Puhl or Pfuhl(e) (see Pool 4).

English: occupational name for a worker in wood, Norman French carpentier (from Late Latin carpentarius ‘cartwright’). Translation of German Zimmermann, French Charpentier, Italian Carpentieri, or cognates and equivalents in various other languages.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Coluim ‘son of Colum’, a personal name derived from Latin columba ‘dove’ (now often found as Calum). This was the name of the 6th-century missionary known in English as St. Columba (521–97), who converted the Picts to Christianity and founded an influential monastery on the island of Iona.

Irish: variant spelling of Maloney.

English: occupational name for a maker or seller of gloves, Middle English glovere, an agent noun from Old English glof ‘glove’.

occupational name for a forester employed to look after the trees and game in a forest, Middle English woodward (from the Old English elements mentioned at 2). perhaps also from an Old English personal name Wuduweard, composed of the elements wudu ‘wood’ + weard ‘guardian’, ‘protector’.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the Bar,' i.e. the entrance to the city or town; v. Bargate, usually made of posts and chain.Maurice de la Barre. Devon, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp.

English: habitational name from any of various places, the chief of which are in Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and East and South Yorkshire. The place name is from Old English beonet ‘bent grass’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Probably an Americanized spelling of Swiss Bandle or Bandli or German Bentele, all short forms of the medieval personal name Pantaleon (see Pantaleo).

English, Scottish, and northern Irish (of Norman origin): habitational name from a place in Calvados, France, so named from Old French mont ‘hill’ + a Germanic personal name composed of the elements guma ‘man’ + ric ‘power’. In Ireland this surname has been Gaelicized as Mac Iomaire and in Scotland as Mac Gumaraid.

English and Dutch: patronymic from Mark 1. English: variant of Mark 2. German and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): reduced form of Markus, German spelling of Marcus (see Mark 1).

English (chiefly Devon): from a Middle English pet form of the Old English personal name Hocca. Dutch: patronymic from Hock 4.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the gaol,' from residence thereby. 'Gayles, gaols' (.Halliwell).Johanna del Gaylle, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.Agnes del Gaylle, 1379: ibid.Johannes del Gayle, 1379: ibid.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Corráin or Ó Corraidhín ‘descendant of Corraidhín’, a personal name from a diminutive of corradh ‘spear’. Compare Corr.

English: occupational name for someone who kept and trained falcons (a common feudal service). Falconry was a tremendously popular sport among the aristocracy in medieval Europe, and most great houses had their falconers. The surname could also have arisen as metonymic occupational name for someone who operated the siege gun known as a falcon.

Scottish: Anglicized form of a patronymic from the Gaelic personal name Macraith, meaning ‘son of grace’.

English: nickname from Middle English schort ‘short’. Scottish and northern Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Gheairr, Mac an Ghirr ‘son of the short man’ (see McGirr).

English: patronymic from Hodge.

Chinese : from the name of the ancient state of Xu. The model emperor Yu (2205–2198 bc) granted this state to one of his retainers. The retainer’s family governed the state from this time on until the Western Zhou dynasty (1122–771 bc), when the Xu prince of the time believed it to be God’s will that he should oppose the Zhou dynasty, on account of a prophecy associated with a red bow and arrow that he pulled out of a river. The Zhou king, Mu Wang, was far away to the west in the Kunlun mountains, but raced back to confront and defeat the Xu prince (see Chao 1). Mu Wang then granted the state of Xu to the defeated prince’s son, giving him the ‘style name’ of Xu. Descendants of this new ruler eventually adopted Xu as their surname. Chinese : this name goes back as far as the 23rd century bc. According to tradition, there existed a philosopher named Xu You, who was offered succession to the throne by the model emperor Yao. Having heard this proposal, Xu You washed his ears in a river to rid them of such defilement. The main stock of this name probably came later, however, when Wu Wang, the first king (1122–1116 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, granted the area of Xu in present-day Henan province to Wen Shu, a descendant of Bo Yi, adviser to the model emperor Shun (who coincidentally accepted the offer of power which Xu You had declined). The descendants of Wen Shu eventually adopted the name of the area of Xu as their surname.

English and Scottish: from the Middle English personal name Dodde, Dudde, Old English Dodda, Dudda, which remained in fairly widespread and frequent use in England until the 14th century. It seems to have been originally a byname, but the meaning is not clear; it may come from a Germanic root used to describe something round and lumpish—hence a short, plump man. Irish: of English origin, taken to Sligo in the 16th century by a Shropshire family; also sometimes adopted by bearers of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhda (see Dowd).

English: nickname for a strong, aggressive, bull-like man, from Middle English bul(l)e, bol(l)e. Occasionally, the name may denote a keeper of a bull. Compare Bulman. German (mainly northern): from a byname for a cattle breeder, keeper, or dealer. Compare South German Ochs. South German: nickname for a short fat man, a variant of Bolle, or a nickname for a man with the physical characteristics of a bull.

Scottish and northern Irish: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Scotland called Blair, named with Scottish Gaelic blàr (genitive blàir) ‘plain’, ‘field’, especially a battlefield (Irish blár).

Scottish and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Labhrainn ‘son of Labhrann’, Gaelic form of the personal name Lawrence.

English and Scottish: metonymic occupational name for a maker of hoods or a nickname for someone who wore a distinctive hood, from Middle English hod(de), hood, hud ‘hood’. Some early examples with prepositions seem to be topographic names, referring to a place where there was a hood-shaped hill or a natural shelter or overhang, providing protection from the elements. In some cases the name may be habitational, from places called Hood, in Devon (possibly ‘hood-shaped hill’) and North Yorkshire (possibly ‘shelter’ or ‘fortification’). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hUid ‘descendant of Ud’, a personal name of uncertain derivation. This was the name of an Ulster family who were bards to the O’Neills of Clandeboy. It was later altered to Mac hUid. Compare Mahood.

Southern Irish: reduced form of O’Healy, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÉilidhe ‘descendant of the claimant’, from éilidhe ‘claimant’, or of Gaelic Ó hÉalaighthe ‘descendant of Éaladhach’, a personal name probably from ealadhach ‘ingenious’.

Scottish: variant of Beatty.

English: habitational name from places in Cumbria, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire. The first gets its name from Old English Haferingtun ‘settlement (Old English tun) associated with someone called Hæfer’, a byname meaning ‘he-goat’. The second probably meant ‘settlement (Old English tun) of someone called Hæring’. Alternatively, the first element may have been Old English hæring ‘stony place’ or haring ‘gray wood’. The last, recorded in Domesday Book as Arintone and in 1184 as Hederingeton, is most probably named with an unattested Old English personal name, Heathuhere. Irish (County Kerry and the West): adopted as an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hArrachtáin ‘descendant of Arrachtán’, a personal name from a diminutive of arrachtach ‘mighty’, ‘powerful’. Irish (County Kerry): adopted as an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hIongardail, later Ó hUrdáil, ‘descendant of Iongardal’. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hOireachtaigh ‘descendant of Oireachtach’, a byname meaning ‘member of the assembly’ or ‘frequenting assemblies’.

Scottish, northern Irish, and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Roger 1.

English: from the Middle English personal name Randel, a diminutive of Rand with the Anglo-Norman French hypocoristic suffix -el.

Irish (southern provinces): reduced and altered Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Faoláin ‘descendant of Faolán’, a personal name representing a diminutive of faol ‘wolf’.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in England named with Old Norse þorp ‘hamlet’, ‘village’ or the Old English cognate þrop.

English: topographic name for someone living on (and farming) a hide of land, Old English hi(gi)d. This was a variable measure of land, differing from place to place and time to time, and seems from the etymology to have been originally fixed as the amount necessary to support one (extended) family (Old English higan, hiwan ‘household’). In some cases the surname is habitational, from any of the many minor places named with this word, as for example Hyde in Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire, and Hampshire. The surname has long been established in Ireland. English: variant of Ide, with inorganic initial H-. Compare Herrick. Jewish (American): Americanized spelling of Haid.

English: occupational name for a dyer of cloth, Middle English dyer (from Old English deag ‘dye’; the verb is a back-formation from the agent noun). This surname also occurs in Scotland, but Lister is a more common equivalent there. Irish (Counties Sligo and Roscommon): usually a short form of MacDyer, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Duibhir ‘son of Duibhir’, a short form of a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘dark’, ‘black’ + odhar ‘sallow’, ‘tawny’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conghaile ‘descendant of Conghal’, a name meaning ‘hound valiant’ or of Ó Conghalaigh ‘descendant of Conghalach’, a derivative of Conghal; the two surnames have long been confused. Another possible origin is the West Cork name Mac Coingheallaigh (or Ó Coingheallaigh) ‘son (or ‘descendant’) of Coingheallach’, a personal name meaning ‘faithful to pledges’.

English (Cornwall): from a Cornish variant of the personal name Pascal.

English: occupational and topographic name for someone who lived or worked in a forest (see Forrest). English: Norman French nickname or occupational name from Old French forcetier ‘cutter’, an agent noun from forcettes ‘scissors’. English: occupational name, by metathesis, from Old French fust(r)ier ‘blockmaker’ (a derivative of fustre ‘block of wood’). German (Förster): occupational and topographic name for someone who lived and worked in a forest (see Forst). Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Forst ‘forest’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a hill or tumulus, Old English beorg, a cognate of Old High German berg ‘hill’, ‘mountain’ (see Berg). This name has become confused with derivatives of Old English burh ‘fort’ (see Burke). Reaney suggests a further derivation from Old English bur ‘bower’ + hus ‘house’.

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cionaodha or Mac Cionaoith ‘son of Cionaodh’ (see McKinney 1).

English and Dutch: patronymic from Wilkin.

Welsh: Anglicized form of the patronymic ap Harry ‘son of Harry’ (see Harris).

nickname from Middle English, Old French grace ‘charm’, ‘pleasantness’ (Latin gratia). from the female personal name Grace, which was popular in the Middle Ages. This seems in the first instance to have been from a Germanic element gris ‘gray’ (see Grice 1), but was soon associated by folk etymology with the Latin word meaning ‘charm’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conaill ‘descendant of Conall’, a personal name, possibly composed of the elements con, from cú ‘hound’ or ‘wolf’ (genitive con) + gal ‘valour’. It was borne by many early chieftains and warriors of Ireland, including the Ulster hero Conall Cearnach, one of the two sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who gave his name to Tirconell, otherwise known as Donegal. It was further popularized by the fame of a 7th-century Irish saint, abbot of Inis Caoil.

habitational name from Currie in Midlothian, first recorded in this form in 1230. It is derived from Gaelic curraigh, dative case of currach ‘wet plain’, ‘marsh’. habitational name from Corrie in Dumfriesshire (see Corrie). Scottish spelling of Irish Curry or, in Arran, an Anglicization of Mac Mhuirich (see McMurray).

English: status name for a cottager (see Cotter 2), or a topographic name for someone who lived in a relatively humble dwelling (from Middle English cotes, plural (or genitive) of cote, cott), or a habitational name from any of the numerous places named with this word, especially Coates in Cambridgeshire and Cotes in Leicestershire. Scottish: variant of Coutts. Americanized spelling of German and Jewish Kotz or German Koths, from a variant of the medieval personal name Godo (see Gottfried).

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in northern England called Kirby or Kirkby, from Old Norse kirkja ‘church’ + býr ‘settlement’. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Garmhaic ‘descendant of Ciarmhac’, a personal name meaning ‘dark son’. Compare Kerwick.

Irish: reduced form of O’Reilly, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Raghailligh ‘descendant of Raghailleach’, Old Irish Roghallach, of unexplained origin.

English (mainly northern): patronymic from Parkin. This surname has been established in Ireland since the 17th century.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere, named Clayton, from Old English cl?g ‘clay’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Vietnamese (Hu?nh): unexplained.

English: habitational name from Healey near Manchester, named with Old English heah ‘high’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. There are various other places in northern England, for example in Northumberland and Yorkshire, with the same name and etymology, and they may also have contributed to the surname. Variant of Irish Healy.

English: nickname for a wise or learned person, or in some cases a nickname for someone suspected of being acquainted with the occult arts, from Middle English wise ‘wise’ (Old English wis). This name has also absorbed Dutch Wijs, a nickname meaning ‘wise’, and possibly cognates in other languages. Americanized form of German and Jewish Weiss ‘white’.

Irish: reduced form of O’Connor, which is an Anglicization of Gaelic Ó Conchobhair ‘descendant of Conchobhar’.

Jewish, Welsh, Scottish, English, French, Portuguese, German, Czech, Slovak (Dávid) and Slovenian: from the Hebrew personal name David ‘beloved’, which has been perennially popular among Jews, in honor of the Biblical king of this name, the greatest of the early kings of Israel. His prominence, and the vivid narrative of his life contained in the First Book of Samuel, led to adoption of the name in various parts of Europe, notably Britain, among Christians in the Middle Ages. The popularity of this as a personal name was increased in Britain, firstly by virtue of its being the name of the patron saint of Wales (about whom very little is known: he was probably a 6th-century monk and bishop) and secondly because it was borne by two kings of Scotland (David I, reigning 1124–53, and David II, 1329–71). Its popularity in Russia is largely due to the fact that this was the ecclesiastical name adopted by St. Gleb (died 1015), one of two sons of Prince Vladimir of Kiev who were martyred for their Christian zeal.

English: variant of Jeffrey.

Irish: Anglicized form of various Gaelic names, such as Mac Conmidhe (see McNamee); Ó Connmhaigh or Mac Connmhaigh (‘descendant (or son) of Connmhach’, a personal name derived from connmach ‘head-smashing’), also Anglicized as Conoo; and Ó Conbhuide (‘descendant of Cú Bhuidhe’, a personal name composed of the elements cú ‘hound’ + buidhe ‘yellow’). Welsh: habitational name from Conwy formerly Conway, a fortified town on the coast of North Wales, itself named for the river on which it stands. Scottish: habitational name from Conway in the parish of Beauly, recorded c.1215 as Coneway and in 1291 as Convathe. It probably gets its name from Gaelic coinmheadh ‘billet’, ‘free quarters’, being so named as the district in which the local lord’s household troops were billeted.

English, Scottish, and Dutch: variant of Horn 1–4. Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads mostly so named from the dative singular of horn (see Horn). Swedish: variant of Horn.

English and French (Léonard): from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements leo ‘lion’ (a late addition to the vocabulary of Germanic name elements, taken from Latin) + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’, which was taken to England by the Normans. A saint of this name, who is supposed to have lived in the 6th century, but about whom nothing is known except for a largely fictional life dating from half a millennium later, was popular throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages and was regarded as the patron of peasants and horses. Irish (Fermanagh): adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mac Giolla Fhionáin or of Langan. Americanized form of Italian Leonardo or cognate forms in other European languages.

English, North German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Daniel.

Irish (originally of County Limerick, later of Counties Cork and Kilkenny): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Donndubháin ‘descendant of Donndubhán’, a personal name composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + dubh ‘black’ + the diminutive suffix -án.

Danish and Norwegian: patronymic from the personal name Olaf, Olav (Old Norse Óláfr, Ólafr, variant Óleifr, earlier Anleifr, from proto-Scandinavian elements meaning ‘ancestor’ + ‘heir’, ‘descendant’). Olaf has always been one of the most common Scandinavian names; it continued to be popular in the Middle Ages, in part as a result of the fame of St. Olaf, King of Norway, who brought Christianity to his country c.1030. This surname, the second most common in Norway, is also established in England, notably in the Newcastle upon Tyne area. German (Ölsen): habitational name from any of several places so named, in Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Rhineland.

Scottish: from a pet form of the personal name Pat (short form of Patrick), formed with the Old French diminutive suffix -on.

