1000 Most Common Last Names in United States

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 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 (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 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).

Southern English: patronymic from David.

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).

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

Spanish (García) and Portuguese: from a medieval personal name of uncertain origin. It is normally found in medieval records in the Latin form Garsea, and may well be of pre-Roman origin, perhaps akin to Basque (h)artz ‘bear’.

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.

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: 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.

Spanish (Rodríguez) and Portuguese: patronymic from the personal name Rodrigo.

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

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, 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.

Spanish (Martínez): patronymic from the personal name Martin.

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 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: 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.

Spanish (Hernández) and Jewish (Sephardic): patronymic from the personal name Hernando (see Fernando). This surname also became 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.

Spanish (López): patronymic from the medieval personal name Lope (from Latin lupus ‘wolf’). This is one of the commonest of all Spanish surnames.

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 (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’.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Robin.

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.

Spanish (González): patronymic from the personal name Gonzalo, a personal name of Visigothic origin, based on the Germanic element gunþ ‘battle’. Compare Portuguese Gonçalves (see Goncalves).

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.

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 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.

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 (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.)

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: 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).

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).

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

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.

Spanish (Pérez) and Jewish (Sephardic): patronymic from the personal name Pedro, Spanish equivalent of Peter. Jewish: variant of Peretz.

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: 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 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.

Spanish (Sánchez): patronymic from the personal name Sancho.

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.

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

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.

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 (also common in Wales): patronymic from Edward.

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 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.

Spanish (Ramírez): patronymic from the personal name Ramiro, composed of the Germanic elements ragin ‘counsel’ + mari, meri ‘fame’.

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

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 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: 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).

English: patronymic from the personal name Roger.

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 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.

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.

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.

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).

Spanish: from the plural of flor ‘flower’.

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.

Galician, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the numerous places named Torres, all named with the plural of torre ‘tower’ (see Torre). Italian: habitational name from Torres in Belluno or Porto Torres in Sassari. In southern Italy the surname is sometimes a borrowing from Spanish (see 1). Dutch: from a short form of Victoris, from the Latin personal name Victorius.

English: variant spelling of Read 1.

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’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rivera, a variant of Ribera. Italian: northern variant of the southern (especially Sicily) topographic name Ribera. Catalan: in some cases, variant of Catalan Ribera.

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: 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.

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.

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: 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: 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.

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

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

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: 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.

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: 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.

Spanish (Gómez): from a medieval personal name, probably of Visigothic origin, from guma ‘man’. Compare Gomes.

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 (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).

Spanish (Díaz): patronymic from the medieval personal name Didacus (see Diego).

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.

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 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: 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.

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

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.

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.

Spanish and Portuguese: from a common and widespread religious Christian personal name from cruz ‘cross’ (Latin crux), or a habitational name from any of numerous places named Cruz or La Cruz, from this word.

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, 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

plural variant of Rey. Castilianized form of the Galician habitational name Reis.

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

English: patronymic from Reynold.

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 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.

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: 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.

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.

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’.

Spanish: topographic name from the plural of moral ‘mulberry tree’.

Spanish: patronymic from the Basque personal name Orti (Latin Fortunius).

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.

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’.

English (mainly southwestern England): variant of Bryan.

Scottish and English: patronymic from Gibb.

Variant of Spanish González (see Gonzalez).

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.

Northern English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Harry.

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).

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’.

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.

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).

Portugese and Spanish: habitational name from any of the towns called Ramos, in Portugal and Spain. Portuguese and Spanish: from the plural of ramo ‘branch’ (Latin ramus), a topographic name for someone who lived in a thickly wooded area.

Spanish (Gutiérrez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Gutierre, from a Visigothic personal name of uncertain form and meaning, perhaps a compound of the elements gunþi ‘battle’ + hairus ‘sword’.

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: 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.

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

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 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.

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: 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).

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).

Americanized spelling of Swedish Olsson or Danish and Norwegian Olsen.

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 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 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 (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 (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’.

Spanish: patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a short formnof Rodrigo. DK, kh, RS

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: 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.

Dutch: occupational name for a tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Dutch sniden ‘to cut’. Americanized form of German Schneider.

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.

