1000 Most Common Last Names in Nigeria

Muslim: from the personal name Ibrahim, Arabic form of Abraham. In Islam, Ibrahim is identified as a prophet, the ancestor of all the Semitic peoples, both Hebrew and Arab, and the father of Isma?il (see Ismail) and Is?haq (see Ishak).

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.

Muslim: variant of Muhammad. This is the traditional English-language spelling. It is also common as a name adopted by Black Americans on conversion to Islam.

Muslim (Iranian and Indian subcontinent): from the Persian form of Arabic ?Uthman. Compare Osman.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic mu?hammad ‘praiseworthy’ (derived from the verb ?hamida ‘praise’). This is the name of the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (570–632). He began to receive spiritual revelations at the age of 40. The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, was revealed to him by the Angel Jibril (Gabriel). As a personal name, this name is extremely common throughout the Muslim world.

Muslim: variant of Muhammad.

Muslim: see Youssef.

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.

Adjective from the latin "bellus" - beautiful.Found in Galicia, Orense, and Leon. Names of villages near Oviedo and Teruel. Derived from latin "bellus" - beautiful, perfect.Galician name found throughout the Peninsula.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic hassan ‘beautifier’. The poet Hassan bin Sabit was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslim: variant spelling of Hasan. Irish (County Derry): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÓsáin ‘descendant of Ósán’, a personal name formed from a diminutive of os ‘deer’.

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.

Muslim: from an Arabic personal name, Idris. Idris is mentioned in the Qur’an as a prophet, and many legends are related of him in Arabic folklore and literature. Linguistically, his name corresponds to Hebrew Ezra, Greek Esdras, but the Muslim figure is not the same person as the Biblical prophet of this name. Some legends about him correspond more nearly to those about the Biblical Enoch. Idris ibn-Abdullah (died 793) was founder of the Idrisid dynasty which ruled Morocco from 789–926 ad.

Muslim: variant spelling of Ahmad.

English: nickname for someone born on a Sunday, from Middle English Sunday.

Arabic: variant of Issa. Japanese: written with characters meaning ‘that’ and ‘help’. The name is found mostly in the Ryukyu Islands.

Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name A?hmad ‘the most praised’, elative adjective from ?hamid (see Hamid). This is an epithet of the Prophet Muhammad. In the Qur’an (6:16) Jesus foretells the arrival of A?hmad (the Prophet Muhammad) in the words: ‘I have brought good news about a messenger who will come after me, whose name will be A?hmad’.

African: unexplained.

Variant spelling (mainly French and South Indian) of Emanuel, which was used in the Middle Ages by Christians as an alternative name for Christ. The name was also borne by a 3rd-century martyr. Among Christians in India it is used as a given name, and in the U.S. it has come to be used as a last name among families from southern India.

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: 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.

African: unexplained.

English, Scottish, Welsh, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Sámuel), Jewish, and South Indian: from the Biblical male personal name Samuel (Hebrew Shemuel ‘Name of God’). This name is also well established in South India. In North America this has absorbed other European cognates such as Greek Samouelidis. 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.

African: unexplained.

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name Suleiman (see Solomon). Suleiman (Solomon) is regarded in Islam as a prophet (Qur’an 27:17). Suleiman the Magnificent (1498–1566) was a renowned khalif of the Ottoman Empire. This name is widespread throughout the Muslim world.

Muslim: variant of Suleiman.

Japanese: from a word meaning ‘horse-riding ground’, ‘race track’; a common place name. The surname is found mostly in west central Japan. One Baba family in Kai (now Yamanashi prefecture) were samurai, vassals of the Takeda family. Czech, Slovak, Polish, and Hungarian: from the Slavic word baba ‘old woman’, ‘grandmother’, ‘witch’, hence an unflattering nickname for a man thought to resemble an old woman. In Czech baba can also mean ‘coward’. Hungarian (Bába): habitational name from one of many places called Bába, in Abaúj, Borsod, Somogy, and Vas counties of Hungary, and Közép-Szolnok county, now in Romania. Arabic (Baba): from a diminutive of Abu ‘father’.

Polish (Okon) and Jewish (from Poland): from okon, okun ‘perch’, metonymic occupational name for a freshwater fisherman or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a perch. As a Jewish name it is mainly ornamental.

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, 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.

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.

Japanese: written with characters meaning ‘small tail’, the name could possibly mean ‘sash’ as well. It is not common in Japan, and could be habitational, from a castle in Hyuga (now Miyazaki prefecture), though the castle’s name was written with different characters.

Indian (Maharashtra); pronounced as two syllables: Hindu (Maratha) name, from Marathi su?la ‘pointed tooth’, from Sanskrit šula ‘spike’, ‘spear’. Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal name Szilveszter (see Sylvester).

English: from Middle English sale ‘hall’, a topographic name for someone living at a hall or manor house, or a metonymic occupational name for someone employed at a hall or manor house. English: from Middle English salwe ‘sallow’ (a tree, a kind of willow), hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a sallow tree, or a habitational name from for example Sale in Greater Manchester, named from the old dative form of this word, in atte sale. French (Salé): from Old French salé ‘salty’, hence a topographic or occupational name for someone who lived by or worked in a salt marsh, or, in a figurative sense, a nickname for an amusing or witty person.