English: topographic name for someone who lived in a dense forest, from Middle English grene ‘green’ + wode ‘wood’, or a habitational name from a minor place so named, as for example Greenwood in Heathfield, East Sussex. English translation of Ashkenazic Jewish Grünholz, an ornamental compound of German grün ‘green’ + Holz ‘wood’, and probably of German Grünwald (see Gruenwald). English translation of French Boisvert.

English: nickname from the vocabulary word lord, presumably for someone who behaved in a lordly manner, or perhaps one who had earned the title in some contest of skill or had played the part of the ‘Lord of Misrule’ in the Yuletide festivities. It may also have been an occupational name for a servant in the household of the lord of the manor, or possibly a status name for a landlord or the lord of the manor himself. The word itself derives from Old English hlaford, earlier hlaf-weard, literally ‘loaf-keeper’, since the lord or chief of a clan was responsible for providing food for his dependants. Irish: English name adopted as a translation of the main element of Gaelic Ó Tighearnaigh (see Tierney) and Mac Thighearnáin (see McKiernan). French: nickname from Old French l’ord ‘the dirty one’. Possibly an altered spelling of Laur.

English and Dutch: from the personal name (Greek Nikolaos, from nikan ‘to conquer’ + laos ‘people’). Forms with -ch- are due to hypercorrection (compare Anthony). The name in various vernacular forms was popular among Christians throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, largely as a result of the fame of a 4th-century Lycian bishop, about whom a large number of legends grew up, and who was venerated in the Orthodox Church as well as the Catholic. In English-speaking countries, this surname is also found as an Americanized form of various Greek surnames such as Papanikolaou ‘(son of) Nicholas the priest’ and patronymics such as Nikolopoulos.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Fhinneain, a patronymic from a personal name meaning ‘servant of (Saint) Fionnán’, a personal name representng a diminutive of fionn ‘white’. There were several early Irish saints of this name, most notably a 7th-century bishop who governed the Church established in Northumbria and evangelized parts of southern England.

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the small'; compare Large, Bigg, Little, &c.Robert le Small, Huntingdonshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.Henry le Smale, Cambridgeshire, ibid.Richard le Smale, Close Rolls, 9 Edward II.

English and Irish: variant spelling of Haynes.

English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, are named from Old English horh ‘mud’, ‘slime’ or horn ‘dirt’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. One in southern Gloucestershire, however, is named from Old English heorot ‘hart’ + dun ‘hill’.

Scottish: name of a clan associated with Caithness, derived from the Old Norse personal name Gunnr (or the feminine form Gunne), a short form of any of various compound names with the first element gunn ‘battle’. Scottish: sometimes an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Dhuinn ‘son of the servant of the brown one’ (see Dunn). (According to Woulfe a name of the same form also existed in Sligo, Ireland.) English: metonymic occupational name for someone who operated a siege engine or cannon, perhaps also a nickname for a forceful person, from Middle English gunne, gonne ‘ballista’, ‘cannon’, ‘gun’. The term originated as a humorous application of the Scandinavian female personal name Gunne or Gunnhildr.

English (chiefly Midlands and northern England, especially Yorkshire): patronymic from Hann or the byname Hand. Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAmhsaigh (see Hampson 2). Irish: variant of McKittrick. Respelling of Scandinavian Hansen or Hansson. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metronymic from the female personal name Hanna.

English: from Old English Englisc. The word had originally distinguished Angles (see Engel) from Saxons and other Germanic peoples in the British Isles, but by the time surnames were being acquired it no longer had this meaning. Its frequency as an English surname is somewhat surprising. It may have been commonly used in the early Middle Ages as a distinguishing epithet for an Anglo-Saxon in areas where the culture was not predominantly English--for example the Danelaw area, Scotland, and parts of Wales--or as a distinguishing name after 1066 for a non-Norman in the regions of most intensive Norman settlement. However, explicit evidence for these assumptions is lacking, and at the present day the surname is fairly evenly distributed throughout the country. Irish: see Golightly.

English (of Norman origin) and 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. English: occupational name for a guide, Old French gui (a derivative of gui(d)er ‘to guide’, of Germanic origin).

Scottish: habitational name from a barony in Aberdeenshire, which is first recorded c.1180 in the form Lesslyn, of obscure origin. Leslie in Fife is said to be named for this place; in some cases the surname may come from there. English: possibly from a double diminutive of the personal name Lece (see Leece), thus Lecelin.

Scottish and English: patronymic from the personal name Sander (see Alexander).

English: nickname from Middle English pope (derived via Old English from Late Latin papa ‘bishop’, ‘pope’, from Greek pappas ‘father’, in origin a nursery word.) In the early Christian Church, the Latin term was at first used as a title of respect for male clergy of every rank, but in the Western Church it gradually came to be restricted to bishops, and then only to the bishop of Rome; in the Eastern Church it continued to be used of all priests (see Popov, Papas). The nickname would have been used for a vain or pompous man, or for someone who had played the part of the pope in a pageant or play. The surname is also present in Ireland and Scotland. North German: variant of Poppe.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cathail ‘descendant of Cathal’, a personal name meaning ‘powerful in battle’.

Scottish: variant (the usual spelling in Scotland) of Ramsey.

Danish, Norwegian, and North German (especially Schleswig-Holstein): patronymic from the personal name Niels, a reduced form of Nikolaus (see Nicholas).

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a hill with a sharp point, from Old English pic ‘point’, ‘hill’, which was a relatively common place name element. English: metonymic occupational name for a pike fisherman or nickname for a predatory individual, from Middle English pike. English: metonymic occupational name for a user of a pointed tool for breaking up the earth, Middle English pike. Compare Pick. English: metonymic occupational name for a medieval foot soldier who used a pike, a weapon consisting of a sharp pointed metal end on a long pole, Middle English pic (Old French pique, of Germanic origin). English: nickname for a tall, thin person, from a transferred sense of one of the above. English: from a Germanic personal name (derived from the root ‘sharp’, ‘pointed’), found in Middle English and Old French as Pic. English: nickname from Old French pic ‘woodpecker’, Latin picus. Compare Pye and Speight. Irish: in the south, of English origin; in Ulster a variant Anglicization of Gaelic Mac Péice (see McPeake). Americanized spelling of German Peik, from Middle Low German pek ‘sharp, pointed tool or weapon’. Compare 4 above or from a Germanic personal name (see 6 above).

English: habitational name from any of the places called Bradshaw, for example in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, from Old English brad ‘broad’ + sceaga ‘thicket’.

English, German, French, and Jewish: from the personal name, Hebrew Yosef ‘may He (God) add (another son)’. In medieval Europe this name was borne frequently but not exclusively by Jews; the usual medieval English vernacular form is represented by Jessup. In the Book of Genesis, Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob, who is sold into slavery by his brothers but rises to become a leading minister in Egypt (Genesis 37–50). In the New Testament Joseph is the husband of the Virgin Mary, which accounts for the popularity of the given name among Christians.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called, especially Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester. Most are named from Old English æsc ‘ash tree’ + tun ‘settlement’; the one in Northamptonshire is (æt þ?m) æscum ‘(at the) ash trees’. Others have been assimilated to this from different sources. The one in Devon is ‘the settlement (tun) of Æschere’, while the one in Hertfordshire is ‘the settlement of Ælli’.

English, Welsh, and Irish (of Norman origin): from Old French pourcel ‘piglet’ (Latin porcellus, a diminutive of porcus ‘pig’), hence a metonymic occupational name for a swineherd, or a nickname, perhaps affectionate in tone. This is a common surname in Ireland, having become established there in the 12th century.

Irish: variant of Cummings.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: habitational name from any of several places in England and Scotland, variously spelled, that are named with Old English cald ‘cold’ + well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’. Caldwell in North Yorkshire is one major source of the surname; Caldwell in Renfrewshire in Scotland another.

English: variant of Grove 1.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Flannagáin ‘descendant of Flannagán’, a personal name derived from a double diminutive of flann ‘scarlet’, ‘ruddy’.

English (chiefly West Country): occupational name for a weaver, early Middle English webber, agent derivative of Webb. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Weber.

English (mainly northern): habitational name from any of various places so called. Several, in particular those in Hampshire, Kent, and Devon, are named from Old English heorot ‘hart’, ‘stag’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. One in Northumberland has as the second element Old English hlaw ‘hill’, and one in Cumbria contains Old English cla ‘claw’, in the sense of a tongue of land between two streams, + probably heard ‘hard’. The surname is widely distributed, but most common in Yorkshire, where it arose from a place near Haworth, West Yorkshire, also named with Old English heorot + leah. As a Scottish name, it comes from the Cumbrian Hartley (see forebears note). Irish: shortened Anglicized form of or surname adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Ó hArtghaile ‘descendant of Artghal’, a personal name composed of the elements Art ‘bear’, ‘hero’ + gal ‘valor’.

English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived near a tumulus, mound or hill, Middle English lowe, from Old English hlaw (see Law 2). Scottish and English: nickname for a short man, from Middle English lah, lowe (Old Norse lágr; the word was adopted first into the northern dialects of Middle English, where Scandinavian influence was strong, and then spread south, with regular alteration of the vowel quality). English and Scottish (of Norman origin): nickname for a violent or dangerous person, from Anglo-Norman French lou, leu ‘wolf’ (Latin lupus). Wolves were relatively common in Britain at the time when most surnames were formed, as there still existed large tracts of uncleared forest. Scottish: from a pet form of Lawrence. Compare Lowry 1. Americanized spelling of Jewish Lowe.

English: from the Norman personal name Serlo, Germanic Sarilo, Serilo. This was probably originally a byname cognate with Old Norse Sorli, and akin to Old English searu ‘armor’, meaning perhaps ‘defender’, ‘protector’.

English: patronymic from the personal name Clement. As an American family name, this form has absorbed cognates in other continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

English: topographic name, from Middle English north ‘north’, for someone who lived in the northern part of a village or to the north of a main settlement (compare Norrington 1), or a regional name for someone who had migrated from the north. Compare Norris 1. Irish: regional name for someone from Ulster, the northern area of Ireland, in part as an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Ultaigh (see McNulty) or (in Westmeath) of Ultach. German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name composed with a cognate of Old High German nord ‘north’.

Northern English, Scottish, and northern Irish: from the Old Norse byname Orri ‘blackcock’ (the male black grouse). Scottish: nickname for someone with a sallow complexion, from Gaelic odhar ‘pale’, ‘dun’. English: topographic name for someone who lived on a shore or ridge, from Old English ora ‘shore’, ‘hill-slope’, ‘flat-topped ridge’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word (see Ore).

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dubhghaill, ‘son of Dubhghall’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘black’ + gall ‘stranger’. This was originally a byname used to distinguish the darker-haired Danes from the fair-haired Norwegians. Compare Doyle.

Scottish, Irish, and English: variant spelling of White.

English: habitational name from any of the various places in England so called, which do not all share the same etymology. The county seat of Staffordshire (which is probably the main source of the surname) is named from Old English stæð ‘landing place’ + ford ‘ford’. Examples in Devon seem to have as their first element Old English stan ‘stone’, and one in Sussex is probably named with Old English steor ‘steer’, ‘bullock’.

English, Dutch, and Jewish: variant of Samson. The -p- was introduced in the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Shimshon. The English surname has also long been established in Ireland. In North America, this name has absorbed other European cognates, for example Greek Sampsonakis, Sampsonides.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Caoimh ‘descendant of Caomh’, a personal name based on caomh ‘gentle’.

Scottish and English: descriptive nickname from Old French burnete, a diminutive of brun ‘brown’ (see Brown).

English and Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Dobbe. This is also established in Ireland, notably County Leitrim.

English: from Middle English pytte, pitte ‘pit’, ‘hollow’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a pit or hollow, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Pitt in Hampshire.

Chinese : from the name of the ancient state of Lu, in present-day Henan province. This is one of the oldest Chinese surnames, going back well over 4000 years to an adviser of the founding emperor of the Xia dynasty, Yu (2205–2198 bc). The adviser was enfeoffed with the state of Lu, and the family held it throughout the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou dynasties, eventually adopting the name of the state, Lu, as their surname. Chinese : from area called Lu, in present-day Shandong province. During the Warring States period (403–221 bc), a descendant of previous dukes of the state of Qi became the high counselor of that state, and was granted the area of Lu. His descendants later adopted the place name Lu as their surname. Chinese : from the name of the city of Lu in the state of Qi. During the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc). The youngest son of a duke of Qi was granted the city of Lu, and his descendants adopted the place name Lu as their surname. Chinese : from the name of a different state of Lu, a large area covering parts of present-day Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces. This was granted to Zhou Gong, Duke of Zhou, a famous figure in Chinese history, as he was revered by Confucius as the prototypical good adviser. The fourth son of Wen Wang, Zhou Gong was the younger brother and chief adviser of Wu Wang, the founder of the Zhou dynasty. After Wu Wang died in 1116 bc, his 13-year old son succeeded him, but actual power was held by Zhou Gong, acting as regent. Zhou Gong’s descendants later adopted the name of the state as their surname. Chinese : from the name of the Lushui river. The characters for the river name contained a written component meaning ‘water’; this component was dropped, leaving only the current character for Lu, which means ‘street’. Chinese : from the name of an area known as Wulu ‘Five Deer’, which was granted to a senior adviser of the state of Wei. His descendants adopted Lu as their surname.

Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hIonmhaineáin ‘descendant of Ionmhaineán’, a personal name derived from the diminutive of Ionmhain ‘beloved’, ‘dear’.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in northern England named Bolton, especially the one in Lancashire, from Old English boðl ‘dwelling’, ‘house’ (see Bold 2) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

English: patronymic from Summer 1. Irish (Sligo): adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Somacháin ‘descendant of Somachán’, a nickname meaning ‘gentle’, ‘innocent’. Americanized form of some like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish name.

Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, and North German: patronymic from Peter.

English, German, Dutch, and Jewish: from the personal name Michael, ultimately from Hebrew Micha-el ‘Who is like God?’. This was borne by various minor Biblical characters and by one of the archangels, the protector of Israel (Daniel 10:13, 12:1; Rev. 12:7). In Christian tradition, Michael was regarded as the warrior archangel, conqueror of Satan, and the personal name was correspondingly popular throughout Europe, especially in knightly and military families. In English-speaking countries, this surname is also found as an Anglicized form of several Greek surnames having Michael as their root, for example Papamichaelis ‘Michael the priest’ and patronymics such as Michaelopoulos.

Irish: reduced form of O’Shields, an alternative Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Siadhail ‘descendant of Siadhal’. Northern English and Scottish: habitational name from a pair of places in Northumberland and County Durham (now both in Tyne and Wear) called North and South Shields, named with Middle English schele ‘shed’, ‘hut’, ‘shelter’. There has been much confusion between Shields and Shield and their variants.

English and Scottish: metonymic occupational name for a servant employed in the pantry of a great house or monastery, from Middle English spense ‘larder’, ‘storeroom’ (a reduced form of Old French despense, from a Late Latin derivative of dispendere, past participle dispensus, ‘to weigh out or dispense’).

English: patronymic from Master. Reaney notes the medieval example atte Maysters (1327), and suggests this might have denoted someone who lived at a master’s house, a master’s servant or perhaps an apprentice.

English: variant spelling of Whitaker.

English, northern Irish, and French: from Middle English, Old French beste ‘animal’, ‘beast’ (Latin bestia), applied either as a metonymic occupational name for someone who looked after beasts—a herdsman— or as a derogatory nickname for someone thought to resemble an animal, i.e. a violent, uncouth, or stupid man. It is unlikely that the name is derived from best, Old English betst, superlative of good. By far the most frequent spelling of the French surname is Beste, but it is likely that in North America this form has largely been assimilated to Best. German: from a short form of Sebastian.