English: habitational name from either of the places called Washington, in Tyne and Wear and West Sussex. The latter is from Old English Wassingatun ‘settlement (Old English tun) of the people of Wassa’, a personal name that is probably a short form of some compound name such as Waðsige, composed of the elements wað ‘hunt’ + sige ‘victory’. Washington in Tyne and Wear is from Old English Wassingtun ‘settlement associated with Wassa’.

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.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Dick.

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.

Spanish (Chávez): variant spelling of Chaves.

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’.

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: 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.

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

Spanish: from castillo ‘castle’, ‘fortified building’ (Latin castellum), a habitational name from any of numerous places so named or named with this word.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

Galician and possibly also Spanish: patronymic from the personal name Vasco, reduced form of Spanish Velásquez (see Velasquez).

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).

Basque: habitational name from several places in the provinces of Arava and Biscay called Mendoza, named with Basque mendi ‘mountain’ + otz ‘cold’ + the definite article -a.

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).

Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Fergus.

Spanish (Álvarez): from a patronymic form of the personal name Álvaro (see Alvaro).

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).

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

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 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’.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Spanish: nickname from romero ‘pilgrim’, originally ‘pilgrim to Rome’ (see Romeo).

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 (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.

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.

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

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 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’.

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.

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: 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.)

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

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).

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-.

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

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.

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: 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, 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, Welsh, and Irish: from the personal name Piers, the usual Norman vernacular form of Peter. In Wales this represents a patronymic ap Piers. In Ireland it represents a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Piarais ‘son of Piaras’, a Gaelicized form of Piers. Americanized form of some similar-sounding Jewish surname.

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

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.

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.

Spanish (Jiménez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Jimeno, which is of pre-Roman origin.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): nickname for someone with dark hair and a swarthy complexion, from Spanish and Portuguese moreno ‘dark-haired’, a word of uncertain origin, probably from Late Latin maurinus, a derivative of classical Latin Maurus ‘Moor’. Compare Moore 2.

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.

Scandinavian: respelling of Norwegian and Danish Carlsen or Swedish Carlsson. Dutch and German: patronymic from Carl. See also Karlson.

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.

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.

Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó hUainín ‘descendant of Uainín’ (see Honan 2). variant spelling of Green as an English name or as an Americanized form of name of similar meaning in some other European language.

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.

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.

Americanized form of Swedish Larsson, Danish and Norwegian Larsen. English: patronymic from a pet form of Lawrence.

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: 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 Will.

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

Spanish: habitational name from any of the several places, as for example Medina-Sidonia in Cádiz province and Medina del Campo in Valladolid, so called from Arabic medina ‘city’. The surname is also borne by Sephardic Jews.

Spanish: from garza ‘heron’, probably applied as a nickname for someone with long legs.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from villages so called in the provinces of Seville and Badajoz, from a word meaning ‘iron smithy’, ‘blacksmith’s forge’ (a derivative of hierro ‘iron’, Latin ferrum). French: habitational name from the Gascon form of Ferrière, a place in Pyrénées-Atlantique. The place name is derived from Latina ferraria ‘iron-mine’, ‘iron-forge’.

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

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.

Galician, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish (Sephardic): topographic name from castro ‘castle’, ‘fortress’ (Latin castrum ‘fort’, ‘Roman walled city’): in Galicia and also in northern Portugal a habitational name from any of various places named with this word; in Italy either a topographic name or a habitational name.

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 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.

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: 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.

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.

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.

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’.

Scottish: patronymic from the personal name Morris.

Portuguese, Galician, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the many places called Silva, or a topographic name from silva ‘thicket’, ‘bramble’.

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.

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: 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).

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.

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

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, 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 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 (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.

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.

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

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.

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

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from Vargas in Santander province, or a topographic name from vargas, plural of varga, a dialect term used in various senses: ‘(thatched) hut’, ‘steep slope’, or ‘fenced pastureland which becomes waterlogged in winter’.

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

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’.

Spanish, Catalan, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of numerous places called Aguilar, from Latin aquilare ‘haunt of eagles’ (a derivative of aquila ‘eagle’), for example Aguilar de Campo in Palencia, Aguilar de la Frontera in Córdoba, and Aguilar de Segarra in Catalonia.

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: 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.

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.

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’.

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.

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).

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: 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.

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.

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.

Irish (Limerick): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aodha ‘son of Aodh’, an ancient personal name meaning ‘fire’, originally the name of a pagan god. Thus it has the same origin as McGee, McKay and McKee.