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.

Chinese : Cantonese variant of Qiu 1. Chinese: see You.

Jewish; also Welsh and English: from the Biblical name borne by the Israelite leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt, as related in the Book of Exodus. The Hebrew form of the name, Moshe, is probably of Egyptian origin, from a short form of any of various ancient Egyptian personal names, such as Rameses and Tutmosis, meaning ‘conceived by (a certain god)’. However, very early in its history it acquired a folk etymology, being taken as a derivative of the Hebrew root verb mšh ‘draw (something from the water)’, and was associated with a story of the infant Moses being discovered among the bullrushes by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2: 1–10). Moses is the usual English spelling. As a Welsh family name, it was adopted among Dissenter families in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a North American family name, it has absorbed forms of the name from other languages, for example Moise and Moshe.

Muslim: from an Arabic personal name, ’Isma?il, name of a Prophet (Biblical Ishmael), son of Ibrahim (Abraham). Ibrahim left his second wife Hajar (Hagar) and their small son Ismail in the wilderness outside Mecca with only a short supply of food and water. Allah took pity on them and caused the well of Zamzam to spurt up in that desolate place, which saved their lives. Later, Ibrahim sought out his son Ismail, and together they built the Ka‘ba in Mecca, towards which all Muslims turn when praying. Arabs believe that Ismail was the founder of the Arab peoples, and for this reason Arabs are sometimes referred to as Ishmaelites. The term Ismaeli is of much more recent origin; it refers to a sect of Shiite Muslims headed by the Aga Khan, who claim descent from the Fatimid dynasty that ruled Egypt and North Africa from 909 to 1171. They take their name from Isma?il al-?Siddiq (699–765), son of the sixth Shiite imam, because they believe that the divine spirit passed to him and not to his brother Musa.

Muslim: variant of Muhammad.

English: variant of Goodwin.

Muslim and Jewish (Sephardic): from Arabic abu ‘father’, in Muslim names used to form the ‘kunya’ (name meaning ‘father of’) in combination with the name of a man’s child, usually his firstborn son. Thus, a man might be addressed as Abu ?Hasan ‘father of Hasan’ rather than by his personal name, say ?Ali. In traditional Muslim society, a man is generally known and addressed by his kunya, rather than by his ism (his personal name), the use of which can seem unduly familiar. Abu-Bakr, literally ‘father of the Young Camel’ is the name by which Muhammad’s son-in-law, the first of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (ruled 632–634) is known. Abu-?Talib ‘father of the Seeker’ was an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. Abu-Fadl, ‘father of the Virtuous one’ was the kunya of ?Abbas, another uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. A kunya may also be used to form a nickname, as in the case of Abu-Turab ?Ali ‘Ali, father of dust’, a kunya of Khalif Ali, the fourth of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs, conferred on him by the Prophet Muhammad.

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 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.)

African: unexplained.

English: from the Old Norse personal name Mundi, a short form of the various compound names containing the element mundr ‘protection’. English: nickname for someone who had a particular association with this day of the week (Old English monandæg ‘day of the moon’), normally because he owed feudal service then. It was considered lucky to be born on a Monday. Irish (Ulster): quasi-translation of Mac Giolla Eoin ‘son of the servant of Eoin’, by confusion of the last part of the name with Irish Luain ‘Monday’.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic kabir ‘splendid’, ‘magnificent’. Al-Kabir ‘the Magnificent’ is an attribute of Allah.

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: variant spelling of Dyke.

Jewish, English, Scottish, Dutch, French, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish (Solomón): vernacular form of the Biblical Hebrew male personal name Shelomo (a derivative of shalom ‘peace’). This was fairly widespread in the Middle Ages among Christians; it has for generations been a popular Jewish name. In the Bible it is the name of King David’s successor, noted for his wisdom. Among Christians it was also used as a nickname for a man who was considered wise. In North America it is also found as an Anglicized form of Salomon and Salamon.

Norwegian: variant of Sebo. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Szabó (see Szabo).

Muslim: from Arabic ?abdul, ?abd al ‘servant of the …’. Abdul is normally a component of a compound name referring to one of the attributes of Allah mentioned in the Qur’an or the Hadith, for example ?Abdul?Aziz ‘servant of the Powerful’, ?Abdul-?Hakim ‘servant of the Wise’, ?Abdul-Qadir ‘servant of the Capable’.

German and Dutch: probably from a variant of the personal name Ivo, which is ultimately derived from Old High German iwa ‘yew’.

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.

Jewish and Gentile (from northern Europe to South India): from the Biblical name, Hebrew Yehoshuah, meaning ‘may Jehovah help him’. It was borne by the Israelite leader who took command of the children of Israel after the death of Moses and led them to take possession of the promised land. In Britain this was a popular name among Nonconformists from the 17th century onward; as a result, it is a typically Welsh surname, since Welsh surnames were comparatively late in formation. It is also used as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a family name among families from southern India.