English: topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream, from northern Middle English bekke ‘stream’ (Old Norse bekkr). English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in northern France, for example Bec Hellouin in Eure, named with Old Norman French bec ‘stream’, from the same Old Norse root as in 1. English: probably a nickname for someone with a prominent nose, from Middle English beke ‘beak (of a bird)’ (Old French bec). English: metonymic occupational name for a maker, seller, or user of mattocks or pickaxes, from Old English becca. In some cases the name may represent a survival of an Old English byname derived from this word. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a baker, a cognate of Baker, from (older) South German beck, West Yiddish bek. Some Jewish bearers of the name claim that it is an acronym of Hebrew ben-kedoshim ‘son of martyrs’, i.e. a name taken by one whose parents had been martyred for being Jews. North German: topographic name for someone who lived by a stream, from Low German Beke ‘stream’. Compare the High German form Bach 1. Scandinavian: habitational name for someone from a farmstead named Bekk, Bæk, or Bäck, or a topographic name for someone who lived by a stream.

English: habitational name from any of the various places called Morley (for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, County Durham, Norfolk, and West Yorkshire), or Moreleigh in Devon, all of which are named from Old English mor ‘marsh’, ‘fen’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Possibly an altered spelling of French Morlet, a nickname from a diminutive of Old French mor ‘brown’, ‘dark’ (from Latin Maurus ‘Moor’).

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cléirigh (or Mac Cléirigh) ‘descendant (or son) of the scribe, clerk, or cleric (cléireach)’, also commonly Anglicized as Clark.

Irish (northern Armagh): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cana ‘son of Cana’, a personal name or byname meaning ‘wolf cub’.

Irish: see McGuire. In Ireland this is the usual spelling.

English: from a Middle English personal name Dunstan, composed of Old English dunn ‘dark’, ‘brown’ + stan ‘stone’. This name was borne by a 10th-century archbishop of Canterbury who was later canonized. English: habitational name from Dunstone in Devon, named from Old English Dunstanestun ‘settlement of Dunstan’ (as in 1). The surname is still chiefly common in Devon, but there are places in other parts of the country with similar names but different etymologies (e.g. Dunstan in Northumbria, Dunston in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire), which may possibly have contributed to the surname. Scottish: partly perhaps the same as 1, but there is a place named Dunstane in Roxburghshire, which may also be a source of the surname.

Scottish: reduced form of McCowen.

English (mainly Lancashire): habitational name from places in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, both so named from Old English hol ‘hollow’, ‘sunken’, ‘deep’ + denu ‘valley’. Compare Holcombe. German: unexplained.

Muslim: from the Persian royal title Shah ‘king’, ‘emperor’. This was the title adopted by the kings of the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–79). Shah is found in combination with other words, e.g. Shah Jahan (name of a Mughal emperor, ruled 1628–57) and Shah ?Alam ‘king of the world’ (name of a Mughal emperor, ruled 1707–12). This name is widespread in Iran and the subcontinent. Indian (Gujarat, Rajasthan): Hindu (Bania, Vania) and Jain name, from Gujarati sah ‘merchant’ (from Sanskrit sadhu ‘honest’, ‘good’). This name was originally Sah; it appears to have been altered under the influence of the Persian word for ‘king’ (see 1).

Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived in a small, enclosed valley, Middle English hop(e), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, of which there are examples in North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Clwyd, Devon, Herefordshire, Kent, Sussex, and elsewhere. The surname is most common in Scotland and northern England, and it is also established in Ireland. Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads, notably in Hordaland, so named from Old Norse hóp ‘narrow bay’.

Scottish and Irish: variant spelling of Dugan. English (Herefordshire): from a reduced and altered form of the Welsh personal name Cadwgan (see Cadogan).

Korean: there are four Chinese characters for the surname Yu. Some sources indicate the existence of as many as 230 clans, but only about twenty can be positively documented. Several of the clans are of Chinese origin. The largest Yu clan, the Munhwa Yu, was founded by a man named Ch’a Tal. Ch’a’s fifth great-grandfather had been involved in an attempt to overthrow the Shilla king. To avoid prosecution, the ancestor fled to Munhwa and changed his surname, first to that of his maternal grandmother, Yang, and then to Yu. Many years later, Ch’a Tal assisted Wang Kon to establish the Koryo Kingdom. Ch’a was recognized for his support and was rewarded accordingly. Ch’a’s eldest son began again to use the Ch’a surname, but his younger son continued to use Yu. The Munhwa Yu clan, along with the Andong Kwon clan, possesses one of the oldest extant clan genealogies in Korea. Chinese : in the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) there lived in the state of Qin a high counselor called You Yu, whose descendants took part of their forebear’s ‘style name’, Yu, as their surname. Chinese : from the name of a territory granted by Wu Wang, the first king (1122–1116 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, to his second son. Some of his descendants adopted a simplified version of the character for Yu as their surname. Chinese : during the time of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), there lived an extraordinary doctor who could cure all manner of diseases. Because of his great abilities, he was called Yu, which meant ‘to heal’. His descendants adopted a modified form of this character as their surname. Chinese : from the name of either of two ancient states called Yu, one located in present-day Henan province and the other in Shanxi province.

English: nickname, most likely for a tall, thin man with long legs, from Middle English cran ‘crane’ (the bird), Old English cran, cron. The term included the heron until the introduction of a separate word for the latter in the 14th century. Dutch: variant spelling of Krane. English translation of German Krahn or Kranich.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Mocháin (see Mohan). English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Moyon in La Manche, named from the Gallo-Roman personal name Modius (from Latin modus ‘measure’) + the locative suffix -o (genitive -onis). English: nickname from Anglo-Norman French moun ‘monk’ (see Monk). Cornish: nickname for a slender person, from Cornish mon ‘thin’. Korean: variant of Mun.

English: habitational name from Pickering in North Yorkshire, named with an Old English tribal name, Piceringas. However, Ekwall suggests that this was earlier Picoringas ‘people on the ridge of the pointed hill’ (see Orr 3 and Pike 1).

Chinese : one of the oldest Chinese surnames, already being the name of the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc), when many current Chinese surnames first came into use. According to legend, Jiang Yuan, a concubine of the legendary emperor Ku in the 25th century bc, accidentally stepped in the imprint of a god’s big toe, which impregnated her. Not wanting such a child, she abandoned the newborn baby, Hou Ji, in the wilderness. The infant was protected from the elements by the wings of eagles and was suckled on the milk of cows and sheep. He learned how to grow grain, and became the minister of agriculture under the legendary emperor Yao. His clan eventually settled in a city named Zhouyuan, in present-day Shaanxi province in western China. Under the influence of the name of the city, they came to be known as the Zhou, even though their surname was originally Ji. This situation lasted for over a millennium until a descendant, the famed virtuous Duke Wu Wang, changed his surname to Zhou, and his son established the Zhou dynasty. Zhou Enlai, premier of China from 1949 to 1976, belonged to this clan.

Irish: variant of Herlihy. Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hUrthuile ‘descendant of Urthuile’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Murthuile, ‘descendant of Murthuile’ (see Murley). English: habitational name from places in Berkshire and Warwickshire so named from Old English hyrne ‘corner’, ‘bend’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.

English (mainly Yorkshire): patronymic from the medieval personal name Hobb(e), a short form of Robert. For the altered initial, compare Hick.

French, Welsh, and English: from the French form of the Germanic personal name Carl ‘man’ (which was Latinized as Carolus). In France the personal name was popular from an early date, due to the fame of the Emperor Charlemagne (?742–814; Latin name Carolus Magnus, i.e. Charles the Great). The Old French form Charles was briefly introduced to England by the Normans, but was rare during the main period of surname formation. It was introduced more successfully to Scotland in the 16th century by the Stuarts, who had strong ties with France, and was brought by them to England in the 17th century. Its frequency as a Welsh surname is attributable to the late date of Welsh surname formation. Old English Ceorl ‘peasant’ is also found as a byname, but the resulting Middle English form, Charl, with a patronymic in -s, if it existed at all, would have been absorbed by the French form introduced by the Normans. Compare Carl. English variants pronounced with initial k- for the most part reflect the cognate Old Norse personal name Karl, Karli. Swedish: ornamental form of a Frenchified form of the Old Norse personal name Karl.

shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maolmhuaidh ‘descendant of Maolmhuadh’, a personal name composed of the elements maol ‘chieftain’ + muadh ‘noble’, ‘grand’, ‘big’. shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maol Aodha ‘descendant of the devotee of Aodh’ (see McCoy). reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maol Mhaodhóg ‘descendant of the devotee of (Saint) Maodhóg’. Compare Logue. variant of Mulvihill and Slowey.

English and Scottish: patronymic from Pott 1, particularly common in northeastern England.

Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maol Dhomhnaigh ‘descendant of the devotee of the Church’. Compare Muldowney.

English: variant of Hoskin.

reduced form of Shanahan. reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seanáin ‘descendant of Seanán’, a personal name based on a pet form of seán ‘old’. in County Clare, a reduced Anglicized form of Mac Giolla tSeanáin ‘son of the servant of St. Seanán’. In the Irish midlands Leonard and Nugent have been adopted as equivalents of this name.

Scottish: from an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal names Muire(adh)ach, a derivative of muir ‘sea’ (hence the usual translation as ‘mariner’) and Murchadh ‘sea battler’. These may originally have been patronymics, the prefix Mac having been dropped at a later stage. Irish (Ulster): when not of Scottish origin, a variant of Murtagh.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a rocky crag or outcrop, from Old French roche (later replaced in England by rock, from the Norman byform rocque), or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word, such as Roach in Devon, or Roche in Cornwall and South Yorkshire. English and Irish (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in Normandy, as for example Les Roches in Seine-Maritime, named with Old French roche, or from Roche Castle in Wales.

English (chiefly Yorkshire): topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing in woodland (see Rode 3). This, the most common form of the name, has been influenced in spelling by the English name of the Greek island of Rhodes (Greek Rhodos), with which there is no connection. There is no connection, either, with modern English road (Old English rad ‘riding’), which was not used to denote a thoroughfare until the 16th century.

nickname for a bearded man (Middle English, Old English beard). To be clean-shaven was the norm in non-Jewish communities in northwestern Europe from the 12th to the 16th century, the crucial period for surname formation. There is a place name and other evidence to show that this word was used as a byname in the Old English period, when beards were the norm; in this period the byname would have referred to a large or noticeable beard. As an American surname, this name has absorbed cognates and equivalents in other languages, in particular German Bart. habitational name from a place in Derbyshire, which derives its name by dissimilation from Old English brerd ‘rim’, ‘bank’.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Schultz. In this spelling, it is also found as a surname in Slovenia and elsewhere.

Scottish: occupational name from Gaelic bàrd ‘bard’, ‘poet’, ‘minstrel’, or of Gaelic Mac an Baird ‘son of the bard’.

Irish: reduced form of McSweeney, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Suibhne ‘son of Suibhne’, a byname meaning ‘pleasant’. Americanized form of French Choinière (see Choiniere).

Irish: reduced form of O’Callaghan (see Callahan).

English: patronymic from Will. German: patronymic from any of the Germanic personal names beginning with wil ‘will’, ‘desire’.

Northern English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Nik(k)e, a short form of Nicholas. French: variant of a contracted form of Nickesson, a pet form of Nick, from Nicolas.

Scottish: variant of Cochran.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Oisdealbhaigh ‘son of Oisdealbhach’, a personal name composed of the elements os ‘deer’, ‘fawn’ + dealbhach ‘in the form of’, ‘resembling’.

English and Welsh: patronymic from Humphrey.

German and Dutch: from Middle High German meier, a status name for a steward, bailiff, or overseer, which later came to be used also to denote a tenant farmer, which is normally the sense in the many compound surnames formed with this term as a second element. Originally it denoted a village headman (ultimately from Latin maior ‘greater’, ‘superior’). Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Meyer (from Hebrew Meir ‘enlightener’, a derivative of Hebrew or ‘light’). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Meidhir, from meidhir ‘mirth’. Danish: variant spelling of Meier 3.

English: patronymic from Mathew; a variant spelling of Matthews. In the U.S., this form has absorbed some European cognates such as German Matthäus.

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the sharp,' the quick, keen, cutting. Naturally this was a sobriquet likely to be handed down as being complimentary. Several instances have lately cropped up where the child has received the baptismal name Luke, which looks as if a little humour were intended.

Irish (Ulster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catháin ‘descendant of Cathán’ (see O’Kane). Compare Keane. Scottish: reduced form of McKean. Jewish (Ashkenazic): altered spelling of Cohen. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Kanne. Probably also an Americanized spelling of German Köhn (see Kohn).

Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name ?Ali ‘high’, ‘lofty’, ‘sublime’. Al-?Ali ‘the All-High’ is an attribute of Allah. Abdul-?Ali means ‘servant of the All-High’. ?Ali ibn Abi ?Talib (c. 600–661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (ruled 656–61) and the first imam of the Shiite Muslims. His assassination led to the appearance of the Shiite sect.

English and Scottish: topographic name from Middle English lees ‘fields’, ‘arable land’, plural of lee (see Lee), or from Middle English lese ‘pasture’, ‘meadow’ (Old English l?s). English: habitational name from Leece or Lees in Lancashire, or Leese in Cheshire, all named from Old English leas ‘woodland clearings’ (plural of leah), or from Leece in Cumbria, which was probably named with a Celtic word, lïss ‘hall’, ‘court’, ‘the principal house in a district’. English: variant spelling of Leece 1. Scottish: reduced form of Gillies. Scottish and Irish: reduced and altered form of McLeish. Dutch: variant of Leys.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maoil Eoin ‘descendant of the devotee of (Saint) John’. This is the name of an ecclesiastical family at Clonmacnoise. MacLysaght states that this surname is now numerous in County Clare where it is pronounced Maloon and is probably really Muldoon.

Jewish: from Hebrew kohen ‘priest’. Priests are traditionally regarded as members of a hereditary caste descended from Aaron, brother of Moses. See also Kaplan.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maonaigh, ‘descendant of Maonach’, a personal name derived from maoineach ‘rich’.

Scottish: variant of Chambers. The -l- was originally an orthographic device to indicate the length of the vowel after assimilation of -mb- to -m(m)-.

English (mainly Devon): from a pet form of the personal name Thomas.

English: from the Norman personal name Godefrei, Godefroi(s), composed of the Germanic elements god, got ‘god’ + frid(u), fred ‘peace’. See also Jeffrey. Americanized form of Irish Mac Gothraidh or Ó Gothraidh, patronymics from the Irish equivalent of Godfrey (see 1 above), borrowed from the Vikings. Americanized form of the French surname Godefroi, of the same origin as 1.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Raghailligh ‘descendant of Raghailleach’, Old Irish Roghallach, a personal name of unexplained etymology. This is the name of a chieftain family in County Cavan, related to the O’Rourkes.

English: habitational name from any of the various places so named, for example in Devon, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, and Hereford and Worcester. Most are named from Old English read ‘red’ + ford ‘ford’, but it is possible that in some cases the first element may be a derivative of Old English ridan ‘to ride’, with the meaning ‘ford that can be crossed on horseback’.

English: occupational name from Middle English, Old French ferm(i)er (Late Latin firmarius). The term denoted in the first instance a tax farmer, one who undertook the collection of taxes, revenues, and imposts, paying a fixed (Latin firmus) sum for the proceeds, and only secondarily someone who rented land for the purpose of cultivation; it was not applied to an owner of cultivated land before the 17th century. Irish: Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic Mac an Scolóige ‘son of the husbandman’, a rare surname of northern and western Ireland.

Scottish: patronymic from a short form of Matthew.

English: from the medieval personal name Wiot, Wyot, Gyot, which derives from the Old English personal name Wigheard, composed of the elements wig ‘war’ + heard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. Under Norman influence it was also adopted as a diminutive of both Guy 1 and William.

Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Easbuig (Scottish), Mac Giolla Easpaig (Irish), patronymics from a byname meaning ‘servant of the bishop’.

topographic name for someone who lived by a dam or weir on a river (Old English wær, wer), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, such as Ware in Hertfordshire. nickname for a cautious person, from Middle English war(e) ‘wary’, ‘prudent’ (Old English (ge)wær).

Danish, Norwegian, and North German: patronymic from the personal name Christen.

English: from a Norman personal name that appears in Middle English as Geffrey and in Old French as Je(u)froi. Some authorities regard this as no more than a palatalized form of Godfrey, but early forms such as Galfridus and Gaufridus point to a first element from Germanic gala ‘to sing’ or gawi ‘region’, ‘territory’. It is possible that several originally distinct names have fallen together in the same form.

English: topographic name for someone who lived at the top of a hill or by a hillock, from a genitive or plural form of Middle English knoll ‘hilltop’, ‘hillock’ (Old English cnoll; see Knoll), or habitational name from any of the many places named with this word. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Tnúthghail (see Newell).

Irish: variant of Byrne, formed with the addition of English patronymic -s.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Mathghamhna ‘descendant of Mathghamhain’, a byname meaning ‘good calf’.

Southern English, Scottish, Dutch, and German: ultimately from Latin prior ‘superior’, used to denote a prior, a monastic official immediately subordinate to an abbot, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble a prior or, more often, an occupational name for a servant of a prior. Irish: Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Mac an Phríora ‘son of the prior’ (this is the usual origin in Counties Cavan and Leitrim). Some examples may be Anglo-Norman, the same name as in 1. Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan: from prior, probably denoting someone in the service of a prior or a nickname for someone who behaved in a pompous way.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Charlton, mainly in southern England, from Old English Ceorlatun ‘settlement (Old English tun) of the peasants’. Old English ceorl denoted originally a free peasant of the lowest rank, later (but probably already before the Norman conquest) a tenant in pure villeinage, a serf or bondsman. Irish: altered form of Carlin.

English: patronymic from Edmond.

Southern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catháin ‘descendant of Cathán’, a personal name from a diminutive of cath ‘battle’. Compare Kane. Irish: occasionally an Anglicized form of Ó Céin ‘descendant of Cian’, a personal name meaning ‘distant’, ‘long’. English: variant spelling of Keen. Americanized spelling of German Kühn(e) (see Kuehn).

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Iain, patronymic from Iain, one of the Gaelic forms of John. This name is found in many other spellings, including McCain, Kean, and McKean. In some cases it may also be a variant of Coyne. English: variant spelling of Cane. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Caen in Calvados, France, named with the Gaulish elements catu ‘battle’ + magos ‘field’, ‘plain’. French (Caïn): from the Biblical name Cain (Hebrew Qayin), probably applied as a derogatory nickname for someone who was considered to be treacherous. Spanish (Caín): habitational name from a place called Caín in León.

English: from an Old English personal name C¯ting, a derivative of C¯ta (see Kite). Irish (of Norman origin): Americanized form of Céitinn, a Gaelicized form of de Ketyng (probably a habitational name), which was taken to southern Ireland by Anglo-Norman settlers.

Southern Italian (Sicilian): occupational name for a camel driver, from medieval Latin camelarius, medieval Greek kamelarios.

English: from Middle English crouch, Old English cruc ‘cross’ (a word that was replaced in Middle English by the word cross, from Old Norse kross), applied either as a topographic name for someone who lived by a cross or possibly as a nickname for someone who had carried a cross in a pageant or procession. Dutch: from Middle Dutch croech ‘jug’, ‘pitcher’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a potter.

Scottish: variant spelling of McLaughlin.

Irish (Fermanagh): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Caiside ‘descendant of Caiside’, a byname from cas ‘curly(-headed)’.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Dicken, Dickin, a pet form of Dick.

German: nickname for a physically strong person, from Middle High German louwe, lauwe ‘lion’. In some cases the surname may have been originally from a house sign. North German: topographic name for someone living in a bush-covered area or clearing, Middle Low German lo, loch, lage. North German and Dutch: from a vernacular short form of the personal name Laurentius (see Lawrence). Dutch: nickname from Middle Dutch laeu ‘lazy’, ‘indifferent’, ‘faint-hearted’. Chinese : Cantonese form of Liu 1. Chinese : Cantonese form of Liu 3. Chinese : variant of Lao 2.

Scottish: habitational name from any of the various places, as for example Drymen near Stirling and Drummond (Castle) in Perthshire, that are named from Gaelic drumainn, a derivative of druim ‘ridge’.

English: habitational name from Lancaster in northwestern England, named in Old English as ‘Roman fort on the Lune’, from the Lune river, on which it stands, + Old English cæster ‘Roman fort or walled city’ (Latin castra ‘legionary camp’). The river name is probably British, perhaps related to Gaelic slán ‘healthy’, ‘salubrious’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a bushy area or thicket, from Middle English bush(e) ‘bush’ (probably from Old Norse buskr, or an unrecorded Old English busc); alternatively, it may derive from Old Norse Buski used as a personal name. Americanized spelling of German Busch.

English: habitational name from any of the extremely numerous places throughout England so called from Old English stan ‘stone’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. Most of them are named for their situation on stony ground, but in the case of Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire and Stanton Drew in Avon the reference is to the proximity of prehistoric stone monuments. The name has also sometimes been chosen by Ashkenazic Jews as an Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames. This surname has long been established in Ireland also.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named from Old English ea ‘river’ or eg ‘island’, ‘low-lying land’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Scottish: nickname for a fair-haired person, from Gaelic bàn ‘white’, ‘fair’. This is a common name in the Highlands, first recorded in Perth in 1324. It is also found as a reduced form of McBain. Northern English: nickname meaning ‘bone’, probably bestowed on an exceptionally tall, lean man, from Old English ban ‘bone’. In northern Middle English -a- was preserved, whereas in southern dialects (which later became standard), it was changed to -o-. Northern English: nickname for a hospitable person, from northern Middle English beyn, bayn ‘welcoming’, ‘friendly’ (Old Norse beinn ‘straight’, ‘direct’). English and French: metonymic occupational name for an attendant at a public bath house, from Middle English, Old French baine ‘bath’. French: topographic name for someone who lived by a Roman bath, from Old French baine ‘bath’ or a habitational name from a place in Ille-et-Vilaine, named with this word. Possibly an altered spelling of North German Behn.

Chinese : variant of Zheng. Chinese : from the name of the area of Cheng during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc). A high adviser who was a descendant of the legendary emperor Zhuan Xu was granted the fiefdom of this area, and his descendants adopted its name as their surname. Chinese : from the name of the state of Cheng during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc). The fifth son of Wen Wang was granted lordship of the state of Cheng following the fall of the Shang dynasty and the establishment of the Zhou dynasty. Subsequently, his descendants adopted the place name as their surname.

English (Shropshire; of Norman origin): nickname meaning ‘little crow’, ‘raven’, from Anglo-Norman French, Middle English corbet, a diminutive of corb, alluding probably to someone with dark hair or a dark complexion. The name was taken from Shropshire to Scotland in the 12th century and to northern Ireland in the 17th century, and thence to North America by one group of bearers of the name. Irish: see Corban.

English: nickname from Anglo-Norman French lo(u)ve ‘female wolf’ (feminine form of lou, from Latin lupus) + the diminutive suffix -el.

Scottish and northern English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called from Old English hoh ‘ridge’, ‘spur’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Welsh: patronymic from Owen, with English patronymic -s. Irish: adopted as an Anglicized form by bearers of the Gaelic surname Mac Eoghain (see McEwen).

English and Scottish: patronymic from a Middle English male personal name: in most cases probably Allen, but other possibilities include a variant of Ellis or a short form of Alexander. In some instances, it may be from a female personal name, Alise or Alice (see Allis).

Irish (County Kerry): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Séaghdha ‘descendant of Séaghdha’, a byname meaning ‘fine’ or ‘fortunate’.

English: occupational name for a brewer of beer or ale, from an agent derivative of Old English breowan ‘to brew’. Compare Brewster. English (of Norman origin): anglicized form of French Bruyère (see Bruyere), habitational name from a place so called in Calvados, France. Translation of Dutch Brouwer, German Brauer or Breuer, etc., all occupational names meaning ‘brewer’.

Scottish: variant spelling of Forsythe.

English: habitational name from Kendal in Cumbria, recorded in 1095 as Kircabikendala ‘village with a church in the valley of the Kent river’. From an Anglicized form of the Welsh personal name Cynddelw, which was borne by a famous 12th-century Welsh poet. It probably derives from a Celtic word meaning ‘exalted’, ‘high’ + delw ‘image’, ‘effigy’.

Scottish: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hutche, a variant of Hugh.

Welsh: nickname for a red-haired person, from Welsh coch ‘red’. Irish: reduced form of McGough.

English and Irish: occupational name for a maker and seller of woolen cloth, Anglo-Norman French draper (Old French drapier, an agent derivative of drap ‘cloth’). The surname was introduced to Ulster in the 17th century. Draperstown in County Londonderry was named for the London Company of Drapers, which was allocated the land in the early 17th century.

Variant spelling of Dunn; this is the usual spelling of the Irish name. German (Dünne): nickname for a slender, skinny person, from Middle High German dünne ‘thin’. German (Dünne): habitational name, for example from Dünne near Herford, Westphalia.

English: from the personal name Anthony, Latin Antonius. See also Anton. This, with its variants, cognates, and derivatives, is one of the commonest European personal names. Many of the European forms have been absorbed into this spelling as American family names; for the forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988. Spellings with -h-, which first appear in English in the 16th century and in French (as Anthoine) at about the same time, are due to the erroneous belief that the name derives from Greek anthos ‘flower’. The popularity of the personal name in Christendom is largely due to the cult of the Egyptian hermit St. Anthony (ad 251–356), who in his old age gathered a community of hermits around him, and for that reason is regarded by some as the founder of monasticism. It was further increased by the fame of St. Anthony of Padua (1195–1231), who long enjoyed a great popular cult and who is believed to help people find lost things. South Indian: this is only a given name in India, but has come to be used as a family name among Christians from South India in the U.S.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Simon,' or Simond with excrescent 'd'. 'Cym, propyr name (Cymund, H. P.), Simon': Promptorium Parvulorum (compare gownd, provincial for gown, ribband and ribbon, Hammond for Hamon, v.

Jewish: from the Hebrew personal name Amos, of uncertain origin, in some traditions connected with the Hebrew verb amos ‘to carry’, and assigned the meaning ‘borne by God’. This was the name of a Biblical prophet of the 8th century bc, whose oracles are recorded in the Book of Amos. This was one of the Biblical names taken up by Puritans and Nonconformists in the 16th–17th centuries, too late to have had much influence on surname formation, except in Wales. English: variant of Amis, assimilated in spelling to the Biblical name. It occurs chiefly in southeastern England.

Irish: variant spelling of Kavanagh.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Artair, a patronymic from the Gaelic form of the personal name Arthur.

English: occupational name for a burner of charcoal or a gatherer or seller of coal, from Middle English cole ‘(char)coal’ + the agent suffix -(i)er.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laochdha ‘descendant of Laochdha’, a personal name derived from laoch ‘hero’.

Scottish and Irish (Cavan): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cába ‘son of Cába’, a nickname or personal name of uncertain origin.

Scottish and northern Irish: probably a variant of Curzon.

English and Welsh: variant spelling of Humphries.

English: patronymic from Cole.

English: variant spelling of Gray 1. German: dialect variant of Grau.

Irish: variant spelling of Keough.

Northern English: patronymic from David.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhomhnuill, a patronymic from the personal name Domhnall (see McDonald).

English: from a Middle English nickname or personal name, meaning ‘bright’, ‘fair’, ‘pretty’, from Old English beorht ‘bright’, ‘shining’. English: from a short form of any of several Old English personal names of which beorht was the first element, such as Beorhthelm ‘bright helmet’. Compare Bert. Americanized form of German Brecht. Americanized spelling of German Breit.

Catalan: topographic name from Catalan perera ‘pear tree’. Galician and Portuguese: variant of Pereira. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

English and Scottish: patronymic from Daw 1. German (Däwes): either a patronymic from a personal name Davo, or a variant spelling of Tewes.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhlannchaidh, patronymic from the personal name Flannchadh, which is derived from flann ‘red’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Canann or Ó Canann (Ulster), or Ó Canáin (County Galway) ‘son (Mac) or descendant (Ó) of Canán’, a personal name derived from cano ‘wolf cub’. In Ulster it may also be from Ó Canannáin ‘descendant of Canannán’, a diminutive of the personal name. English: from Middle English canun ‘canon’ (Old Norman French canonie, canoine, from Late Latin canonicus). In medieval England this term denoted a clergyman living with others in a clergy house; the surname is mostly an occupational name for a servant in a house of canons, although it could also be a nickname or even a patronymic.

occupational name for a physician, Old English l?ce, from the medieval medical practice of ‘bleeding’, often by applying leeches to the sick person. topographic name for someone who lived by a boggy stream, from an Old English læcc, or a habitational name from Eastleach or Northleach in Gloucestershire, named with the same Old English element.

English: from a Middle English personal name composed of Germanic rad ‘counsel’, ‘advice’ + wolf ‘wolf’. This was first introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers in the Old Norse form Ráðulfr, and was reinforced after the Conquest by the Norman form Ra(d)ulf. Compare German Rudolf.

English and Scottish: variant spelling of Steele. Americanization of German Stahl.

SLOAN, Sloane, Slowan: From Irish O'Sluaghain, for O'Sluaghadain, 'descendant of SLaghadan,' probably a variant of O'Sluaghodhaigh, from the MIr. personal name Sluagadach, leader of a military expedition.' compare Slogadadh. William Slowane held a tenement near Dalkeith in 1504 (Soltre, p.

Scottish: from a medieval personal name Kid, a variant of Kit, a pet form of Christopher. English: from Middle English kid(e) ‘young goat’, hence a nickname for a frisky person or a metonymic occupational name for a goatherd. English: metonymic occupational name for a seller of faggots, from Middle English kidde ‘faggot’ (of unknown origin).

English: status name from Middle English gode ‘good’ + man ‘man’, in part from use as a term for the master of a household. In Scotland the term denoted a landowner who held his land not directly from the crown but from a feudal vassal of the king. English: from the Middle English personal name Godeman, Old English Godmann, composed of the elements god ‘good’ or god ‘god’ + mann ‘man’. English: from the Old English personal name Guðmund, composed of the elements guð ‘battle’ + mund ‘protection’ , or the Old Norse cognate Guðmundr. Americanized form of Jewish Gutman or German Gutmann.

Scottish: reduced form of McRae.

German, Swedish, and English: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements wald ‘rule’ + heri, hari ‘army’. The personal name was introduced into England from France by the Normans in the form Walt(i)er, Waut(i)er.

English and Scottish: occupational name meaning ‘servant of Bate’ (see Bate).

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lochlainn ‘son of the Scandinavian’, a patronymic from the personal name Lochlann (see Laughlin).

English: status name from Old French chambrelain, Norman French cambrelanc, cambrelen(c) ‘chamberlain’ (of Germanic origin, from kamer ‘chamber’, ‘room’, Latin camera (see Chambers) + the diminutive suffix -(l)ing). This was originally the name of an official in charge of the private chambers of his master.

English: from either of two Germanic personal names introduced to Britain by the Normans: Gerard, composed of the elements gar, ger ‘spear’, ‘lance’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’; and Gerald, composed of the elements gar, ger ‘spear’, ‘lance’ + wald ‘rule’.