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.

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: 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: patronymic from Sim.

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

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Salazar in Burgos, probably named with sala ‘hall’ + Basque za(h)ar ‘old’, and thus a Basque equivalent of Saavedra. Spanish: Castilianized variant of Basque Zaraitzu, a habitational name from a town so named in Navarre.

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.

English and German: patronymic from Walter.

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, 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: 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’.

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.

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

German: from Middle High German kellaere ‘cellarman’, ‘cellar master’ (Latin cellarius, denoting the keeper of the cella ‘store chamber’, ‘pantry’). Hence an occupational name for the overseer of the stores, accounts, or household in general in, for example, a monastery or castle. Kellers were important as trusted stewards in a great household, and in some cases were promoted to ministerial rank. The surname is widespread throughout central Europe. English: either an occupational name for a maker of caps or cauls, from Middle English kellere, or an occupational name for an executioner, from Old English cwellere. Irish: reduced form of Kelleher. Scottish: variant of Keillor.

Spanish (Guzmán): of uncertain and disputed etymology, probably from a Germanic personal name. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Gusman.

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: topographic name from Middle English feldes, plural or possessive of feld ‘open country’. This name is also found as a translation of equivalent names in other languages, in particular French Deschamps, Duchamp.

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’.

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.

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.

Spanish (Muñoz): patronymic from the old personal name Muño.

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.

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.

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).

Spanish (Peña), Catalan, Portuguese, and Galician: topographic name for someone who lived near a crag or cliff, Spanish peña, Catalan, Galician, and Portuguese pena, a common element of place names.

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’.

Dutch, German, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a baker of bread, or brick and tiles, from backen ‘to bake’. English: occupational name for a maker or user of mattocks or pickaxes, from an agent derivative of Old English becca ‘mattock’.

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.

habitational name from any of numerous places named Soto or El Soto, from soto ‘grove’, ‘small wood’ (Latin saltus). Castilianized spelling of Asturian-Leonese Sotu, a habitational name from a town so named in Asturies. Castilianized spelling of the Galician equivalent, Souto.

Galician (Méndez): patronymic from the personal name Mendo (see Mendes, of which this is the Galician equivalent).

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.

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: variant of Power.

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

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.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with black hair or a dark complexion, from Middle High German swarz, German schwarz, Yiddish shvarts ‘dark’, ‘black’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

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.

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).

English: variant spelling of Bird.

Spanish: variant spelling of Valdés (see Valdes).

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: 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: 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: 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.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname for a thin person, from Spanish, Portuguese delgado ‘slender’ (Latin delicatus ‘dainty’, ‘exquisite’, a derivative of deliciae ‘delight’, ‘joy’).

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.

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.

Variant of Scottish and northern Irish Fraser.

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.

German, Dutch (also de Klein(e)) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German, Dutch, German klein ‘small’, or Yiddish kleyn. This was a nickname for a person of small stature, but is also often found as a distinguishing name for a junior male, usually a son, in names such as Kleinhans and Kleinpeter. This name is common and widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

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).

English (mainly Nottinghamshire): habitational name from any of various places, for example in Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Shropshire, and Staffordshire, which are named from Old English scylf ‘shelf’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

'What craftsman art thou?' said the king.

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.

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

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

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).

Altered form of Irish McDonnell ‘son of Donal’, from an incorrect association of the Gaelic patronymic with the personal name Daniel.

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

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

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, 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, 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, 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 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.

Welsh: variant spelling of Vaughan.

Respelling of a Scandinavian and North German patronymic derived from the Old Norse personal name Eiríkr, which is composed of ei ‘ever’, ‘always’ (or a reduced form of ein ‘one’, ‘only’) + rík ‘power’. The main forms are Erichsen, Eriksen, Ericsson, and Eriksson.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for an aggressive person or for a soldier, from an agent derivative of guerra ‘war’. Compare Guerra.

from a personal name, byname, or nickname, dos Santos (from Spanish Todos los Santos ‘All Saints’, Portuguese Todos os santos), typically bestowed on a child born on All Saints’ Day. in many cases, a habitational name from any of the places named Santos, from the dedication of a local church or shrine to all the saints. This is a very common Portuguese surname.

English: patronymic from Park 2.

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.

Irish, English, and German: variant spelling of Wolf.