Jewish, English, German, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and southern Indian: derivative, via Latin Jacobus, from the Hebrew personal name ya‘aqobh (Yaakov). In the Bible, this is the name of the younger twin brother of Esau (Genesis 25:26), who took advantage of the latter’s hunger and impetuousness to persuade him to part with his birthright ‘for a mess of potage’. The name is traditionally interpreted as coming from Hebrew akev ‘heel’, and Jacob is said to have been born holding on to Esau’s heel. In English Jacob and James are now regarded as quite distinct names, but they are of identical origin (see James), and in most European languages the two names are not distinguished. 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.

Variant of Michael.

Jewish, English, Welsh, French, etc.: from the Biblical Hebrew personal name yishaq ‘he laughs’. This was the name of the son of Abraham (Genesis 21:3) by his wife Sarah. The traditional explanation of the name is that Abraham and Sarah laughed with joy at the birth of a son to them in their old age, but a more plausible explanation is that the name originally meant ‘may God laugh’, i.e. ‘smile on him’. Like Abraham, this name has always been immensely popular among Jews, but was also widely used in medieval Europe among Christians. Hence it is the surname of many gentile families as well as Jews. In England and Wales it was one of the Old Testament names that were particularly popular among Nonconformists in the 17th–19th centuries, which accounts for its frequency as a Welsh surname. (Welsh surnames were generally formed much later than English ones.) In eastern Europe the personal name in its various vernacular forms was popular in Orthodox (Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian), Catholic (Polish), and Protestant (Czech) Churches. It was borne by a 5th-century father of the Armenian Church and by a Spanish saint martyred by the Moorish rulers of Cordoba in ad 851 on account of his polemics against Islam. In this spelling, the American family name has also absorbed cognates from other European languages, e.g. German Isaak, Dutch Izaac, etc. (for the forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988). 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.

Dutch and North German: variant of Eck. English: unexplained.

Americanized form of German or Jewish Freitag; in some cases the surname may be the much rarer English cognate, from Old English friggandæg ‘Friday’, which Reaney suggests may also have been used to denote a person with a gloomy disposition.

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, 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.

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.

English (Devon): variant spelling of Oak.

English and Dutch: from Latin Marcus, the personal name of St. Mark the Evangelist, author of the second Gospel. The name was borne also by a number of other early Christian saints. Marcus was an old Roman name, of uncertain (possibly non-Italic) etymology; it may have some connection with the name of the war god Mars. Compare Martin. The personal name was not as popular in England in the Middle Ages as it was on the Continent, especially in Italy, where the evangelist became the patron of Venice and the Venetian Republic, and was allegedly buried at Aquileia. As an American family name, this has absorbed cognate and similar names from other European languages, including Greek Markos and Slavic Marek. English, German, and Dutch (van der Mark): topographic name for someone who lived on a boundary between two districts, from Middle English merke, Middle High German marc, Middle Dutch marke, merke, all meaning ‘borderland’. The German term also denotes an area of fenced-off land (see Marker 5) and, like the English word, is embodied in various place names which have given rise to habitational names. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Marck, Pas-de-Calais. German: from Marko, a short form of any of the Germanic compound personal names formed with mark ‘borderland’ as the first element, for example Markwardt. Americanization or shortened form of any of several like-sounding Jewish or Slavic surnames (see for example Markow, Markowitz, Markovich). Irish (northeastern Ulster): probably a short form of Markey (when not of English origin).

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, Scottish, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish: from the Hebrew personal name Gavriel ‘God has given me strength’. This was borne by an archangel in the Bible (Daniel 8:16 and 9:21), who in the New Testament announced the impending birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38). It has been a comparatively popular personal name in all parts of Europe, among both Christians and Jews, during the Middle Ages and since. Compare Michael and Raphael. It was the name of a famous patriarch and archbishop of Serbia (died 1659). In Russia it was the official Christian name of St. Vsevolod (died 1138). In the U.S. this name has absorbed cognate names from other European languages, for example the Greek patronymics Gabrielis, Gabrielatos, Gabrielidis, Gabrielakos, Gabrieloglou.

Indian (Panjab): Sikh name based on the name of a Jat clan. It is also a title given to the male descendants of the first three Sikh gurus.

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

Muslim: from either of two Arabic personal names, based on ?sadiq ‘friend’, ‘companion’ (see the Qur’an 26:101) or ?siddiq ‘righteous’, ‘upright’ (see the Qur’an 19:54).

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.

Japanese: ‘lake’. Though listed in the Shinsen shojiroku, this name is not common in the main Japanese islands and is found mostly in the Ryukyu Islands. The word ike is more usually found in compound names such as Ikeda. Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Eich.

Scottish, English, Welsh, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Sámson), and Jewish: from the Biblical name Samson (Hebrew Shimshon, a diminutive of shemesh ‘sun’). Among Christians it was sometimes chosen as a personal name or nickname with reference to the great strength of the Biblical hero (Judges 13–16). In Wales another association was with the 6th-century Welsh bishop Samson, who traveled to Brittany, where he died and was greatly venerated. His name, which is probably an altered form of an unknown Celtic original, was popularized in England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, and to some extent independently from Wales.