Irish and Scottish: reduced form of McGee, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aodha ‘son of Aodh’ (see McCoy). English: this is a common name in northern England, of uncertain origin. The existence of a patronymic form Geeson points to a personal name, but this has not been satisfactorily identified. It may in fact be the Irish or Scottish name in an English context. French (Gée): habitational name from any of several places called Gé or Gée, for example in Maine-et-Loire, derived from the Gallo-Roman domain name Gaiacum.

German, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a fisherman, from Fisch + the agent suffix -er. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

Irish (of Norman origin): see Roache. This is the name of various important families in Munster (counties Cork, Wexford, and Limerick). French: topographic name for someone who lived by a rocky outcrop or crag, Old French roche. German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name, Rocco, based on hrok, of uncertain origin, or hrod ‘renown’.

Scottish: from a term denoting an Englishman or an English speaker, in Gaelic-speaking areas denoting an English-speaking Scot. Compare English.

Scottish: habitational name from a place in Glasgow, apparently so named from a diminutive of a British cognate of Gaelic poll ‘pool’, ‘pit’. The surname is also common in northeastern Ulster. German: ethnic name for someone from Poland. Americanized form of Jewish Polak.

English: occupational name for an extractor or seller of salt (a precious commodity in medieval times), from Middle English salt ‘salt’ + the agent suffix -er. English: occupational name for a player on the psaltery, a string instrument, Middle English, Old French saltere ‘psaltery’. (The Middle English word is derived from Latin psalterium, Greek psalterion, from psallein ‘to sound’). North German form of Salzer.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a weaver, Middle High German wëber, German Weber, an agent derivative of weben ‘to weave’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, being found for example as a Czech, Polish, Slovenian, and Hungarian name.

English: patronymic from Gibbon.

English: habitational name from any of the many places, large and small, called Bradford; in particular the city in West Yorkshire, which originally rose to prosperity as a wool town. There are others in Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Greater Manchester, Norfolk, Somerset, and elsewhere. They are all named with Old English brad ‘broad’ + ford ‘ford’.

Irish (Munster): Americanized form of Ó Laoghaire ‘descendant of Laoghaire’, a byname originally meaning ‘keeper of the calves’, from laogh ‘calf’. This was the name of a 5th-century king of Ireland.

English: topographic name from Anglo-Norman French, Middle English castel ‘castle’, ‘fortified building or set of buildings’, especially the residence of a feudal lord (Late Latin castellum, a diminutive of castrum ‘fort’, ‘Roman walled city’). The name would also have denoted a servant who lived and worked at such a place.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous minor places so called, from Old English hol ‘hollow’, ‘sunken’ + weg ‘way’, ‘path’. In Ireland, it has sometimes been Gaelicized as Ó hAilmhic (see Hulvey).

English (mainly northern): habitational name from any of various minor places, in Lancashire and elsewhere, named from Middle English sc(h)ole ‘hut’ (see Scales) + feld ‘pasture’, ‘open country’.

English (chiefly Gloucestershire and Worcestershire): variant of Millward. French (northern): from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements mil ‘good’, ‘gracious’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. Southern French: from a variant spelling of Occitan milhar ‘millet field’ (from mil ‘millet’).

Welsh: from the personal name Maredudd. In Welsh the stress is on the second syllable. The Old Welsh form is Morgetiud, of which the first element may mean ‘pomp, splendor’ and the second is iudd ‘lord’.

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Wikke (see Wick 2). English: variant of Wick 1. It may also be an Americanization of Scandinavian Vik.

English, Scottish, and Irish: from an Anglo-Scandinavian form of the Gaelic name Niall (see Neill). This was adopted by the Scandinavians in the form Njal and was introduced into northern England and East Anglia by them, rather than being taken directly from Gaelic. It was reinforced after the Norman Conquest by the Anglo-Norman French and Middle English forms Neel, Nihel, and Nigel, which were brought to England by the Normans. Scottish and Irish: reduced form of McNeal (see McNeil).

English, Scottish, and Irish (of Norman origin): of disputed origin. It may be from a Celtic personal name derived from the element cam ‘bent’, ‘crooked’ (compare Cameron and Campbell). This was relatively frequent in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire in the 12th and 13th centuries, perhaps as a result of Breton immigration. According to another theory it is a habitational name from Comines near Lille, but there is no evidence for this (no early forms with de have been found). In southern Ireland this Anglo-Norman name has been confused with 2. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cuimín (or Ó Cuimín) ‘son (or ‘descendant’) of Cuimín’, a personal name formed from a diminutive of cam ‘crooked’. Americanized form of French Canadian Vien, Viens, based on the misconception that these derive from French venire ‘to come’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived on a wooded hill, Old English hyrst, or habitational name from one of the various places named with this word, for example Hurst in Berkshire, Kent, Somerset, and Warwickshire, or Hirst in Northumberland and West Yorkshire. Irish: re-Anglicized form of de Horsaigh, Gaelicized form of the English habitational name Horsey, established in Ireland since the 13th century. German: topographic name from Middle High German hurst ‘woodland’, ‘thicket’.

Scottish and Irish: see McLean.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a tailor, literally ‘cutter’, from Middle High German snider, German Schneider, Yiddish shnayder. The same term was sometimes used to denote a woodcutter. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

Scottish, northern English, and northern Irish: from a genitive or plural form of Old English cnocc ‘round-topped hill’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a hilltop, or a habitational name from one of the places in Scotland and northern England named with this element, now spelled Knock, in particular one in Renfrewshire. The surname is also borne by eastern Ashkenazic Jews as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

English: patronymic or metronymic from the medieval personal name Bett, a short form of Bartholomew, Beatrice, or Elizabeth. Americanized spelling of German Betz.

Scottish: from Gaelic carn ‘cairn’, a topographic name for someone who lived by a cairn, i.e. a pile of stones raised as a boundary marker or a memorial.

Spanish and Portuguese: from a Germanic personal name composed of a metathesized form of frið ‘peace’ (or farð ‘journey’, ‘expedition’) + nanð ‘daring’, ‘boldness’. See also Ferdinand. This family name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Scottish: variant spelling of Finley.

English: regional name for someone from the county of Cornwall, from Middle English corneys, cornysh. Not surprisingly, the surname is common in adjacent Devon, but it is also well established as far afield as Essex and Lancashire. Possibly also an Americanized spelling of German Kornisch, a nickname for a sickly or weak person, from Sorbian krne ‘weak’, ‘poor’.

English (chiefly Yorkshire): metronymic from Dye. Possibly an Americanized spelling of Danish, German, and Norwegian Theisen or German Theissen.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fógartaigh ‘son of Fógartach’, a personal name from fógartha ‘proclaimed’, ‘banished’, ‘outlawed’. It is sometimes Anglicized as Howard.

English: variant spelling of Lacy.

Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cobhthaigh ‘descendant of Cobhthach’, a byname meaning ‘victorious’. Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cathbhadha ‘descendant of Cathbhadh’ (‘battle tent’), Ó Cathbhuadhaigh ‘descendant of Cathbhuadhach’ (‘battle victorious’), or Ó Cathmhogha ‘descendant of Cathmhugh’, a byname meaning ‘battle slave’.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Finn ‘descendant of Fionn’, a byname meaning ‘white’ or ‘fair-haired’. This name is borne by several families in the west of Ireland. English: from the Old Norse personal name Finnr ‘Finn’, used both as a byname and as a short form of various compound names with this first element. German: ethnic name for someone from Finland.

This surname is derived from an occupation. 'the tanner,' one who tanned leather. the Frenchtan, 'the bark of a young oak, wherewith leather is tanned': Cotgrave (v. tan, Skeat). Hence Barker, which see.Ansketill le Tanur, 1189: The Pipe Rolls, or Sheriff's Annual Accounts of the Counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Durham during the reigns of Henry II, Richard I and John.

English (mostly East Anglia): unexplained. Vietnamese (Ông): unexplained. Chinese : variant of Wang 1. Indonesian: unexplained. Filipino: unexplained.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Gormund'; compare Osman and Wyman from Osmund and Wymond. Perhaps related to the Irish Gorman and O'Gorman. Lower says,' Gormund is an old Scotticism from the French gourmand, an enormous eater, a glutton.

English: occupational name for a maker of carts, from Middle English cart(e) + wright ‘craftsman’ (see Wright). The surname is attested from the late 13th century, although the vocabulary word does not occur before the 15th century.

Chinese : from the name of the city of Zhao, in present-day Shanxi province in north-central China. Mu Wang, king of the Zhou dynasty (1001–947 bc), was noted for his campaigns and journeys to distant lands and for his expansion of the Chinese empire. According to legend, he once traveled to the Kunlun mountains, then west of China, to see the Queen Mother of the West. After arriving, he learned of military attacks at home, so his chariot driver, Zao Fu, obtained eight marvelous steeds which took them back at a rate of a thousand li (500 miles) a day, so that they were able to defend the capital. In recognition of his service, Mu Wang granted to the charioteer Zao Fu the city of Zhao, and his descendants subsequently adopted Zhao as their surname.

variant of Park 1. patronymic from Park 2.

English (mainly Yorkshire): topographic name for someone who lived by a stream in a marsh or in a hollow, from Middle English syke ‘marshy stream’, ‘damp gully’, or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word, in Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

English (Lancashire) and Scottish: habitational name from any of various places so called. Most, including those in Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), Cleveland, Derbyshire, and Shropshire, get the name from Old English hyll ‘hill’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. Others, including those in Cumbria and Dorsetshire, have early forms in Hel- and probably have as their first element Old English hielde ‘slope’ or possibly helde ‘tansy’. English: some early examples such as Ralph filius Hilton (Yorkshire 1219) point to occasional derivation from a personal name, possibly a Norman name Hildun, composed of the Germanic elements hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’ + hun ‘bear cub’. The English surname is present in Ireland (mostly taken to Ulster in the early 17th century, though recorded earlier in Dublin).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hIfearnáin ‘descendant of Ifearnán’, a personal name from a diminutive of ifreannach ‘demon’ (from ifreann ‘hell’).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Diarmada ‘son of Diarmaid’, a personal name possibly composed of the separative prefix di- + farmat ‘envy’, hence meaning ‘free from envy’. This name was borne in Celtic legend by the lover of Gráinne, and, in historical times, by Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, the 12th-century king of Leinster whose appeal to the English for support led directly to the Anglo-Norman presence in Ireland. Mac Diarmada was an important name in Connacht.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Bryan.' The 'i' in Briant and Bryant is of course excrescent. Bryan was not an importation from Ireland, though its popularity as an English fontname is gone. It lingered in North Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Furness till the close of the last century.

English: from Middle English pe, pa, po ‘peacock’, with the later disambiguating addition of cok ‘male bird’, hence a nickname for a vain, strutting person or for a dandy. In some cases it may be a habitational name from a house distinguished by the sign of a peacock. This surname is established in Ireland also.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Díomasaigh ‘descendant of Díomasach’, a byname meaning ‘proud’, ‘haughty’, from díomas ‘pride’. The name was occasionally Anglicized as Proudman (see Proud). Compare McGimsey.

English: from Kene, a short form of the Old English personal name Cen or Cyne, based on Old English cene ‘wise’, ‘brave’, ‘proud’. Americanized spelling of German Kühn (see Kuehn).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Condún, itself a Gaelicized form of the Anglo-Norman habitational name de Caunteton. This seems to have been imported from Wales, but probably derives ultimately from Caunton in Nottinghamshire, which is named with the Old English personal name Caluno{dh} (composed of the elements calu ‘bald’ + no{dh} ‘daring’) + Old English tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Scottish: patronymic from Neill. Americanized form of Swedish Nilsson.

English and French: from the Norman personal name Raimund, composed of the Germanic elements ragin ‘advice’, ‘counsel’ + mund ‘protection’. Americanized spelling of German Raimund, a cognate of 1.

English: nickname from Middle English finch ‘finch’ (Old English finc). In the Middle Ages this bird had a reputation for stupidity. It may perhaps also in part represent a metonymic occupational name for someone who caught finches and sold them as songsters or for the cooking pot. The surname is found in all parts of Britain but is most common in Lancashire. See also Fink.

Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhuibhshíthe ‘son of Duibhshíth’ (see Duffy).

English (chiefly West Country): topographic name for someone who lived by a stream, Old English lacu, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example in Wiltshire and Devon. Modern English lake (Middle English lake) is only distantly related, if at all; it comes via Old French from Latin lacus. This meaning, which ousted the native sense, came too late to be found as a place name element, but may lie behind some examples of the surname. Part translation of French Beaulac.

Chinese : from the name of Hui Sun, a high official of the state of Wei, which existed during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc), located in present-day Shanxi province in north-central China. Wen Wang, the virtuous duke whose magnanimous rule led to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, had an eighth son named Kang Shu, who was enfeoffed the state of Wei. The ruling line continued through Wu Gong, whose son Hui Sun became a high official of Wei; his descendants adopted the given name Sun as their surname. Sun Tzu was author of The Art of War, written during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 bc) and still much quoted today. Sun Yat-Sen (1866–1925) was the revolutionary leader instrumental in the overthrow of the Chinese dynastic system early in the twentieth century. Korean: variant of Son.

English (of Norman origin): nickname denoting someone who behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities, from Old French rey, roy ‘king’. Occasionally this was used as a personal name. English: nickname for a timid person, from Middle English ray ‘female roe deer’ or northern Middle English ray ‘roebuck’. English: variant of Rye (1 and 2). English: habitational name, a variant spelling of Wray. Scottish: reduced and altered form of McRae. French: from a noun derivative of Old French raier ‘to gush, stream, or pour’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived near a spring or rushing stream, or a habitational name from a place called Ray. Indian: variant of Rai.

Irish: see Riordan.

Common patronymic form of Adam, especially in Scotland, where the name is borne by a sept of clan McIntosh. In the U.S., this form may also have absorbed some patronymic forms of Adam in various other languages. Compare Adams.

Scottish: habitational name a place near Kilmarnock named Dunlop, from Gaelic dùn ‘fort’ + possibly lápach ‘muddy’. The traditional pronunciation places the stress on the second syllable, although nowadays it is usually placed on the first. Irish: variant of Dunleavy. Irish: Scottish surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Lapáin ‘descendant of Lapán’, a byname or from lápán ‘mire’, ‘dirt’ (used figuratively of a poor man) or ‘little paw’.

English: from a medieval personal name, a pet form of Lawrence, formed with the addition of the Middle English suffix -kin (of Low German origin). Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Lorcáin ‘descendant of Lorcán’, a personal name from a diminutive of lorc ‘fierce’, ‘cruel’, which was sometimes used as an equivalent to Lawrence.

Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhomhnuill ‘son of Domhnall’ (see McDonald). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Conaill ‘son of Conall’, a personal name probably composed of the elements con, an inflected form of cú ‘hound’ or ‘wolf’, + gal ‘valor’. This was borne by many early chieftains and warriors of Ireland, including the Ulster hero Conall Cearnach, and one of the two sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who gave his name to Tir Conaill ‘Conall’s land’, otherwise known as County Donegal. It was further popularized by the fame of a 7th-century Irish saint, abbot of Inis Caoil.

Chinese : from the name of the state of Zhu in present-day Shandong province. Wu Wang, the first king (1122–1116 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, granted to Cao Xie, a descendant of the emperor Zhuan Xu of the 26th century bc, lordship of the state of Zhu (see also Cao). Later, this state was conquered by the state of Chu, after which many descendants of the Zhu aristocracy took a modified form of the character Zhu for their surname; the pronunciation is the same. The name has become very common in southern China. Chinese : following the establishment of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, Wu Wang granted lordship of the area of Zhu to a descendant of the legendary emperor Huang Di. His descendants eventually adopted the place name Zhu as their surname. Additionally, in ancient China the titles of several important governmental positions contained the character for Zhu. Descendants of some of these officials adopted Zhu as their surname. Chinese : there are two accounts of the origin of this name, both from the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). One account derives the name from an area named Zhu in the state of Lu. Another account derives it from a senior minister of the state of Yue named Zhu Zhiying. Chinese : this was part of the ancient word Tianzhu ‘India’. When Buddhist monks came to China from India, they often used Zhu as part of their name, and it gradually came to be used as a surname.