Americanized or Jewish spelling of Zimmermann.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One who came from Sandoval, in Spain.The latin "sancto-vallis" - holy valley - provides the meaning of this surname. One who dwells in a holy valley.Castilian name from political subdivision of Villadiego (Burgos), and descended from Count Fernán-González.

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

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’.

English: patronymic from Daw 1.

English: patronymic from Grave 1. French: topographic name from the plural of Old French grave ‘gravel’ (see Grave).

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, 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 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).

Galician and Spanish (Ríos): habitational name from any of the places called Ríos, predominantly in Galicia. Spanish (Ríós): habitational name from Ríós in Ourense, Galicia.

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

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Badajoz province called Alvarado.

Spanish (from Galician): habitational name from Ortega in A Coruña province. Spanish: nickname from ortega ‘(female) black grouse’ (from Greek ortyx ‘quail’). Southern French (Occitan): topographic name from Occitan ortiga ‘nettle’ (Latin urtica, French ortie).

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.

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).

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Spain and Portugal named Estrada, from estrada ‘road’, Latin stata (via) (from sternere ‘to strew or cover’), a term denoting a paved way.

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.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cionaodha or Mac Cionaoith ‘son of Cionaodh’, a personal name which is probably composed of the elements cion ‘respect’, ‘affection’ + Aodh, a Gaelic personal name, originally the name of the Celtic god of fire. The personal name thus probably means ‘beloved of Aodh’. Northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Coinnigh ‘son of Coinneach’, an Old Irish personal name equivalent to Scottish Kenneth. Compare Kenny. Also the Scottish name as in 1.

Americanized spelling of Swedish Svensson or Danish and Norwegian Svensen (see Svendsen). Scottish and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Swan.

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.

Welsh: from the Old Welsh personal name Gruffudd, Old Welsh Grip(p)iud, composed of the elements grip, of uncertain significance, + iud ‘chief’, ‘lord’.

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.

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).

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’.

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.

Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named for the dedication of their churches to St. James (Sant Iago). The apostle St. James the Greater is the patron saint of Spain; there is a medieval legend that, after the death of Christ, he did not meet a speedy end under Herod Agrippa, but visited and evangelized the Iberian peninsula. His alleged burial site at Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage from all over Europe for over a thousand years.

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.

Spanish: habitational name from Conteraras, a place in the province of Burgos. The place name is derived from Late Latin contraria ‘surrounding area’, ‘region’ (from the preposition contra ‘opposite’, ‘against’, ‘hard by’).

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Vega or La Vega, from vega ‘meadow’ (of pre-Roman origin, probably originally denoting irrigated land).

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: patronymic from Robin.

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 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).

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.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a big man, from Middle High German groz ‘large’, ‘thick’, ‘corpulent’, German gross. The Jewish name has been Hebraicized as Gadol, from Hebrew gadol ‘large’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking countries. English: nickname for a big man, from Middle English, Old French gros (Late Latin grossus, of Germanic origin, thus etymologically the same word as in 1 above). The English vocabulary word did not develop the sense ‘excessively fat’ until the 16th century.

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

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

Son of Gerald: v. Gerald.

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.

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’.

Spanish (Núñez): patronymic from the personal name Nuño (see Nuno).

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.

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).

nickname for an ugly or stupid person, from Spanish mal donado ‘ill-favored’. The phrase is a compound of mal ‘badly’ + donado ‘given’, ‘endowed’, past participle of donare ‘to give’, ‘to bestow’. habitational name from Maldonado, a village in the province of Albacete.

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).

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.

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

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: habitational name from a place in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), so called from Old English hramsa ‘wild garlic’ + eg ‘island’, ‘low-lying land’. There are other places in England called Ramsey, but the one in Huntingdonshire is almost certainly the source of the surname. The usual spelling of the surname in Scotland is Ramsay.

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, Danish, and German: from a short form of the various Germanic compound names with a first element wolf ‘wolf’, or a byname or nickname with this meaning. The wolf was native throughout the forests of Europe, including Britain, until comparatively recently. In ancient and medieval times it played an important role in Germanic mythology, being regarded as one of the sacred beasts of Woden. This name is widespread throughout northern, central, and eastern Europe, as well as in Britain and German-speaking countries. German: habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a wolf, Middle High German wolf. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Volf meaning ‘wolf’, which is associated with the Hebrew personal name Binyamin (see Benjamin). This association stems from Jacob’s dying words ‘Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil’ (Genesis 49:27). Irish: variant spelling of Woulfe.