English, Scottish, and Indian (southern states): variant spelling of Matthew. 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: 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.

Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name ?Abbas, literally ‘stern’, ‘austere’. ?Abbas was the name of an uncle (died 652) of the Prophet Muhammad, the ancestor of the Abbasid dynasty (see Abbasi). German: Latinized form of Abt ‘abbot’.

From the Hebrew Biblical personal name Yechezkel ‘God will strengthen’. This is found, not only as a Jewish family name, but also as a comparatively late surname in the British Isles among Nonconformists, especially in Wales.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic mu?s?tafa ‘chosen’, from Arabic ?safa ‘to be pure’, ‘to be select’. For Muslims, Al-Mu?s?tafa is an epithet referring to the Prophet Muhammad, while among Arabic-speaking Christians it is applied to St. Paul. Mu?s?tafa is among the most popular personal names in the Islamic world. In Turkey, it is often chosen in honor of Mustafa Kamal Atatürk (1881–1938), founder of modern Turkey. Spanish (of Arabic origin): from the Arabic personal name (see 1 above). Italian: from the Arabic personal name (see 1 above), or from a nickname from Calabrian mustafà ‘strong man with a walrus moustache’.

Dutch: from a vernacular form of the personal name Lucas. Czech, Polish (Luka), and Hungarian: from a short form of Czech Lukáš, Polish Lukasz, Hungarian Lukács, vernacular forms of Lucas.

Probably a variant spelling of Luckie.

From the Hebrew personal name Avraham, borne by a Biblical patriarch revered by Jews as the founding father of the Jewish people (Genesis 11–25), and by Muslims as founder of all the Semitic peoples, both Hebrew and Arab (compare Ibrahim). The name is explained in Genesis 17:5 as being derived from Hebrew av hamon goyim ‘father of a multitude of nations’. It was widely used as a personal name among Christians as well as Jews in the Middle Ages in diverse cultures from northern Europe to southern India. It is also found as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a family name among families from Kerala. Irish: English name adopted as an equivalent of Gaelic Mac an Bhreitheamhan ‘son of the judge’. See McBroom.

Americanized form of any of various European surnames from personal names derived from Latin Augustinus (see Austin).

English: from a medieval personal name which ostensibly means ‘bearer of Christ’, Latin Christopherus, Greek Khristophoros, from Khristos ‘Christ’. Compare Christian + -pher-, -phor- ‘carry’. This was borne by a rather obscure 3rd-century martyred saint. His name was relatively common among early Christians, who desired to bear Christ metaphorically with them in their daily lives. Subsequently, the name was explained by a folk etymology according to which the saint carried the infant Christ across a ford and so became the patron saint of travelers. In this guise he was enormously popular in the Middle Ages, and many inns were named with the sign of St. Christopher. In some instances the surname may have derived originally from residence at or association with such an inn. As an American family name, Christopher has absorbed cognates from other continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Phádraig ‘son of Patrick’, a personal name derived from Latin Patricius ‘son of a noble father’, ‘member of the patrician class’. This was the name of a 5th-century Romano-Briton who became the apostle and patron saint of Ireland, and it was largely as a result of his fame that the personal name was so popular from the Middle Ages onward. In Ireland the surname is usually Scottish in origin, but it is also found as a shortened form of Mulpatrick and Fitzpatrick.

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

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.)

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Bennet,' i.e. Benedict, from the nick. Benn; it has nothing to do with Benjamin. Benn is a familiar surname wherever the Benedictine monks had a convent. Furness Abbey, founded in the 12th century, has made Benn and Benson (which see) a common surname in Furness and south Cumberland.

Spanish (of Basque origin): Castilianized variant of Basque Zare, a habitational name from Zare, a town in Navarre. Southern Italian: derivative of the Arabic personal name Sa?ad, meaning ‘good fortune’, ‘prosperity’ (see Saad). Japanese: variously written, usually with characters meaning ‘help’ and ‘rice paddy’, and more usually pronounced ‘sata’. It is a common place name throughout Japan. Some bearers of the surname have Minamoto connections. Polish: occupational name for a fruit grower or topographic name for someone who lived by an orchard, from a derivative of Polish sad ‘orchard’ or sadzic ‘to plant’. Polish (Sada): occupational name for a court official, from Polish sadzic ‘to judge’ or sad ‘court of justice’.

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

Southern English: variant spelling of Eade. North German: from the Germanic personal name Edo.

Scottish, Dutch, English, South Indian, etc.: from the Greek name Philippos (from philein ‘to love’ + hippos ‘horse’). In the New Testament this name is borne by one of the apostles; it was also borne by various other early Christian saints. It owes part of its popularity to the medieval romances about Alexander the Great, whose father was Philip of Macedon. As a Highland Scottish surname, it represents an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhilib ‘son of Philip’. In North America, this surname has absorbed some cases of cognate names in other languages (e.g. French Philippe, Greek Philippos, Italian Filippi, Spanish Felipe, Catalan Felip, and their derivatives). As a Jewish name, it represents a borrowing of the personal name from Christians. 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.