English: occupational name for a maker or layer of tiles, from an agent derivative of Middle English tile ‘tile’. In the Middle Ages tiles were widely used in floors and pavements, and to a lesser extent in roofing, where they did not really come into their own until the 16th century.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German koch, German Koch ‘cook’ (cognate with Latin coquus). The name in this sense is widespread throughout eastern and central Europe, and is also well established in Denmark. Czech and Slovak: from a pet form of any of several medieval personal names beginning with Ko-, for example Kochan, Kocián, Kojata, and Kosmas. Polish: nickname from kochac ‘to love’ (see Kochan).

English (of Norman origin) and French: from Godhard, a personal name composed of the Germanic elements god ‘good’ or god, got ‘god’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. The name was popular in Europe during the Middle Ages as a result of the fame of St. Gotthard, an 11th-century bishop of Hildesheim who founded a hospice on the pass from Switzerland to Italy that bears his name. This surname and the variant Godard are also borne by Ashkenazic Jews, presumably as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Possibly also an Americanized spelling of German Gotthard (see Gothard).

Irish: variant spelling of Monahan.

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mag Uidhir ‘son of Odhar’, a byname meaning ‘sallow’. This was the name of the ruling family of Fermanagh from the 13th–17th centuries.

English: from Anglo-Norman French gerner ‘granary’ (Old French grenier, from Late Latin granarium, a derivative of granum ‘grain’). It may have been a topographic name for someone who lived near a barn or granary, or a metonymic occupational name for someone in charge of the stores kept in a granary. English: variant of Warner 1, from a central Old French form. English: reduced form of Gardener. South German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German garn ‘thread’; by extension, an occupational name for a fisherman. Altered spelling of Gerner.

English: habitational name from places in Cumbria and West Yorkshire named Dent, possibly from a British hill name cognate with Old Irish dinn, dind ‘hill’. English and French: nickname from Old French dent ‘tooth’ (Latin dens, genitive dentis), bestowed on someone with some deficiency or peculiarity of the teeth, or of a gluttonous or avaricious nature.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by an arable enclosure, normally adjoining a house, Middle English croft. There are several places in England named with this word (Old English croft), and the surname may equally be a habitational name from any of them. Possibly an Americanized spelling of Kraft.

English: variant (plural) of Down. Irish (Counties Clare and Limerick): reduced Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Ó Dubháin (see Doane).

probably a reduced form of Fullerton. habitational name from a place in Roxburghshire, Scotland, so named from Old English fugol ‘bird’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catharnaigh ‘descendant of Catharnach’, a byname meaning ‘warlike’ or ‘soldier’, and Ó Cearnaigh, from cearnach ‘victorious’. Both surnames were widely distributed and are now very difficult to disentangle.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places named in Old English as ‘long ford’, from lang, long ‘long’ + ford ‘ford’, except for Langford in Nottinghamshire, which is named with an Old English personal name Landa or possibly land, here used in a specific sense such as ‘boundary’ or ‘district’, with the same second element.

English: metonymic occupational name for a locksmith, from Middle English, Old English loc ‘lock’, ‘fastening’. English: topographic name for someone who lived near an enclosure, a place that could be locked, Middle English loke, Old English loca (a derivative of loc as in 1). Middle English loke also came to be used to denote a barrier, in particular a barrier on a river which could be opened and closed at will, and, by extension, a bridge. The surname may thus also have been a metonymic occupational name for a lock-keeper. English, Dutch, and German: nickname for a person with fine hair, or curly hair, from Middle English loc, Middle High German lock(e) ‘lock (of hair)’, ‘curl’. Americanized spelling of German Loch.

English: habitational name from any of various places, in Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Staffordshire, and South Yorkshire, so called from Old English fenn ‘marsh’, ‘fen’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’ Irish: English surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Fionnachta (see Finnerty) or Ó Fiachna ‘descendant of Fiachna’, an old personal name Anglicized as Feighney and sometimes mistranslated as Hunt (see Fee). Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of various like-sounding names, for example Finkelstein (see Funke).

variant of Hill 1. from a pet form of Hugh.

Chinese : variant of Liang.

English (mainly southern), Dutch, and North German: occupational name for a player on the pipes, Middle English pipere, Middle Dutch pi(j)per, Middle Low German piper. Translation of German Pfeiffer, or of the French secondary surname Lefifre.

English: variant spelling of Hoar.

Chinese : from the name of a state called Lai (in present-day Henan province), which existed during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). Descendants of the ruling class of this state adopted its name as their surname. Chinese : Cantonese variant of Li 2. Vietnamese: unexplained. Polish: dialect variant of the personal name Lew ‘lion’ (see Lew 2).

Scottish and northern English: variant of Holladay. Halliday is also found in Ireland, where it is of English origin. Black notes that Scottish bearers of the name took it to France, where they became Viscounts of Pontaudemer.

Scottish: variant spelling of Finley.

English: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements eber ‘wild boar’ + hard ‘brave’, ‘hardy’, ‘strong’. The surname was at first found mainly in East Anglia (still one of the principal locations of the variant Everett), which was an area of heavy Norman and Breton settlement after the Conquest. This suggests that the personal name may be of Continental (Norman) origin, but it is also possible that it swallowed up an unattested Old English cognate, Eoforheard.

English: habitational name from Leicester, named in Old English from the tribal name Ligore (itself adapted from a British river name) + Old English ceaster ‘Roman fort or walled city’ (Latin castra ‘legionary camp’). English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Lestre in Normandy. English and Scottish: variant of Lister.

English: occupational name for someone who earned his living by sawing wood, Middle English saghier, an agent derivative of sagh(en) ‘to saw’. Americanized form of some like-sounding Jewish surname or a translation of Seger.

English: ethnic name for someone of Welsh origin. This is the usual form of the surname in England; the usual form in Ireland is Walsh and in Scotland Welsh. German: variant of Welk. Perhaps an Americanized spelling of German Welsch.

English (also well established in South Wales): topographic name for someone who lived in a nook or hollow, from Old English and Middle English hale, dative of h(e)alh ‘nook’, ‘hollow’. In northern England the word often has a specialized meaning, denoting a piece of flat alluvial land by the side of a river, typically one deposited in a bend. In southeastern England it often referred to a patch of dry land in a fen. In some cases the surname may be a habitational name from any of the several places in England named with this fossilized inflected form, which would originally have been preceded by a preposition, e.g. in the hale or at the hale. English: from a Middle English personal name derived from either of two Old English bynames, Hæle ‘hero’ or Hægel, which is probably akin to Germanic Hagano ‘hawthorn’ (see Hain 2). Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Céile (see McHale). Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Halle.

English and Irish: occupational name from Old French molineux ‘miller’ (see Molyneux).

English: from a short form of Jordan. German: variant of Jude.

Chinese : variant of Zhong 1. Chinese : variant of Zong. Chinese : variant of Zhong 2. Chinese : variant of Cong. Korean: variant of Ch{ou}ng (see Chong).

Chinese : variant of Zhang 1. Chinese : The emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc) had two advisers whose names contained this character; descendants of both of them are believed to have adopted Chang as their surname. Additionally, in the state of Wei during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc) there existed a fief named Chang, the name of which was adopted by descendants of its ruling class. The Chinese character also has the meanings ‘often’ and ‘ordinary’. Chinese : variant of Zhang 2. Chinese : a rare name whose Chinese character also means ‘prosperous, flourishing’. This name is said to have originated 4500 years ago with Chang Yi, son of the legendary emperor Huang Di and father of emperor Zhuan Xu. Korean: there are 33 Chang clans in Korea, all but three of which use the same Chinese character for their surname. All of the Korean Chang clans had their origins in China, and, apart from the T{ou}ksu Chang clan and the Ch{ou}lgang Chang clan, they all originated from a single founding ancestor, Chang Ch{ou}n-p’il. He was born in China in 888 ad and fled to Korea with his father during a tumultuous period of Chinese history. The T{ou}ksu Chang clan’s founding ancestor, Chang Sul-long, stayed in Korea, having escorted Kory{ou} King Ch’ungy{ou}l’s queen-to-be from China to Korea in 1275. Most of the founding ancestors of the other Chang clans arrived in Korea from Y{uu}an China during the Kory{ou} period (ad 918–1392) or during the early Chos{ou}n period.

Danish, Norwegian, North German, and Dutch: patronymic from the personal name Jan, a vernacular form of Johannes (see John).

Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived on high ground or by land where hay was grown, from Middle English hegh, hie ‘high’ or heye ‘hay’ + land ‘land’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAoileáin, a variant of Ó Faoláin (see Whelan). Swedish: possibly an ornamental name based on Greek hule ‘wood’ + land ‘land’.

English: patronymic from White.

Irish (Ulster, Leinster, and Kerry): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Leathlobhair ‘descendant of Leathlobhar’, a personal name composed of the elements leath ‘half’ (i.e. ‘somewhat’, ‘fairly’) and lobar ‘leprous’, ‘sick’. The name seems to have been originally a byname for a man of unhealthy constitution.

variant spelling of Haworth. habitational name from Howarth in the parish of Rochdale, Lancashire, apparently so called from Old English hoh ‘mound’ + worð ‘enclosure’. However, if the 13th-century form Halwerdeword refers to this place, the first element may instead be Middle English halleward ‘keeper of a hall’ or represent a personal name such as Old English Æðelweard or Old Norse Hallvarðr.

English and Catalan: occupational name for a trader, from Old French mercier, Late Latin mercarius (an agent derivative of merx, genitive mercis, ‘merchandise’). In Middle English the term was applied particularly to someone who dealt in textiles, especially the more costly and luxurious fabrics such as silks, satin, and velvet.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Sirideáin ‘descendant of Sirideán’, a personal name of uncertain origin, possibly akin to sirim ‘to seek’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ruairc ‘descendant of Ruarc’, Old Gaelic Ruadhrac, a personal name from Norse Hrothrekr (see Roderick). This is the name of chieftain family in counties Leitrim and Cavan.

Irish: reduced form of O’Hennessy, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAonghusa ‘descendant of Aonghus’ (see Angus, and compare McGinnis).

English: from Rol(l)ant, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements hrod ‘renown’ + land ‘land’, ‘territory’ (or + -nand ‘bold’, assimilated to -lant ‘land’). This was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as a result of the fame of Charlemagne’s warrior of this name, who was killed at Roncesvalles in ad 778. English: habitational name from places in Derbyshire and Sussex, so named from Old Norse rá ‘roebuck’ + lundr ‘wood’, ‘grove’. Variant of German and French Roland.

topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow, from Middle English mede ‘meadow’ (Old English m?d). metonymic occupational name for a brewer or seller of mead (Old English meodu), an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey.

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Murchadha (see McMorrow).

Scottish and English: from the personal name Stephen, variant spelling of Steven.

English: from the late Old English personal name Golding, in form a patronymic from Golda (see Gold 4). German: patronymic from a short form of a Germanic personal name formed with gold, guld ‘gold’, ‘bright’. Jewish (from Latvia and Lithuania): habitational name from Golding, the German and Yiddish name of the city of Kuldiga in Latvia.

English: occupational name, from an agent derivative of Middle English weven ‘to weave’ (Old English wefan). English: habitational name from a place on the Weaver river in Cheshire, now called Weaver Hall but recorded simply as Weuere in the 13th and 14th centuries. The river name is from Old English wefer(e) ‘winding stream’. Translated form of German Weber.

(Celtic) 1 Straight, Tall [Irish slatarra] 2 Strong, Robust [Irish slatra]

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Hoffmann ‘steward’. Dutch: occupational name for a farm laborer or a gardener, someone who worked at the hof, the manor farm.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. (1), 'of Stubbs,' a township in the parish of Adwick-le-Street, West Riding of Yorks, near Doncaster; (a) 'at the stubbs,' one who lived by some stump of a tree or stumps of trees. compare Styles, Briggs, Stocks, &c.

From the Biblical personal name Adam, which was borne, according to Genesis, by the first man. It is the generic Hebrew term for ‘man’, probably from Hebrew adama ‘earth’. Compare the classical Greek legend that Zeus fashioned the first human beings from earth. It was very popular as a personal name among non-Jews throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and the surname is found in one form or another in most of the countries of Europe. Jews, however, have never used this personal name, except in recent times under Polish and English influence. Among Scottish and Irish bearers it is sometimes a reduced form of McAdam.

English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish (of Norman origin): habitational name from Mortemer in Seine-Maritime, France, so called from Old French mort(e) ‘dead’ + mer ‘sea’ (Latin mare). The place name probably referred to a stagnant pond or partly drained swamp; there may also have been an allusion to the Biblical Dead Sea seen by crusaders. The Norman surname was taken to Ireland from England in the medieval period, where it has also been adopted by bearers of the Gaelic surnames Mac Muircheartaigh and ÓMuircheartaigh, commonly Anglicized as McMurty and Mortagh. Compare McMurdo.

Scottish: habitational name from Irving in Dumfries and Galloway region, which has the same origin as Irvine, with which it has become inextricably confused.

English (chiefly Lancashire): habitational name from Rigby in Lancashire, named with Old Norse hryggr ‘ridge’ + býr ‘farm’, ‘settlement’.

Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gobhann (Scottish) and Mac Gabhann (Irish) ‘son of the smith’.

English, Scottish, Scandinavian, North German, and Dutch: from the Germanic personal name Brando, a short form of various compound personal names containing the element brand ‘sword’ (a derivative of brinnan ‘to flash’), of which the best known is Hildebrand. There is place name evidence for Brant(a) as an Old English personal name; however, the Middle English personal name Brand was probably introduced to England from Old Norse; Brandr is a common Old Norse personal name. English: topographic name for someone who lived by a place where burning had occurred, from Old English brand, or a habitational name from a minor place named with this word, as for example The Brand in Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. German: variant of Brandt 1. Scandinavian: from the personal name Brand, Brant, from Old Norse Brandr (see 1). Swedish: ornamental name from brand ‘fire’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name or nickname from German Brant ‘fire’, ‘conflagration’.

English: from the Middle English and Old English personal name Bruning, originally a patronymic from the byname Brun (see Brown).

Scottish: see McPherson.

English: from the medieval female personal name Mariot, a pet form of Mary (see Marie).

Irish: from Gaelic Ó Ceallacháin ‘descendant of Ceallachán’, a diminutive of the personal name Ceallach, possibly meaning ‘lover of churches’, from ceall ‘church’, or (more likely) ‘bright-headed’, from cen ‘head’ + lach ‘light’. This name was borne by a 10th-century king of Munster, from whom many present-day bearers of the surname claim descent.

Italian: from the personal name Russo, southern variant ofnRosso, a nickname for someone with red hair, a red beard, or anruddy complexion. EC, kh

Southern English: patronymic from the personal name Robin.

English: habitational name from any of various places named Wheatley, for example in Essex, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and West Yorkshire, from Old English hw?te ‘wheat’ + leah ‘(woodland) clearing’.

English and Scottish: from the Old English personal name Byrht, a byform of Be(o)rht ‘bright’. Compare Bert. German: Middle High German burt ‘that which is due or proper’, therefore a nickname for someone who has fulfilled his obligations properly. Jewish (from Poland and Ukraine): variant of Burd.

Irish: variant of Cumming, with the addition of English patronymic -s.

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

Scottish form of Irish McCullough, long established as a family name in southwestern Scotland.

Irish and English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Neuville in Calvados or Néville in Seine-Maritime, both so called from Old French neu(f) ‘new’ (Latin novus) + ville ‘settlement’ (see Villa). Irish (Munster): assimilation of the Gaelic name Ó Niadh (see Nee) and sometimes of Ó Cnaimhín (see Nevin).