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, 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: 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: 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.

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.

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’.

English: occupational name for a sheepshearer or someone who used shears to trim the surface of finished cloth and remove excess nap, from Middle English shereman ‘shearer’. Americanized spelling of German Schuermann. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a tailor, from Yiddish sher ‘scissors’ + man ‘man’.

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.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the various minor places, for example in the provinces of Burgos, Guadalajara, and Valladolid, named from Spanish padilla ‘frying pan’, ‘breadpan’ (Latin patella, a diminutive of patina ‘shallow dish’), a word which was commonly used in the topographical sense of a gentle depression.

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.

Spanish (Domínguez): patronymic from the personal name Domingo.

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.

Irish (mainly County Louth): generally of English origin (see 1); but sometimes also used as a variant of Harman or Hardiman, i.e. an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hArgadáin (see Hargadon). English: variant spelling of Harman 1.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Comhraidhe, ‘descendant of Comhraidhe’, a personal name of uncertain meaning. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Corra (see Corr). Scottish and northern English: variant of Currie.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Spanish: habitational name from places called Luna in Zaragoza, Araba, and Lleón provinces. Jewish (Sephardic): from the female personal name Luna (Spanish luna ‘moon’).

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aodha ‘son of Aodh’ (see McCoy).

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

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’.

Welsh: from one of the most common Welsh personal names, Rhys, Old Welsh Ris ‘ardor’. This was the name of the last ruler of an independent kingdom of Wales, Rhys ap Tewder, who died in 1093 unsuccessfully opposing the Norman advance. North German and Dutch: nickname for a very big man, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch rese ‘giant’. German: habitational name from places called Rees or Reese, in Rhineland and Lower Saxony.

Portuguese and Spanish: altered form (by misdivision) of Da Costa.

English: variant spelling of Clark.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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).

German (Müller) and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller, Middle High German müller, German Müller. In Germany Müller, Mueller is the most frequent of all surnames; in the U.S. it is often changed to Miller.

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.

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

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.

North German (Schröder): occupational name for a cloth cutter or tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Low German schroden, schraden ‘to cut’. The same term was occasionally used to denote a gristmiller as well as a shoemaker, whose work included cutting leather, and also a drayman, one who delivered beer and wine in bulk to customers; in some instances the surname may have been acquired in either of these senses. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

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).

Spanish (Márquez): patronymic from the personal name Marcos.

English: patronymic from Hodge.

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.

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.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): status name for a peasant or nickname meaning ‘neighbor’, ‘fellow citizen’, from Middle High German (ge)bur, Middle Low German bur, denoting an occupant of a bur, a small dwelling or building. Compare Old English bur, modern English bower. This word later fell together with Middle High German buwære, an agent noun from Old High German buan ‘to cultivate’, later also (at first in Low German dialects) ‘to build’. The German surname thus has two possible senses: ‘peasant’ and ‘neighbor’, ‘fellow citizen’. The precise meaning of the Jewish surname, which is of later formation, is unclear. This surname is also found elsewhere in central and eastern Europe, for example in Slovenia, where it may also be a translation of Kmet.

South American spelling of Spanish Espinosa; the spelling with -z- represents a voiced pronunciation heard in some Latin-American countries, whereas in Castilian Spanish it now has an unvoiced -s-.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEidhin ‘descendant of Eidhin’, a personal name or byname of uncertain origin. It may be a derivative of eidhean ‘ivy’, or it may represent an altered form of the place name Aidhne. The principal family of this name is descended from Guaire of Aidhne, King of Connacht. From the 7th century for over a thousand years they were chiefs of a territory in County Galway. English: patronymic from Hine. Americanized spelling of German Heins or Heinz.

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.

Scottish (Berwickshire) and Irish: from the Old Norse personal name Makkr, a form of Magnus (Old Irish Maccus). North German, Dutch, and French (Alsace): from the Germanic personal name Macco, Makko, a pet form of a compound name with the initial element mag- ‘kinsman’. Shortened form of any of the many Scottish and Irish names beginning M(a)c-.

Galician and Spanish (Vázquez): variant of Vásquez (see Vasquez).