Jewish and Gentile (from northern Europe to South India): from the Biblical name Jonathan, meaning ‘God has given’ in Hebrew. In the Bible this is the name of a son of King Saul, the close friend of the young David, whose friendship persisted even when Saul and David are themselves at loggerheads (1 Samuel 31; 2 Samuel 1:19–26). In South India, this is found as a personal name among Christians, and in the U.S. it has come to be used as a family name among South Indian Christians.

German: from Udo, in the Middle Ages a popular short form of various personal names composed with od ‘property’, ‘possession’.

French: from a medieval personal name (Latin Victor meaning ‘conqueror’, an agent derivative of vincere ‘to win’). Early Christians often bore this name in reference to Christ’s victory over sin and death, and there are a large number of saints so called. Some of the principal ones, who contributed to the popularity of the personal name in the Middle Ages, are a 2nd-century pope, a 3rd-century Mauritanian martyr, and a 5th-century bishop of Cologne.

Japanese: ‘harmonious rice paddy’ (an older, formerly more common reading was Nigita, with a meaning similar to that of Yoshida). One powerful daimyo family, descended from the Taira through the Miura family, supported the Minamoto against the Taira in the 12th century. They took their name from the village of Wada in the Miura Peninsula.

English: from the New Testament Greek personal name Timotheos, from Greek time ‘honor’ + theos ‘God’. This was the name of a companion of St. Paul who, according to tradition, was stoned to death for denouncing the worship of Diana in Ephesus. This was not in general use in England as a given name until Tudor times, so, insofar as it is an English surname at all, it is a late formation (e.g. in Wales, where surnames came into use only relatively recently). In America it also represents an adoption of the English given name in place of a cognate in Greek (Timotheou, Timotheopoulos) or any of various other European languages. Irish: adoption of the English personal name as an equivalent of Tumulty.

Muslim: variant of Mahmood.

English: variant of Jewell. French, German, and English: from the Biblical personal name Joel.

English and Scottish: from the Middle English personal name Ma(t)thew, vernacular form of the Greek New Testament name Matthias, Matthaios, which is ultimately from the Hebrew personal name Matityahu ‘gift of God’. This was taken into Latin as Mat(t)hias and Matthaeus respectively, the former being used for the twelfth apostle (who replaced Judas Iscariot) and the latter for the author of the first Gospel. In many European languages this distinction is reflected in different surname forms. The commonest vernacular forms of the personal name, including English Matthew, Old French Matheu, Spanish Mateo, Italian Matteo, Portuguese Mateus, Catalan and Occitan Mateu are generally derived from the form Matthaeus. The American surname Matthew has also absorbed European cognates from other languages, including Greek Mathias and Mattheos. Compare Mathew, Mathai. 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: 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.

Origin unidentified.

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.

English: from the Norman form of an Old French personal name composed of the Germanic elements wil ‘will’, ‘desire’ + helm ‘helmet’, ‘protection’. This was introduced into England at the time of the Conquest, and within a very short period it became the most popular personal name in England, mainly no doubt in honor of the Conqueror himself.

Frisian and North German: from the personal name Ade, which is a pet form of Adam or various names beginning with Ad(al)-, for example Adolf, Adalbrecht (see Albrecht). English: from the personal name Ade, one of the many pet forms of Adam.

English, French, and Dutch: from the Latin personal name Clemens meaning ‘merciful’ (genitive Clementis). This achieved popularity firstly through having been borne by an early saint who was a disciple of St. Paul, and later because it was selected as a symbolic name by a number of early popes. There has also been some confusion with the personal name Clemence (Latin Clementia, meaning ‘mercy’, an abstract noun derived from the adjective; in part a masculine name from Latin Clementius, a later derivative of Clemens). As an American family name, Clement has absorbed cognates in other continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

From a short form of Alexis or Alexander in any of several languages.

Spanish (Félix), Portuguese, English, German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a medieval personal name (Latin Felix, genitive Felicis, meaning ‘lucky’, ‘fortunate’). This was a relatively common Roman family name, said to have been first adopted as a nickname by Sulla. It was very popular among early Christians and was borne by a large number of early saints.

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

from a personal name based on na?sir ‘supporter’, ‘helper’ (Qur’an 9:116). from a personal name based on na?sir ‘protector’. It is found in compounds such as Nasruddin (Arabic Na?sir ud-Din) ‘protector of religion’, i.e. ‘defender of the faith (Islam)’. Compare Nasser.

English and Dutch: from a short form of the personal name Thomas. Polish: from a short form of the personal name Tomasz (see Thomas). Chinese: see Tan.

Muslim: variant of Rashid.

Common European surname: from the personal name Abel, which is of Biblical origin and was used as a Christian name in many countries of Europe. In the Book of Genesis Abel is a son of Adam, murdered by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:1–8). In Christian tradition he is regarded as representative of suffering innocence. The Hebrew form of the name is Hevel, from a vocabulary word meaning ‘breath’. German: from the personal name Abel, a pet form of Albrecht (see Albert).

Hispanic (Mexican): unexplained. English: unexplained.

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.

