1000 Most Common Last Names in Estonia

German and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): habitational name from any of various places called Saar, in particular one in western Germany on the French border, which takes its name from the river on which it stands. This is found in Latin sources as Saravus, and ultimately goes back to an Indo-European root, ser-, sar- ‘flow’. Dutch: from the Biblical female personal name Sara. Jewish: from Hebrew saar ‘storm’, a translation of German Sturm, perhaps a nickname or ornamental name.

Swedish (also common in Finland): soldier’s name from kask ‘helmet’.

North German: from Middle Low German koppel ‘enclosed common pasture’, hence a topographic name for someone living near such pasture, or possibly a status name for a commoner, i.e. someone who had the right to use such land for his livestock. German: from the Silesian dialect word Köppel ‘head’, a nickname for someone with a visible deformity or peculiarity of the head. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name kopl, a pet form of Jakob (see Jacob).

Finnish: from oja ‘ditch’, a habitational name from a farm so named for its situation. This name occurs chiefly in western Finland and can be traced back to the 15th century. In America, it may also be an abbreviation of Ojala.

Russian, Belorussian, and Bulgarian: patronymic from the personal name Ivan.

Greek: see Callas. Estonian (Kállass): topographic name for someone living by the shore of the sea or a lake. Polish: of uncertain origin; possibly a topographic name from Old Polish kal ‘muddy place’.

unflattering nickname from Middle High German lappe ‘coxcomb’, ‘puppy’ (modern German Laffe). habitational name from a place so named near Neuss in the Rhineland.

French: topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous laurel tree, Old French laur (Latin laurus). French: from a personal name of the same etymology, borne by various minor early saints, including a hermit, a martyr, and an abbot. German: variant of Lauer.

Finnish: topographic or ornamental name from kivi ‘stone’, ‘rock’. As a topographic name this dates back to the 16th century; it was also adopted during the name conversion movement in the 19th and early 20th centuries by Finns with Swedish surnames, especially those formed with Swedish sten ‘stone’, such as Stenvall, Stenroos, and Stenberg. Kivi is sometimes a shortened form of various other Finnish names formed with this word.

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.

from a short form of Kullmann. from a short form of a Germanic personal named based on a cognate of Old Norse kollir ‘helmet’.

English: from the Middle English personal name Rand(e), a short form of any of the various Germanic compound personal names with the first element rand ‘(shield) rim’, as for example Randolph. English: topographic name for someone who lived on the margin of a settlement or on the bank of a river (from Old English rand ‘rim’, used in a topographical sense), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Rand in Lincolnshire and Rand Grange in North Yorkshire. German: from a short form of any of the various compound names formed with rand- ‘rim’. Compare 1. German: topographic name from Middle High German, Middle Low German rand, rant ‘edge’, ‘rim’.

Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: variant of Sachs.

Dutch (also de Roos) and Swiss German: habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a rose. Dutch (also de Roos): metonymic occupational name for someone who grew roses, from roos ‘rose’. Dutch: from the female personal name Rosa (Latin rosa ‘rose’). Dutch: nickname from roos ‘erysipelas’, an infection which causes reddening of the skin and scalp, applied presumably to someone with a ruddy complexion. Swiss German: from a personal name formed with hrod ‘renown’. Swedish and Danish (of German origin): as 1. Swedish: variant of Ros. English and Scottish: variant of Ross 2.

German: variant of Paasch.

Eastern German: habitational name of Slavic origin, from a town so named in Saxony, from Slavic laz ‘uncultivated land’, ‘clearing’. North German (Hamburg): possibly a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman, from Middle Low German las ‘salmon’ (see Lax 1).

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).

German: from a medieval personal name Palmatius, borne by a saint who died in 286. Northwest German: topographic name from Middle High German palme, balme ‘pussy willow’, the tree that traditionally provided the branches for Palm Sunday processions, or habitational name from a house distinguished by the sign of a palm tree. German: from a reduced and altered form of a personal name formed with Old High German bald ‘bold’, ‘brave’ as its first element. Swedish: ornamental name from palm ‘palm tree’. Dutch: nickname for someone who had been on pilgrimage to the Holy Land (see Palmer), from palm ‘palm tree’. Dutch (Van Palm): habitational name denoting someone from any of several minor places called Palm or Palme. Translation of French Lapalme.

English: patronymic from Tom, a short form of the personal name Thomas.

North German: topographic name based on an old word meaning ‘dirt’, or related to Middle High German lilje ‘lily’.

Respelling of Johansson or Johansen.

Scandinavian, English, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived by a lime tree, Middle English lind. As a Jewish and Swedish name, it is often of ornamental origin. South German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a gentle, tolerant man, from Middle High German lint, linde ‘gentle’, ‘mild’. North German and Danish: habitational name from any of various places named with Lind ‘lime tree’.

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.

Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Croatian: patronymic from the personal names Pyotr (Russian), Petr (Bulgarian) and Petar (Macedonian, Serbian, and Croatian) (see Peter). It may also be a reduced form of Slovenian Petrovic, patronymic from the personal name Peter.

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.

German, Dutch, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a short form of the Germanic personal name Heinrich (see Henry 1).

German (Käse): metonymic occupational name for a cheese maker or cheese merchant, from Middle High German kæse ‘cheese’. German: topographic name from Rhineland dialect Kas ‘thicket of young oak trees’. German: from an unexplained medieval personal name, Cazo. Slovenian (Kaše): nickname for a very small man, from the dialect word keše ‘dwarf’. Japanese: written with characters meaning ‘add’ and ‘strait’. This name is found mostly in the Tokyo area.

Belgian and Dutch (Van der Valk): habitational name for someone from any of the places called Valk, in the provinces of Brabant, Antwerp, and East Flanders.

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

Russian and Jewish (from Belarus): patronymic form of an occupational name meaning ‘smith’ in Russian.

Dutch and North German: topographic name for someone living near a hollow or gully, or (in Dutch) a pool. North German: variant of Kalk.