Spanish: variant of Cortés (see Cortes).

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’.

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.

German (also Krämer), Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a shopkeeper, peddler, or hawker, from an agent derivative of Middle High German, Middle Low German kram ‘trading post’, ‘tent’, ‘booth’. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe.

English (chiefly Leicestershire): variant of Hubert.

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

English: variant of Bower.

Spanish, Italian, and Jewish (Sephardic) (of Basque origin): regional name denoting someone from Navarre (see Navarra).

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.

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: from the Middle English personal name Adkin, a pet form of Adam that was in use particularly in the English Midlands, + patronymic -s. Compare Atkins.

English: from the Old English personal name Tata, possibly a short form of various compound names with the obscure first element tat, or else a nursery formation. This surname is common and widespread in Britain; the chief area of concentration is northeastern England, followed by northern Ireland.

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

from the Middle English byname or personal name Cobbe, Cobba, or its Old Norse cognate Kobbi, which are probably from an element meaning ‘lump’, used to denote a large man. from a reduced form of Jacob.

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

Spanish: habitational name from places in Burgos or Lugo (Galicia) named Rojas, from a derivative of rojo ‘red’.

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

Dutch: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hard ‘hardy’, ‘strong’ + man ‘man’. Respelling of German Hartmann. This name is also found in Slovenia and elsewhere in central Europe. Jewish (Ashkenazic): elaborated form of Hart.

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’.

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Hampton, including the cities of Southampton and Northampton (both of which were originally simply Hamtun). These all share the final Old English element tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’, but the first is variously ham ‘homestead’, hamm ‘water meadow’, or hean, weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of heah ‘high’. This name is also established in Ireland, having first been taken there in the medieval period.

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

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.

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

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

English, northern Irish, and Scottish: from a pet form of the personal name Pate.

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 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.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with white hair or a remarkably pale complexion, from Middle High German wiz ‘white’, German weiss. German: variant of Weis. German: habitational name from any of various places named Weis(s) or Weissen. German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name formed with wig ‘battle’ or widu ‘wood’ as the first element.

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’.

Galician: habitational name from any of the places in Galicia named Figueroa, from a derivative of figueira ‘fig tree’.

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).

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of numerous places named Molina, in particular the one in Guadalajara province.

Irish: variant spelling of Connor, now common in Scotland. English: occupational name for an inspector of weights and measures, Middle English connere, cunnere ‘inspector’, an agent derivative of cun(nen) ‘to examine’.

Welsh: variant of Lloyd.

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

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).

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).

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.

English: habitational name from a place in Cumbria, so called from Old English styr(i)c, steorc ‘bullock’ + land ‘land’, ‘pasture’.

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.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with red hair, from Middle High German rot, German rot ‘red’. As a Jewish surname it is also at least partly ornamental: its frequency as a Jewish surname is disproportionate to the number of Jews who, one may reasonably assume, were red-headed during the period of surname adoption. German and English: topographic name for someone who lived on land that had been cleared, Old High German rod, Old English rod, roð. German: from a short form of any of the various Germanic personal names with the first element hrod ‘renown’. Compare Rode 1, Ross 3.

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.

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.

English: patronymic from Gibb.

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.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of numerous places in Spain and Portugal called Miranda. The derivation of the place name is uncertain; it may be of pre-Roman origin, or from Latin miranda ‘view’, ‘outlook’. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Spanish (Durán) and Catalan: from the personal name Durand (see Durant, Durante). English: variant of Durant. Polish: from a derivative of Dura. Czech: from a derivative of Dura.

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: 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.

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.

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.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Sparrowhawk'; found as early as Domesday in the forms Sperhauoc (Nottinghamshire), Sparhauoc (Suffolk), (a) Nick, 'the sparrow - hawk.' Middle English sperhauke (Piers Plowman).

Vietnamese (Ph?am): unexplained.

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.

Portuguese: topographic name from campos ‘fields’, denoting someone who lived in the countryside as opposed to a town.

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 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.