Welsh, Jewish, and American: from the personal name Elijah, the usual English transliteration in the King James Bible (Old Testament) of the Hebrew name Eliyahu ‘Jehovah is God’, name of one of the Biblical prophets (see Elias). As a Welsh surname, this is a comparatively late adoption of the personal name, adopted after Old Testament given names became popular among Nonconformists.

Japanese: variously written, possible meanings are ‘(one who lives) below the well’ or ‘lowest rank’. The name is not common in Japan.

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.

German, Dutch, and Hungarian (Márkus): from the personal name, from Latin Marcus (see Mark 1). Swedish: variant spelling of Marcus.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic wahhab ‘giver’. Al-Wahhab ‘the All-Giver’ is one of the names of Allah (Qur’an 38:35). As a personal name, this is usually found in compounds such as ?Abd al-Wahhab ‘servant of the All-Giver’. Mu?hammad ibn ?Abd al-Wahhab (1703–87) was the founder of the Wahhabi movement for the purification of Islam.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic man?sur ‘victorious’, ‘triumphant’. This word is found in compound names such as Man?sur-ud-Din ‘victorious in religion’. The second of the Abbasid khalifs was Al-Man?sur Abu-Ja?far (c. 712–75), who built the city of Baghdad in 762 and is considered the real founder of the Abbasid khalifate.

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.’

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.

German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Slovenian, Czech, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): ethnic or regional name for someone from Franconia (German Franken), a region of southwestern Germany so called from its early settlement by the Franks, a Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the river Rhine in Roman times. In the 6th–9th centuries, under leaders such as Clovis I (c. 466–511) and Charlemagne (742–814), the Franks established a substantial empire in western Europe, from which the country of France takes its name. The term Frank in eastern Mediterranean countries was used, in various vernacular forms, to denote the Crusaders and their descendants, and the American surname may also be an Americanized form of such a form. English, Dutch, German, etc.: from the personal name Frank, in origin an ethnic name for a Frank. This also came be used as an adjective meaning ‘free’, ‘open-hearted’, ‘generous’, deriving from the fact that in Frankish Gaul only people of Frankish race enjoyed the status of fully free men. It was also used as a Jewish personal name.

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: from a pet form of the personal name Samson (see Samson). Dutch (van Sam): variant of Van den Sand (see Sand 2). Nigerian and Ghanaian: unexplained. Chinese : variant of Shen. Chinese : variant of Shum. Other Southeast Asian: unexplained.

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.

English: from the Middle English personal name Edward, Old English Eadward, composed of the elements ead ‘prosperity’, ‘fortune’ + w(e)ard ‘guard’. The English personal name also became popular on the Continent as a result of the fame of the two canonized kings of England, Edward the Martyr (962–79) and Edward the Confessor (1004–66). They certainly contributed largely to its great popularity in England.

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.

Basque and Aragonese (of Basque origin): habitational name from either of two places named Ola, in Navarre, Basque Country, and Uesca, Aragon, where Basque was spoken in pre-Roman times, from Basque ola ‘forge’ or ‘cabin’.

From the Hebrew name Yirmeyahu (meaning ‘appointed by God’ in Hebrew), borne by a Biblical prophet of the 7th–6th centuries bc, whose story, prophecies of judgement, and lamentations are recorded in the book of the Bible that bears his name.

From the Latin personal name Julius, an aristocratic Roman family name made famous by Julius Caesar, the first Roman emperor. The personal name was borne in the Middle Ages by various minor Christian saints, and was nearly as popular as its derivative Julian. As a modern surname it is found in various European languages, generally as a humanistic name or a re-Latinization of a vernacular form such as French Jules.

English, French, German, and Dutch: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

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, 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.

variant of Aue. from a variant of the Frisian personal name Ave.

English: from the personal name Silas, a vernacular form of Latin Silvanus (see Silvano). Hungarian (Szilas): from the old Hungarian personal name Szilas, or from a pet form of the ecclasiastical names Szilveszter or Szilvánusz (see Silvester, Silvano).

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.

Tongan: unexplained.

English, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Róbert), etc: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hrod ‘renown’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. This is found occasionally in England before the Conquest, but in the main it was introduced into England by the Normans and quickly became popular among all classes of society. The surname is also occasionally borne by Jews, as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Arabic and Jewish (Sephardic): variant of Sayed or Saeed.

Muslim: probably a variant of Arabic ?A’idah ‘returning visitor’.

North German: from a short form of the various Germanic personal names composed with Ode (see Ott), for example Odebert, Oderich, Odeger. Swedish: unexplained.

English: from the Middle English personal name Alvred, Old English Ælfr?d ‘elf counsel’. This owed its popularity as a personal name in England chiefly to the fame of the West Saxon king Alfred the Great (849–899), who defeated the Danes, keeping them out of Wessex, and whose court was a great center of learning and culture.

Muslim: variant of Muhammad. See also Mohammed.

French: from the personal name Innocent, from Latin Innocentius, from innocens ‘harmless’, ‘non-violent’.

English: variant spelling of Dominick. In some cases, probably an Americanized spelling of the French cognate Dominique.

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

Spanish: occupational or status name, from ayo ‘tutor’, ‘guardian’, probably from a Visigothic word hagja ‘attendant’, ‘steward’.