English: from a derivative of Lucas. This was (and is) the common vernacular form of the name, being the one by which the author of the fourth Gospel is known in English. English: habitational name for someone from Liège in Belgium (Dutch Luik). North German (Lüke): from a short form of Lüdeke; Luedecke.

Irish (especially northeastern Ulster): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAnnaigh ‘descendant of Annach’, a byname of uncertain meaning. English: from the medieval female personal name Hannah or Anna, ultimately from Hebrew Chana ‘He (God) has favored me’ (i.e. with a child). The name is borne in the Bible by the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1: 1–28), and there is a tradition (unsupported by Biblical evidence) that it was the name of the mother of the Virgin Mary; this St. Anne was a popular figure in medieval art and legend. Scottish: variant of Hannay. German: from a pet form of the personal name Hans.

Korean (Ch{ou}ng): there are three Chinese characters used to represent the Ch{ou}ng surname. The clans that use two of these characters are quite rare and are mostly found in Ch{ou}lla province; their origins are obscure. The more common of the three clans is the oldest and is widely distributed throughout the peninsula. Only the clans which use this more common character will be treated here. Some sources indicate that there are 215 separate Ch{ou}ng clans, but only 32 of them can be documented. The earliest and largest Ch{ou}ng clan began in 32 ad when Chibaekho, one of the six ruling elders of pre-Shilla Korea, received the surname of Ch{ou}ng from the Shilla King Yuri Isag{uu}m (ad 24–57). Ch{ou}ng is one of the most common Korean surnames. Chinese : variant of Zhuang. Chinese : Cantonese form of Zang 1. Chinese : variant of Zhong. Chinese : variant of Zhang 1. Chinese : variant of Zong.

English (mainly East Anglia): nickname for a pious and demure man, or an occupational name for someone who worked at a convent, from Middle English nunn ‘nun’ (Old English nunne, from Latin nonna, originally a respectful term of address for an elderly woman. The Latin word probably originated as a nursery term). German: from an Old High German personal name Nunno, said to be a nursery word.

Chinese : from an honorific title borne by a prince of the state of Zhao during the Warring States period (403–221 bc). He was awarded the title Noble Ma Fu after repeatedly distinguishing himself as a general, and subsequently, his descendants adopted part of the honorific title, Ma, as their surname. Korean: there are two Chinese characters for the surname Ma, only one of which is frequent enough to be treated here. Two clans use this character: the Mokch’on clan and the Changhung clan. The founding ancestor of the Korean Mokch’on Ma clan migrated to Korea from China during the Han Commanderies period (1st century bc). The Ma clans played fairly important roles in the formation of the pre-Shilla Paekche kingdom. The records are not consistent, but it seems that originally the Ma surname was Yong and that either the Koryo king T’aejo (941–943) or the Shilla king Kyongsun (927–935) changed the name to Ma. Cambodian: unexplained. Hawaiian: unexplained. Tongan: unexplained.

English: habitational name from any of the various places, in Devon, County Durham, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire, so named from Old English ruh ‘rough’, ‘overgrown’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.

in Wexford, an Anglicization of Gaelic Mac Caomhánach ‘son of Caomhán’ (see Kevin). MacLysaght says that this is a famous branch of the MacMurroughs. The name is said to have been acquired from the first Kavanagh having been fostered by a follower of St. Caomhán. Anglicization of Gaelic Mac an Mhanaigh ‘son of the monk’, from manach ‘monk’, a rare Mayo surname.

variant of Hill 1. patronymic from Hill 2.

English and French: from the Middle English, Old French personal name Salmon, Saumon, a reduced form of Salomon (see Solomon). Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Zalmen, derived via a German form from Hebrew Shelomo (see Solomon). Irish: part translation of Gaelic Ó Bradáin ‘descendant of Bradán’, a personal name, probably from bradach ‘spirited’, but written the same as a word meaning ‘salmon’; this name is also sometimes translated Fisher. The English surname is also present in Ireland (chiefly in counties Leix and Kilkenny).

Scottish and English: metonymic occupational name for a swineherd, from Middle English hog(ge) ‘swine’. Scottish and English: metonymic occupational name for a shepherd, from Middle English hogg ‘yearling sheep’. German (Högg): topographic name, a variant of Heck 2, found chiefly in Bavaria.

English: from Middle English pertriche ‘partridge’ (via Old French and Latin from Greek perdix), either a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of the bird or a nickname for someone with some fancied resemblance to it, or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a partridge. This surname has been established in Ireland since the 17th century. As an American family name, it has probably absorbed some cases of other European surnames with the same meaning, e.g. Italian Pernice.

English, Scottish, and Irish: variant of Neal.

English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, get the name from Old English hoh ‘ridge’, ‘spur’ (literally ‘heel’) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. Haughton in Nottinghamshire also has this origin, and may have contributed to the surname. A smaller group of Houghtons, with examples in Lancashire and South Yorkshire, have as their first element Old English halh ‘nook’, ‘recess’. In the case of isolated examples in Devon and East Yorkshire, the first elements appear to be unattested Old English personal names or bynames, of which the forms approximate to Huhha and Hofa respectively, but the meanings are unknown.

Danish and Norwegian: patronymic from the personal name Lars, Scandinavian equivalent of Lawrence.

English: habitational name from any of various places called Blackburn, but especially the one in Lancashire, so named with Old English blæc ‘dark’ + burna ‘stream’. The surname is mainly found in northern England.

Irish: reduced form of O’Hayden, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÉideáin and Ó hÉidín ‘descendant of Éideán’ or ‘descendant of Éidín’, personal names apparently from a diminutive of éideadh ‘clothes’, ‘armor’. There was also a Norman family bearing the English name (see 2 below), living in County Wexford. English: habitational name from any of various places called Hayden or Haydon. The three examples of Haydon in Northumberland are named from Old English heg ‘hay’ + denu ‘valley’. Others, for example in Dorset, Hertfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire, get the name from Old English heg ‘hay’ (or perhaps hege ‘hedge’ or (ge)hæg ‘enclosure’) + dun ‘hill’. Jewish: see Heiden.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places throughout England called Kingston or Kingstone. Almost all of them, regardless of the distinction in spelling, were originally named in Old English as cyningestun ‘the king’s settlement’, i.e. royal manor. However, Kingston upon Soar in Nottinghamshire is named as ‘royal stone’, while Kingstone in Somerset is ‘king’s stone’; both probably being named for some local monument.

English and Irish: from a pet form of the medieval male personal name Stace, a reduced vernacular form of Eustace.

English and Irish: variant of Neville. English: variant of Noel. Irish (north County Kildare): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Tnúthghail ‘descendant of Tnúthgal’, a personal name composed of the elements tnúth ‘desire’, ‘envy’ + gal ‘valor’.

English: patronymic from the Old Norse personal name Viðarr, composed of the elements víðr ‘wide’ + ar ‘warrior’.

English and Irish (of Norman origin), and northern French: habitational name from any of several places in northern France, such as Nogent-sur-Oise, named with Latin Novientum, apparently an altered form of a Gaulish name meaning ‘new settlement’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cruadhlaoich ‘descendant of Cruadhlaoch’, a personal name composed of the elements cruadh ‘hardy’ + laoch ‘hero’. English: variant spelling of Crawley.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Airchinnigh ‘son of the overseer (of church lands)’, Gaelic airchinneach, often Anglicized as erenagh. The surname arose in different places, notably Munster and Roscommon.

Scottish, northern Irish, and English: topographic name for someone who lived by a wood, from Old French bois ‘wood’. English: patronymic from the Middle English nickname boy ‘lad’, ‘servant’, or possibly from an Old English personal name Boia, of uncertain origin. Examples such as Aluuinus Boi (Domesday Book) and Ivo le Boye (Lincolnshire 1232) support the view that it was a byname or even an occupational name; examples such as Stephanus filius Boie (Northumbria 1202) suggest that it was in use as a personal name in the Middle English period. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Buadhaigh (see Bogue). Anglicized spelling of French Bois, cognate with 1.

English and Irish: nickname for a courageous, arrogant, or foolhardy person, or one quickly moved to anger, from Middle English modie ‘impetuous’, ‘haughty’, ‘angry’ (Old English modig ‘brave’, ‘proud’, from mod ‘spirit’, ‘mind’, ‘courage’). This English name has been established in Ireland since the late 13th century.

English, Scottish, and French: nickname for someone of a cheerful or attractive disposition, from Middle English, Old French joli(f) ‘merry’, ‘happy’.

Scottish and Irish: reduced form of McDonald.

Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conraoi ‘descendant of Cú Raoi’, a name meaning ‘hound of the plain’, which was stressed on the final syllable. Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conaire ‘descendant of Conaire’, a byname meaning ‘keeper of the hound’ (an agent derivative of cú ‘hound’).

Danish and Norwegian: patronymic from the personal name Anders, a vernacular form of Andreas.

English: topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream, Old English burna, burne ‘spring’, ‘stream’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example Bourn in Cambridgeshire or Bourne in Lincolnshire. This word was replaced as the general word for a stream in southern dialects by Old English broc (see Brook) and came to be restricted in meaning to a stream flowing only intermittently, especially in winter.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Tóibín, which is itself a reduced Gaelicized version of a Norman habitational name from Saint-Aubin in Brittany (so called from the dedication of its church to St. Albin). English: from a pet form of the personal name Tobias or Toby. Dutch: patronymic from Tobias.

Scottish: see McLeod.

Scottish and northern English: habitational name from a place innthe Scottish Borders near Roxburgh, probably named with an earlynBritish river name of unknown etymology + Old English fordn‘ford’. There is another place of the same name in North Yorkshire,nnamed with hryðer ‘cattle’ + Old English ford ‘ford’,nbut this does not seem to have contributed to the surname. pwh,nWN

Chinese : variant of Zhang 1. Chinese : variant of Zhang 2. Chinese : variant of Jiang.

Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cormaic ‘son of Cormac’, a personal name composed of the elements corb ‘raven’ + mac ‘son’.

English: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Hertfordshire, Kent, and Somerset, so named from Old English str?t ‘paved highway’, ‘Roman road’ (Latin strata (via)). In the Middle Ages the word at first denoted a Roman road but later also came to denote the main street in a town or village, and so the surname may also have been a topographic name for someone who lived on a main street. Jewish: Americanized form of the Sephardic surname Chetrit, of uncertain origin. Americanized form of Ashkenazic Jewish Strasser and a number of other similar surnames.

English: patronymic from the personal name Tomlin.

Irish: variant spelling of O’Keefe.

Scottish and Irish (Ulster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Mhoire (Scots), Mac Giolla Mhuire (Irish), patronymics from personal names meaning ‘servant of (the Virgin) Mary’. Irish: in Armagh, reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhura ‘servant of St. Mura (of Fahan, Donegal)’ or, in Sligo, of Mac Giolla Mhir ‘son of the spirited lad’.

English: variant of Hargrave.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cianáin ‘son of Cianán’, a personal name from a diminutive of cian ‘distant’, ‘long’, or possibly of Mac Fhinghin ‘fair offspring’.

Danish, Norwegian (Jørgensen), and North German (Jörgensen): patronymic from the personal name Jörgen, a vernacular form of Greek Georgios (see George).

Scottish: from a short form of the personal name Gregory.

English (northern border counties): habitational name from a place so named in Northumberland, possibly from Old English heahdeor ‘stag’, ‘deer’ or h?ddre ‘heather’ + -ing ‘characterized by’ + tun ‘farmstead’, ‘settlement’. This surname has been established in Ireland since the 16th century.

Scottish, English and French: from Old French, Middle English lion (Latin leo, genitive leonis), hence a nickname for a fierce or brave warrior, or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a lion. Scottish, English, French, and Dutch: habitational name from the city of Lyon in south central France (English name: Lyons), or from the smaller Lyons-la-Forêt in Eure, Normandy. The name of the former is recorded in the 1st century bc as Lugdunum and is from the name of a Celtic god Lug (or this as a personal name, from a word meaning ‘brightness’) + dunon ‘hill fort’. Scottish and English: from the name Leo(n) (from Latin leo ‘lion’, or the cognate Greek leon), borne by numerous early martyrs and thirteen popes. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laighin (see Lane 2).

English (mainly southern): variant spelling of Thorn 1. Swedish: ornamental name from thorn, an ornamental spelling of torn ‘thorn bush’.

English (Devon): from the Middle English personal name Edwy, Old English Eadwig, composed of the elements ead ‘prosperity’, ‘fortune’ + wig ‘war’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by the gates of a medieval walled town. The Middle English singular gate is from the Old English plural, gatu, of geat ‘gate’ (see Yates). Since medieval gates were normally arranged in pairs, fastened in the center, the Old English plural came to function as a singular, and a new Middle English plural ending in -s was formed. In some cases the name may refer specifically to the Sussex place Eastergate (i.e. ‘eastern gate’), known also as Gates in the 13th and 14th centuries, when surnames were being acquired. Americanized spelling of German Götz (see Goetz). Translated form of French Barrière (see Barriere).

Scottish: from a Scottish vernacular form of Nicholas.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of either of two Gaelic names, Ó Duibhín ‘descendant of Duibhín’, a byname meaning ‘little black one’, or Ó Daimhín ‘descendant of Daimhín’, a byname meaning ‘fawn’, ‘little stag’. These are attenuated versions of Ó Dubháin and Ó Damháin, and are the phonetic origin of Anglicizations with an internal v (as opposed to w, as in Dewan, or monosyllabic forms with an o or u) (see Doane). English and French: nickname, of literal or ironic application, from Middle English, Old French devin, divin ‘excellent’, ‘perfect’ (Latin divinus ‘divine’).

English (also present in Ireland): from Middle English peni, peny ‘penny’, applied as a nickname, possibly for a person of some substance or for a tenant who paid a rent of one penny. This was the common Germanic unit of value when money was still an unusual phenomenon. It was the only unit of coinage in England until the early 14th century, when the groat and the gold noble were introduced, and was a silver coin of considerable value. There is some evidence that the word was used in Old English times as a byname.

English: habitational name from a place in Lancashire named Beesley, perhaps from Old English beos ‘bent grass’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Wikke (see Wick 2).

English: from the Old French personal name Humfrey, introduced to Britain by the Normans. This is composed of the Germanic elements hun ‘bear cub’ + frid, fred ‘peace’. It was borne by a 9th-century saint, bishop of Therouanne, who had a certain following in England among Norman settlers.

English (chiefly Kent): from Middle English heved ‘head’, applied as a nickname for someone with some peculiarity or disproportion of the head, or a topographic name for someone who lived on a hill or at the head of a stream or valley. This surname has long been established in Ireland.

Scottish and English: from a short form of Richard. Although found in every part of Britain, the form Dick is especially common in Scotland, and it was from there, in the 17th century, that the surname was taken to northern Ireland. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from Middle High German dic(ke) ‘thick’, ‘strong’, ‘stout’, or in the case of the Jewish name from modern German dick ‘fat’ or Yiddish dik. German: topographic name for someone who lived by a thicket or patch of thick undergrowth, from Middle High German dicke, a special use of dic(ke) ‘thick’. North German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name Theodicho, formed with theud ‘people’, ‘race’.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in southern and central England named with the Old English elements ac ‘oak’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.

English: from the Anglo-Norman French personal name Auvery, a Norman form of Alfred. It could also be from a variant of the Anglo-Norman French personal name Aubri (see Aubrey). At least in the case of the original Puritan settlers in New England, there has been some confusion with Averill.

Irish and Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fearghuis or Ó Fearghasa ‘descendant of Fearghus’, or from the Scottish-Gaelic form of this personal name, Fearghus (see Fergus). English: variant of Farrar.

Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Duibh (‘descendant of Dubh’), Mac Giolla Duibh (‘son of the servant of Dubh’), or a short form of Duffin 2 (County Wexford), MacElduff (County Tyrone; see Kilduff), Mac Duibh, and Duffy, all of which are formed from personal names containing the element dubh ‘dark’, ‘black’ (widely used as a nickname or byname for a dark-haired man or man of dark temperament and as an element of personal names).

Chinese : variant of Liang.

Cornish and Welsh: descriptive nickname meaning ‘bald’, from Cornish moyl, Welsh moel.

Scottish: variant of Halkett, which is probably a habitational name from the lands of Halkhead in Renfrewshire, named with Middle English hauk, halk ‘hawk’ + wude ‘wood’. English (mainly central England): from a pet form of the medieval personal name Hack, Hake (see Hake). English: from Middle English haket, a kind of fish, hence perhaps a nickname for someone supposed to resemble such a fish, or a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller. Irish: when it is not the English name, this may also be an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Eachaidh (see Caughey, McGaffey).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAllmhuráin ‘descendant of Allmhurán’ (see Halloran).

Scottish: variant of Gillis or McGillis.

Irish: shortened form of O’Hanley, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÁinle ‘descendant of Áinle’, a personal name meaning ‘champion’. This is the name of a ruling family in Connacht; it is now common in southern Ireland. English: habitational name from any of various places, such as Handley in Cheshire, Derbyshire. Northamptonshire, and Dorset and Hanley in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, all from Old English hean, the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of heah ‘high’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’, or from Handley Farm in Clayhanger, Devon, which is named from Old English han ‘(boundary) stone’ + leah.

English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Simón), Czech and Slovak (Šimon), Slovenian, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name, Hebrew Shim‘on, which is probably derived from the verb sham‘a ‘to hearken’. In the Vulgate and in many vernacular versions of the Old Testament, this is usually rendered Simeon. In the Greek New Testament, however, the name occurs as Simon, as a result of assimilation to the pre-existing Greek byname Simon (from simos ‘snub-nosed’). Both Simon and Simeon were in use as personal names in western Europe from the Middle Ages onward. In Christendom the former was always more popular, at least in part because of its associations with the apostle Simon Peter, the brother of Andrew. In Britain there was also confusion from an early date with Anglo-Scandinavian forms of Sigmund (see Siegmund), a name whose popularity was reinforced at the Conquest by the Norman form Simund.

English: occupational name for a worker in gold, a compound of Old English gold ‘gold’ + smið ‘smith’. In North America it is very often an English translation of German or Jewish Goldschmidt.

English: habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, probably named in Old English as ‘enclosed wood’, from loc(a) ‘enclosure’ (see Lock) + wudu ‘wood’. It seems likely that all present-day bearers of the name descend from a single family which originated in this place. There is another place of the same name in Cleveland, first recorded in 1273 as Locwyt, from Old English loc(a) + Old Norse viðr ‘wood’, ‘brake’, but it is not clear whether it has given rise to a surname.

from the Old Norse byname Krókr meaning ‘crook’, ‘bend’, originally possibly bestowed on a cripple or hunchback or a devious schemer, but in early medieval England used as a personal name. from Old Norse krókr ‘hook’, ‘bend’, borrowed into Middle English as a vocabulary word and applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker, seller, or user of hooks or a topographic name for someone who lived by a bend in a river or road. In some instances the surname may have arisen as a habitational name from places in Cumbria and Durham named Crook from this word.

Irish: reduced form of O’Regan, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ríagáin ‘descendant of Riagán’, a personal name of uncertain origin, perhaps akin to ríodhgach ‘impulsive’, ‘furious’. See also Ryan.

German (also Wägner) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a carter or cartwright, from an agent derivative of Middle High German wagen ‘cart’, ‘wagon’, German Wagen. The German surname is also well established in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, eastern Europe, and elsewhere as well as in German-speaking countries.

English: from a Middle English personal name, Eldric, a variant of Aldrich.

English and Scottish: nickname for a wise man, from Wise + man ‘man’. Americanized spelling of German Weismann.

Vietnamese (Tru'o'ng): unexplained.

English: topographic name for someone living near a wall (in particular, the wall of a city), or an occupational name for a mason who built walls (see Wall). English: topographic name for someone who lived by a prominent wall, for example a Roman wall or the wall of a walled city (see Wall 2). English: occupational name for someone who boiled sea water to extract the salt, from an agent derivative of Middle English well(en) ‘to boil’. English: nickname for a good-humored person, Anglo-Norman French wall(i)er (an agent derivative of Old French galer ‘to make merry’, of Germanic origin). South German: nickname from Middle High German wallære ‘pilgrim’.

Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cearmada ‘descendant of Cearmaid’, a personal name of uncertain origin.

Scottish: see McFarlane.

Irish (mainly County Donegal) and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Brighde, from earlier Mac Giolla Bhrighde (Irish), Mac Gille Brighde (Scottish) ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Brighid’. Compare Kilbride.

Italian: variant spelling of Farruggia.

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

Irish: Americanized form of Ó Muirgheasa ‘descendant of Muirgheas’, a personal name apparently derived from muir ‘sea’ + geas ‘taboo’, ‘prohibition’. However, according to MacLysaght, this surname is also derived from the Norman name de Marisco.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for a steward on a farm or estate, from German hof(f) ‘manorfarm’, ‘courtyard’ + Mann ‘man’. Originally, this was a status name for a farmer who owned his own land as opposed to holding it by rent or feudal obligation, but the name soon came to denote the manager or steward of a manor farm, in which sense it is extremely frequent throughout central and eastern Europe; also among Jews, since many Jews held managerial positions on non-Jewish estates. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands.

Jewish (American): Americanized form of Blumfeld, an ornamental compound of Yiddish blum ‘flower’ + feld ‘field’. English: variant of the Norman habitational name Blundeville, from Blonville-sur-Mer in Calvados, France. The first element is probably an Old Norse personal name; the second is Old French ville ‘settlement’. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England, the endings -field and -ville were often used interchangeably; one branch of the Blundeville family continued using the -ville spelling while another chose Blom(e)field or Bloomfield.

English: from the Old English byname Draca, meaning ‘snake’ or ‘dragon’, Middle English Drake, or sometimes from the Old Norse cognate Draki. Both are common bynames and, less frequently, personal names. Both the Old English and the Old Norse forms are from Latin draco ‘snake’, ‘monster’ (see Dragon). English and Dutch: from Middle English drake, Middle Dutch drake ‘male duck’ (from Middle Low German andrake), hence a nickname for someone with some fancied resemblance to a drake, or perhaps a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a drake. North German: nickname from Low German drake ‘dragon’ (see Drach 1).

Scottish and Irish: variant spelling of Gilmore.

English and French: from a Germanic personal name, Emaurri, composed of the elements amja ‘busy’, ‘industrious’ + ric ‘power’. The name was introduced into England from France by the Normans. There has been some confusion with Amory.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the slade,' from residence thereby, a small strip of green in a woodland.'It had been better of William a Trent.To have been abed with sorrowe.Than to be that day in the greenwood slade.

English, Scottish, German, Dutch, etc.: from the personal name Peter (Greek Petros, from petra ‘rock’, ‘stone’). The name was popular throughout Christian Europe in the Middle Ages, having been bestowed by Christ as a byname on the apostle Simon bar Jonah, the brother of Andrew. The name was chosen by Christ for its symbolic significance (John 1:42, Matt. 16:18); St. Peter is regarded as the founding head of the Christian Church in view of Christ’s saying, ‘Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church’. In Christian Germany in the early Middle Ages this was the most frequent personal name of non-Germanic origin until the 14th century. This surname has also absorbed many cognates in other languages, for example Czech Petr, Hungarian Péter. It has also been adopted as a surname by Ashkenazic Jews.

English: habitational name from a place in Nottinghamshire. The early forms, from Domesday Book to the early 13th century, show the first element uniformly as Mam-, and it is therefore likely that this was a British hill-name meaning ‘breast’ (compare Manchester), with the later addition of Old English feld ‘pasture’, ‘open country’ (see Field) as the second element. The surname is now widespread throughout Midland and southern England and is also common in Ireland. Irish: when not an importation of 1, this is an altered form of the Norman name Manville (see Mandeville). Americanized form of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Mansfeld, a habitational name for someone from a place so called in Saxony.

German: occupational name or status name for an arbiter or judge, Middle High German rihtære (from rihten ‘to make right’). The term was used in the Middle Ages mostly to denote a part-time legal official. Such communal conciliators held a position of considerable esteem in rural communities; in eastern Germany the term came to denote a village headman, which was often a hereditary office. It is in this region that the surname is most frequent. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a rabbinic judge, from modern German Richter ‘judge’ (see 1 above). See also Dayan.

German (Krüger) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): see Krueger.

Scottish and northern Irish: from a short form of the personal name Robert.

English: from a short form of the personal name Gregory.

English (chiefly southern Yorkshire and East Midlands): regional name from the district in southern Yorkshire around Sheffield and Ecclesfield called Hallam, or a habitational name from a place of this name in Derbyshire. The Derbyshire name is from Old English halum, dative plural of halh ‘nook’, ‘recess’ (see Hale 1). The Yorkshire district, sometimes called Hallamshire, is possibly of the same derivation or alternatively from hallum, dative plural of Old English hall ‘stone’, ‘rock’, Old Norse hallr.

Irish and Scottish: variant spelling of McNeil.

Scottish: habitational name from Carmichael in Lanarkshire, from British caer ‘fort’ + the personal name Michael.

English (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from any of the five places in Normandy or several others elsewhere in France so named. The place name comes from Old French beu, bel ‘fair’, ‘lovely’ + mont ‘hill’. There are also places in England so named under Norman influence (in Cumberland, Lancashire, and Essex, the last of which changed its name in the 12th century from Fulepet ‘foul pit’ to Bealmont ‘beautiful hill’); these may also have given rise to cases of the surname. The surname is now widespread throughout England, but most common in Yorkshire.

Spanish (Fernández): patronymic from the personal name Fernando. The surname (and to a lesser extent the variant Hernandez) has also been established in southern Italy, mainly in Naples and Palermo, since the period of Spanish dominance there, and as a result of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century, many of whom moved to Italy.

English: habitational name from any of various places in England so named, especially the one in Northumberland, which, like that in Cheshire, is derived from Old English geryd ‘channel’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. Those in Essex and Kent appear in Domesday Book as Retleia and Redlege respectively, and get their names from Old English hreod ‘reed’ + leah. Possibly also an altered spelling of German Riedel or Riedler (see Ridler).

English: patronymic from Dodd 1. Black suggests that the name in Scotland may sometimes be derived from a place in Berwickshire called Doddis.

English: patronymic from the nickname Cousin.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, in northern France as well as in England. These are named with the Old French elements riche ‘rich’, ‘splendid’ + mont ‘hill’. Richmond in North Yorkshire was named after a Richmont in France immediately after the Norman Conquest, and in many if not most cases the English surname can de derived from this place. Richmond in southwest London received this name only in the reign of Henry VII, in honor of the king, who had been Earl of Richmond until he came to the throne, and is unlikely to be the source of this surname.

English, German, and French: from the personal name Christian, a vernacular form of Latin Christianus ‘follower of Christ’ (see Christ). This personal name was introduced into England following the Norman conquest, especially by Breton settlers. It was also used in the same form as a female name.

Irish: variant spelling of Mahoney.

Scottish: from the Gaelic personal name Maol-Choluim ‘devotee of (Saint) Columba’ (see Colomb). Irish (Ulster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maolcholuim ‘descendant of the devotee of St. Columba’ (Irish Colum Cille, literally ‘dove of the church’). In Ireland the personal name is often spelled Colm; in Scotland it has become Calum.

English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Ode (see Ott).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Corcráin ‘descendant of Corcrán’, a diminutive of the personal name Corcra (see Corkery).

Scottish and (less frequently) Irish: from the Gaelic personal name Aonghus, said to be composed of Celtic aon ‘one’ + gus ‘choice’. This was borne by an Irish god and a famous 8th-century Pictish king. It is also the name of a county on Tayside (named after him); in some cases the surname may be a regional name from this county.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the Scottish Borders and in Cheshire, Lancashire, Lothian, Northumberland, and North and West Yorkshire, called Harwood or Harewood from Old English har ‘gray’ or hara ‘hare’ + wudu ‘wood’. This name has also become established in Ireland.

English: habitational name from any of numerous places named Clifton, from Old English clif ‘slope’ (see Cliff) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

English (southwest): occupational name for a roofer (tiler or thatcher), from an agent derivative of Middle English hele(n) ‘to cover’ (Old English helian). French: from the personal name Hillier (see Hillary).

English: variant of Garrett.

English: from Middle English wild ‘wild’, ‘uncontrolled’ (Old English wilde), hence a nickname for a man of violent and undisciplined character, or a topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of overgrown uncultivated land. English: habitational name from a place named Wyld, as for example in Berkshire and Dorset, both named from Old English wil ‘trap’, ‘snare’. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): cognate of 1, from Middle High German wilde, wilt, German wild ‘wild’, also used in the sense ‘strange’, ‘foreign’, and therefore in some cases a nickname for an incomer.

English: patronymic for the son of a vicar or, perhaps in most cases, an occupational name for the servant of a vicar (see Vicker). In many cases it may represent an elliptical form of a topographic name. Compare Parsons.

English (of Norman origin) and French: from the Continental Germanic personal name Mainard, composed of the elements magin ‘strength’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

English: habitational name from any of various places so called. Most, including those in Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, and West Yorkshire, are named from Old English wulf ‘wolf’ or perhaps the personal name or byname Wulf (see Wolf) + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. One example in Somerset, however, has as its first element Middle English wolle, wulle ‘spring’, ‘stream’ (see Wool 2).

English and Scottish: derogatory nickname from a derivative of bald ‘bald-headed’ (see Bald 2).

English and Irish: from the common Norman personal name, T(h)erry (Old French Thierri), composed of the unattested Germanic element þeudo- ‘people’, ‘race’ + ric ‘power’. Theodoric was the name of the Ostrogothic leader (c. 454–526) who invaded Italy in 488 and established his capital at Ravenna in 493. His name was often taken as a derivative of Greek Theodoros (see Theodore). There was an Anglo-Norman family of this name in County Cork. Irish: Anglicized (‘translated’) form of Gaelic Mac Toirdhealbhaigh (see Turley). Southern French: occupational name for a potter, from Occitan terrin ‘earthenware vase’ (a diminutive of terre ‘earth’, Latin terra).

English and Scottish: topographic name from Old English (ge)fyrhþe ‘woodland’ or ‘scrubland on the edge of a forest’. Scottish: habitational name from Firth in Orkney. Welsh: topographic name from Welsh ffrith, ffridd ‘barren land’, ‘mountain pasture’ (a borrowing of the Old English word mentioned in 1).

Irish: either a shortened form of McBreen or an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Braoin ‘descendant of Braon’, a byname meaning ‘moisture’, ‘drop’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure of some sort, such as a courtyard set back from the main street or a farmyard, from Middle English clos(e) (Old French clos, from Late Latin clausum, past participle of claudere ‘to close’). English: from Middle English clos(e) ‘secret’, applied as a nickname for a reserved or secretive person. Dutch: variant of Claeys. Altered spelling of German Klose.

Irish and Scottish: reduced form of McNeil or variant of Neill.

Scottish: probably from Middle English beverage ‘drink’ (Old French bevrage, from beivre ‘to drink’). The term was used in particular of a drink bought by a purchaser to seal a bargain, and the surname may have been acquired as a nickname in this context. Reaney adduces evidence that suggests that the nickname may have been bestowed on a man who made a practice of getting free drinks by entering into bargains which he did not keep.