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, Scottish, and North German: variant of Brook. English, Scottish, and Scandinavian: nickname for a person supposedly resembling a badger, Middle English broc(k) (Old English brocc) and Danish brok (a word of Celtic origin; compare Welsh broch, Cornish brogh, Irish broc). In the Middle Ages badgers were regarded as unpleasant creatures. English: nickname from Old French broque, brock ‘young stag’. Dutch: from a personal name, a short form of Brockaert . South German: nickname for a stout and strong man from Middle High German brocke ‘lump’, ‘piece’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): probably an acronymic family name from Jewish Aramaic bar- or Hebrew ben- ‘son of’, and the first letter of each part of a Yiddish double male personal name. Compare Brill. Jewish (from Poland): habitational name from Brok, a place in Poland.

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.

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: 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).

English and Scottish: derogatory nickname from a derivative of bald ‘bald-headed’ (see Bald 2).

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.

Scottish: habitational name from lands in the parish of Paisley, near Glasgow. The place name is of uncertain derivation, perhaps from Welsh coch ‘red’, although this etymology is not supported by the early spelling Coueran.

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

Spanish (Ávila): habitational name from Ávila in old Castile. Its name, first recorded in the Latin forms Avela and Abulia, is of unknown derivation and meaning. Portuguese and Galician: from Davila, a topographic name for someone from a town or village, da vila, reinterpreted as d’Avila.

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.

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.

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

Variant spelling of Scottish Lindsay. Irish: reduced and Anglicized form of various Gaelic surnames, as for example Ó Loingsigh (see Lynch 1), Mac Giolla Fhionntóg (see McClintock), and Ó Fhloinn (see Flynn). English: habitational name from Lindsey in Suffolk, named in Old English as ‘island (Old English eg) of Lelli’, a personal name representing a byform of an unattested name Lealla.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Salinas, from the plural of salina ‘saltworks’ (Latin salinae, a derivative of sal ‘salt’).

English: patronymic meaning ‘son of the mayor’ (see Mayer 1). Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal Meyer (see Meyer 2). American form of German Meyer, with excrescent -s. Irish: variant of Meyer 3.

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.

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

English: variant of Stoke.

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.

Basque: habitational name or topographic name from Basque ai ‘slope’, ‘hillside’ + al(h)a ‘pasture’.

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).

German, Dutch, Danish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): regional name for someone from the territory of Hesse (German Hessen). South German: from a short form of the personal name Matthäus (see Matthew). German and Dutch: from the Germanic personal name Hesso.

English: from Old French bas(se) ‘low’, ‘short’ (Latin bassus ‘thickset’; see Basso), either a descriptive nickname for a short person or a status name meaning ‘of humble origin’, not necessarily with derogatory connotations. English: in some instances, from Middle English bace ‘bass’ (the fish), hence a nickname for a person supposedly resembling this fish, or a metonymic occupational name for a fish seller or fisherman. Scottish: habitational name from a place in Aberdeenshire, of uncertain origin. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a maker or player of bass viols, from Polish, Ukrainian, and Yiddish bas ‘bass viol’. German: see Basse.

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

Scottish and northern Irish: probably a variant of Curzon.

Chiefly northern Irish: variant of Grier.

Americanized spelling of German Schaffer ‘steward’ or of Schaefer ‘shepherd’.

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.

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.

Northern English form of Bridge, from Old Norse bryggja.

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

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.

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: 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.

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).

Spanish (León): habitational name from León, a city in northwestern Spain, named with Latin legio, genitive legionis ‘legion’, a division of the Roman army. In Roman times the city was the garrison of the 7th Legion, known as the Legio Gemina. The city’s name became reduced from Legion(em) to Leon(em), and in this form developed an unetymological association with the word for ‘lion’, Spanish león. Spanish: from the personal name León, from Greek leon ‘lion’ (see Lyon 2). Leon is also found as a Greek family name. Spanish: nickname for a fierce or brave warrior, from león ‘lion’. French (Léon) and English: variant of Lyon.

English and Dutch: patronymic from Wilkin.

Northern English and Scottish: habitational name from a place called Copeland, of which there is an example in Cumbria, or from Coupland in Northumberland, both named with Old Norse kaupa-land ‘bought land’, a feature worthy of note during the early Middle Ages, when land was rarely sold, but rather held by feudal tenure and handed down from one generation to the next.

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.

German: occupational name for a roofer (thatcher, tiler, slater, or shingler) or a carpenter or builder, from an agent derivative of Middle High German decke ‘covering’, a word which was normally used to refer to roofs, but sometimes also to other sorts of covering; modern German Decke still has the twin senses ‘ceiling’ and ‘blanket’. Dutch: variant of Dekker, cognate with 1. English: variant of Dicker.