Ethnic name in various European languages (including Danish and English) meaning ‘Dane’. Romanian: unexplained. Vietnamese: unexplained.

from the personal name (Latin Titus, probably Etruscan in origin). The name was popular in the Middle Ages since it had been borne by a disciple of St. Paul who became bishop of Crete. from a short form of a Germanic personal name (see Tittel 2).

Indian (southern states): reduced form of Subramanian. Indian (Kerala): among Christians from Kerala, a pet form of Emmanuel. It is only a given name in Kerala, but in the U.S. used as a family name among people from Kerala.

Italian (Alò): perhaps from an Italian adaption of the Catalan personal name Eloi, equivalent of Italian Eligio, from French Eloy. The cult of St Eligio, patron of horses and blacksmiths, was very popular in the Middle Ages. Alternatively, the family name could be from Greek alós ‘prisoners’, ‘captives’. Spanish: unexplained. Samoan and Hawaiian: unexplained.

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name ?Abdullah ‘servant of Allah’. This was the name of the father of the Prophet Muhammad, who died before Muhammad was born. In the Qur’an (19:30), Jesus calls himself ?Abdullah: ‘He (Jesus) said: I am the servant of Allah’. The name is also borne by Christian Arabs.

Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal name Miklós, Hungarian form of Nicholas, or possibly from a short form of Mihály, Hungarian form of Michael.

Probably a variant of Muslim Mansur.

English, French, German, and Hungarian (Jób): from the personal name (Hebrew Iyov) borne by a Biblical character, the central figure in the Book of Job, who was tormented by God and yet refused to forswear Him. The name has been variously interpreted as meaning ‘Where is the (divine) father?’ and ‘Persecuted one’. It does not seem to have been used as a personal name in the Middle Ages: the surname is probably a nickname for a wretched person or one tormented with boils (which was one of Job’s afflictions).

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name ?Hasan ‘good’, ‘handsome’. Hasan (c.625–669) and his brother Husain were sons of the khalif ?Ali ibn Abi ?Talib (see Ali) and, through their mother Fatima, grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. Shiite Muslims regard Hasan and his brother Husain as the true successors of Muhammad. The name is popular among Sunni Muslims as well as Shiites. Jewish: variant of Hazan.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic sa?d ‘good luck’, ‘good fortune’, ‘success’. Sa?d is often used to form names in combination with other words, for example Sa?d Allah (Sa?dullah) ‘joy of Allah’, an epithet of the Prophet Muhammad. Sa?d ibn Abu Waqqas was one of the ten Companions of the Prophet Muhammad. This name is prevalent in all Muslim countries. Jewish (Sephardic): a derivative of a personal name, either from Hebrew saad ‘support’ or from Arabic sa?d ‘good luck’ (see 1).

Italian (Sicily): apparently from the female personal name Emma (see Emm).

Scottish and English: from a Middle English personal name, Jakke, from Old French Jacques, the usual French form of Latin Jacobus, which is the source of both Jacob and James. As a family name in Britain, this is almost exclusively Scottish. English and Welsh: from the same personal name as 1, taken as a pet form of John. German (also Jäck): from a short form of the personal name Jacob. Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Muslim: status name from Arabic imam, literally ‘one who leads the way’, an honorific title for one who leads prayers in a mosque, also applied to the founders of Islamic law schools. Among Shiite Muslims the title imam is applied to the spiritual leaders descended from Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and her husband Ali, the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (see Ali).

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.

Portuguese: patronymic from the personal name Martim, vernacular form of Latin Martinus (see Martin). English and Dutch: patronymic from the personal name Martin.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic khalid ‘eternity’, ‘eternal’, ‘remaining’. Khalid ibn-al-Walid (d. 642) was the Muslim military leader who brought about the defeat of the Byzantine Empire and its expulsion from Syria. The Prophet Muhammad called him Sayf-ullah ‘sword of Allah’.

Italian: probably from a Sicilian dialect variant of the personal name Alonso (see Alfonso).

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic wa?hid ‘unique’, ‘matchless’.

Vietnamese (Dung): unexplained. Chinese : variant of Dong 1. North German: topographic name for someone who lived on a piece of raised dry land in marshy surroundings, Middle Low German dung, dunk ‘hummock’, or a habitational name from any of the various places named with this word.

Muslim: from Arabic Qadiri ‘associated with Qadir’, (see Kader). In particular this term denotes association with Qadiriyyah, a Sufi order established in Baghdad by ?Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (died 1166), known as ‘the Sultan of the saints’.

French, Dutch: from the personal name Mathias (see Matthew). Spanish and Portuguese: variant spelling of Matias. Welsh: a late surname formation from the Biblical personal name Mathias (see Matthew).

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.

Galician and Portuguese: widespread habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia and Portugal named Mato, from mata ‘brushwood’, ‘scrub’, ‘thicket’. Spanish: topographic name from mato ‘scrub’. Catalan (Mató): metonymic occupational name for a dairyman, from a word meaning ‘cream’; ‘curds’, ‘curd cheese’. Hungarian (Mató): from a pet form of the personal name Maté, Hungarian form of Matthew.

