1000 Most Common Last Names in DR Congo

Mande is a surname of the Lozi tribe, meaning: a term associated with the death of the King.

Polish: nickname from a derivative of kunda ‘marten’. Polish: from a pet form of the personal name Konrad. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Kunde. Indian (Gujarat): Hindu (Lohana) name of unknown meaning.

Musafiri is a Swahili name given to a child born during a journey (safari)

Indian (Andhra Pradesh): Hindu (Brahman) name based on the name of a subgroup of Brahmans. Czech and Slovak: from a derivative of the female personal name Magdalena (see Maudlin).

Probably an Americanized form of German Bopp.

(northern): variant of Thwaites, for example from Twit in Lincolnshire. nickname from the twite, a moorland finch, or perhaps a metonymic occupational name for someone who sold or kept them as songbirds.

Indian (Gujarat): Muslim name based on the name of a Muslim community in Gujarat. It is believed to be a derivative of Sanskrit vyavahara ‘trade’. However, only one subgroup of the Boras is engaged in trade. Indian (Assam): Hindu name of unknown meaning. Romanian: from a feminine form of Boro, a short form of the personal name Boris. Polish: from a pet form of the personal names Borzyslaw or Bolebor. Hungarian: variant of Bara, a short form of the personal name Barabás, Hungarian form of Barnaby.

Italian: nickname from lóngo ‘tall’, ‘lanky’, a dialect variant of lungo (from Latin longus). In some cases the surname may be Spanish or Portuguese, of the same derivation and meaning.

Japanese: ‘miscanthus reed’; rare as a surname in Japan. In America the name may be the result of shortening any of several other names beginning with kaya, such as Kayashima, none of which is common by itself. Turkish and Greek: from a personal name based on Turkish kaya ‘rock’, or nickname for a tough or obstinate person.

Muslim: adjectival derivative of Sayed.

Japanese: from a common place name throughout Japan meaning ‘divine rice paddy’; also pronounced Kamita and Koda. The more prominent families of this name are descended either from the notorious 10th-century rebel Taira no Masakado, or from the Minamoto clan through the Matsuura family. Indian (Panjab): Sikh name based on the name of a Jat clan. The word k??n?da means ‘thorn’ in Panjabi. Czech: nickname from dialect kandat ‘prattler’, ‘chatterer’.

Portuguese and Galician: nickname for a mild and inoffensive individual, from pombo ‘dove’.

Katende is a surname of the Senga tribe, meaning: heel.

Spanish (of Basque origin): topographic name from Basque baso ‘wood’, ‘forest’. Catalan: variant spelling of Bassa, a topographic name from Catalan bassa ‘pool’, ‘pond’. Hungarian: from the old secular personal name Basa, or from Bazsa, a pet form of the ecclesiastical name Bazsil, from Greek Basileios (see Basil). In some cases the Hungarian family name could be a derivative of the Turkish basa (see Basha), probably as a nickname for a self-important person or someone who had dealings with the Turkish authorities or occupying forces. Polish: metonymic occupational name for a musician, from basa, dialect form of basy ‘musical instrument’. Balkan (Muslim): variant of Turkish Pasha.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Kamen. German: topographic name for someone who lived at a house with a stove, Middle High German kamin, kemin ‘chimney’, ‘fireplace’, ‘stove’ (Latin caminus). German: probably a metonymic occupational name for a spice dealer, from Middle Low German kamin ‘caraway’.

Nsamba is a surname of the Bemba tribe, meaning: monitor lizard.

Katumba is a surname of the Nsenga tribe, meaning: seedling.

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name Musa (the Biblical Moses). The Qur’an says (19:51): ‘He was specially chosen, and he was a Messenger and a Prophet.’ Southern Italian: habitational name from a place called Musa, particularly the one in Melito di Porto Salvo in Reggio Calabria, and the one in Nissorìa in Enna province, Sicily.

Spanish (María), Italian, Portuguese, and Hungarian (Mária): from the female personal name, Latin Maria, which arose as a back-formation from the early Christian female name Mariam. This was mistaken for an accusative case, with the usual Latin feminine accusative ending -am, but in fact it is an Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Miryam (see Marie).

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 Dutch: variant of Mock.

Portuguese and Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places in Portugal and Spain named Mata, from mata ‘wood’, ‘forest’. Catalan: topographic name from mata ‘scrub’. Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal name Máté (see Matthew).

Arabic (mainly Lebanon and Syria): from the personal name ?Isa, Arabic form of Hebrew Yeshua, Greek Iesous (see Jesus). This name is born by both Christian and Muslim Arabs. In Islam ?Isa is a prophet, ‘a messenger of Allah and his word’ (Qur’an 4:171). In the Qur’an 19:30, he proclaims, ‘He (Allah) has given me the Book and established me as a Prophet.’

Probably an altered or variant spelling of Luce.

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.

Polish (also Kaleba): nickname from Polish dialect kaleba ‘scraggy old cow’.

Japanese (rare in Japan): the most usual rendering is ‘gold’; bearers are most likely descended from immigrants named Kim, from the ancient Korean Shilla kingdom. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): one of the many forms of Cohen. Polish (Kon): from kon ‘horse’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who bred or cared for horses or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a horse.

French and English: from the popular medieval female personal name, Latin Maria. This was the name of the mother of Christ in the New Testament, as well as several other New Testament figures. It derives from Aramaic Maryam (Biblical Hebrew Miryam), but the vernacular forms have been influenced by the Roman family name Marius (which is of uncertain origin). The Hebrew name is likewise of uncertain etymology, but perhaps means ‘wished-for child’, from an Egyptian root mrj with the addition of the Hebrew feminine diminutive suffix -am. St. Jerome understood it as a compound of mar ‘drop’ + yam ‘sea’, which he rendered as Latin stilla maris, later altered to stella maris ‘star of the sea’, whence the medieval Christian liturgical phrase. French (Marié): nickname for a man newly married, from the past participle of marier ‘to marry’.

Eastern German: from a Slavic pet form of the Germanic personal name Meinhardt. Greek (Mingas): nickname among Greeks of Aromanian origin, from Aromanian mincu, mingu ‘small child’.

French: from the personal name Jean, French form of John. English: variant of Jayne.

Italian: habitational name from any of various minor places named with Zol(l)a, from a dialect term for a mound or bank of earth, as for example Zola Predosa (Bologna) or Zolla in Monrupino (Trieste). Italian: from a reduced form of the personal name Anzola. Italian: from the old Venetian dialect word zola ‘female kid’.

Maneno is a Swahili name, meaning: Words. Properbly given to someone who talks alot

Czech, Slovak, and Polish: nickname for a fat man, from bula (Polish bula) ‘hard roll’, ‘large roll of wheaten bread’. As a Polish name it may also be from bula ‘bruise’. This name is also well established in German-speaking areas. Ukrainian: nickname from bulya ‘potato’. Spanish (Mexico, Argentina): unexplained.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic ?sali?h ‘pious’, ‘righteous’, ‘virtuous’ (see the Qur’an 26: 83). Saleh is the name of a messenger of Allah (see the Qur’an 7:75). This name is widespread throughout the Muslim world.

English: from Old French chea(u)nce ‘(good) fortune’ (a derivative of cheoir ‘to fall (out)’, Latin cadere), a nickname for an inveterate gambler, for someone considered fortunate or well favored, or perhaps for someone who had survived an accident by a remarkable piece of luck. Americanized form of German Tschantz or Schantz.

Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian: from Slavic and Hungarian bunda ‘fur coat’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a furrier or a nickname for someone who habitually wore a fur coat. Hispanic: unexplained.