English and Welsh: from the Biblical personal name Reuben (see Rubin), which was popular among Nonconformists from the 16th century onward. Jewish (Israeli): from the Hebrew form of the personal name Rubin.

From the Biblical Hebrew personal name meaning ‘given by God’. This was borne by a minor prophet in the Bible (2 Samuel 7:2). It is found as both a Jewish and Gentile surname in Europe. In South India it is used as a given name among Christians, and in the U.S. it has come to be used as a family name among South Indian Christians.

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’.

English, German, and Jewish (Sephardic and Israeli): from the Biblical personal name Noah (see Noe). English: probably a variant spelling of Noar, a topographic name derived from misdivision of the Middle English phrase atten ore ‘at the bank or steep slope’ (Old English ora).

Jewish: from the Biblical name meaning ‘one who cuts down’ in Hebrew. It was borne by an Israelite leader appointed to deliver his people from the Midianites (Judges 6:14).

German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Latin personal name Marcus (see Mark 1).

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’.

Muslim: variant of Salaam.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic zaki ‘pure’, ‘chaste’, ‘sinless’. See the Qur’an 19:19: ‘He said: I am only a Messenger of your Lord, to give you (Mariam) a son most pure’.

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic wali ‘lord’, ‘guardian’, ‘protector’, ‘saint’, or ‘friend’, often interpreted as a short form of Wali Allah ‘friend of God’, an epithet of the Prophet Muhammad. Indian (Kashmir): Hindu (Brahman) name, probably ulitmately derived from Arabic wali ‘lord’ (see 1). Indian (Karnataka): Hindu (Lingayat) name of unknown meaning.

Muslim: variant spelling of Husain.

Japanese: variously written, with Chinese characters used phonetically. Listed in the Shinsen shojiroku, the Abe claim descent from Ohiko, first son of the mythical Emperor Kogen. There are several places in Japan named Abe, which means ‘sun festival’ in the Ainu language. Some Ainu connections may be assumed, but the name could also be purely habitational. It is found mostly in northeastern Japan, the island of Kyushu, and the Ryukyu Islands.

Muslim: from an Arabic personal name, Hashim, the byname of the great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, who provided for pilgrims coming to the Ka’ba (the holy temple) in Mecca each year. Hashim literally means ‘crusher’. Hashim, whose original name was ?Amr, initiated a twice-yearly caravan (trading expedition) to Yemen and the Levant. The story goes that he returned from one such expedition bringing with him bread, which he crushed and distributed, earning him the nickname ‘the crusher’. The Kingdom of Jordan is known as ‘Hashemite’ because its rulers are descended from Hashim.

Muslim: variant spelling of Ali.

English, French, and German: from the vernacular form of the Hebrew personal name Yehuda ‘Judah’ (of unknown meaning). In the Bible, this is the name of Jacob’s eldest son. It was not a popular name among Christians in medieval Europe, because of the associations it had with Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Among Jews, however, the Hebrew name and its reflexes in various Jewish languages (such as Yiddish Yude) have been popular for generations, and have given rise to many Jewish surnames. French: name for a Jew, Old French jude (Latin Iudaeus, Greek Ioudaios, from Hebrew Yehudi ‘member of the tribe of Judah’). English: from a pet form of Jordan.

Jewish (western Ashkenazic) and German: variant of Lazar.

Muslim and Jewish (Sephardic): from a personal name based on Arabic salim ‘perfect’, ‘faultless’, ‘safe’, ‘secure’. Salim bin Thabet was one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad. The Mughal emperor Jahangir (1605–1627) was also known as Prince Salim. This is a widespread name in all Muslim countries.

Muslim and Jewish (Sephardic): from an Arabic personal name based on habib ‘beloved’, ‘friend’, used by both Muslims and Jews. Habibullah ‘beloved of Allah’ is an epithet of Mohammad.

Spanish: perhaps a metonymic occupational name from aja ‘chisel’, ‘adze’. from an African language, of unknown origin.

English, French, North German, Danish, Catalan, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, etc.: from the personal name Albert, composed of the Germanic elements adal ‘noble’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. The standard German form is Albrecht. This, in its various forms, was one of the most popular of all European male personal names in the Middle Ages. It was borne by various churchmen, notably St. Albert of Prague, a Bohemian prince who died a martyr in 997 attempting to convert the Prussians to Christianity; also St. Albert the Great (?1193–1280), an Aristotelian theologian and tutor of Thomas Aquinas. It was also the name of princes and military leaders, such as Albert the Bear (1100–70), Margrave of Brandenburg. In more recent times it has been adopted as a Jewish family name.

Italian (Sicily; Alú): from a Sicilian variant of Alòi, a variant of Elia.

Japanese (Oba): meaning ‘large garden’, the name is found mostly in the Ryukyu Islands. One family of samurai by this name lived in Sagami (now part of Kanagawa prefecture).

English: habitational name from any of the places so called, in Cheshire, Hampshire, and Staffordshire. These are all named in Old English as cyningesleah ‘the woodland clearing (Old English leah) of the king (cyning)’.