Northern English and Scottish: patronymic from Nichol.

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’.

English: habitational name from a place in Cheshire named Davenport, from the Dane river (apparently named with a Celtic cognate of Middle Welsh dafnu ‘to drop’, ‘to trickle’) + Old English port ‘market town’. Irish (County Tipperary): English surname adopted by bearers of Munster Gaelic Ó Donndubhartaigh ‘descendant of Donndubhartach’, a personal name composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + dubh ‘black’ + artach ‘nobleman’.

Spanish (Mejía): probably from a religious byname (possibly under Jewish influence), from a vernacular form of Latin, Greek Messias ‘Messiah’, from Hebrew mašia?h ‘anointed’.

habitational name from a place near Glasgow, Scotland, named with the genitive case of the medieval personal name Hugh + Middle English tune, toun ‘settlement’, ‘village’ (Old English tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’). The landlord in question is a certain Hugo de Paduinan, who held the place c.1160. The Scottish surname is common in Ulster. Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Uisdein, Mac Uistein (see McCutcheon).

Spanish: nickname for a person with some peculiarity of the cheek or jaw, Spanish carrillo. The word is attested since the 13th century, but its origin is uncertain. It appears to be a diminutive of carro ‘cart’, ‘wagon’, and it has been suggested that the reference is to the movements of the jaw in chewing. The surname may also have denoted originally a bold or shameless person; for the semantic development compare Cheek.

English: habitational name from any of various places named with Old English hwit ‘white’ or hw?te ‘wheat’ + æcer ‘cultivated land’, as for example Whitaker in Lancashire and Whitacre in Warwickshire (both ‘white field’) or Whiteacre in Kent and Wheatacre in Norfolk (both ‘wheat field’).

English: patronymic from Wilcock.

English: patronymic from Wilkin.

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).

Spanish: topographic name from the plural of roble ‘oak’, or a habitational name from Los Robles in Lleón, named from the same word.

English and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived near or in a wood, from Middle English under + wude, wode ‘wood’, or a habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the former county of Ayrshire (from Old English under + wudu).

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Atkin.

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’.

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).

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

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for a belligerent person or for a soldier, from guerra ‘war’. In some cases the Italian name may represent a short form of various compound personal names containing this element, for example Vinciguèrra. The Iberian name may in some cases reflect a misinterpretation of the Basque base ezquerra, esquerra, from esker ‘left-handed’. Basque: Castilianized form of Basque Gerra, a topographic name for someone who lived in a break or depression in a range of hills, from Basque gerri ‘waist’.

English: variant of Bridge. The -s generally represents the genitive case, but may occasionally be a plural. In some cases this name denoted someone from the Flemish city of Bruges (Brugge), meaning ‘bridges’, which had extensive trading links with England in the Middle Ages.

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.

Dutch: from Middle Dutch huve, a measure of land area (compare German Huber) + -er, suffix of agent nouns; a status name for a landowner or a prosperous small farmer.

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.

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

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.

Irish: reduced form of Connolly.

English and Scottish (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from any of various places in northern France which get their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Maccius + the locative suffix -acum. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Marcy in La Manche. This surname is preserved in the English place name Stondon Massey. English: from a pet form of Matthew. Altered spelling of French Massé (see Masse 4).

Spanish: habitational name from the city so named in Cáceres province, called in Latin Turgalium, which is probably of Arabic origin. This place was the home of various conquistadors, hence its great frequency in the Americas.

English: metonymic occupational name for a huntsman, or rather a nickname for an exceptionally skilled huntsman, from Middle English chase ‘hunt’ (Old French chasse, from chasser ‘to hunt’, Latin captare). Southern French: topographic name for someone who lived in or by a house, probably the occupier of the most distinguished house in the village, from a southern derivative of Latin casa ‘hut’, ‘cottage’, ‘cabin’.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of 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.

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.

Scottish: according to tradition, this is a rare example of a Gaelic surname of topographic origin, the first element of which is probably Gaelic mun, a mutated form of bun ‘foot’, or British minit ‘hill’. In Ireland this name has sometimes been used as an equivalent of O’Mellan (see Mellon) and Milroy 2.

Spanish and Portuguese: from a personal name of uncertain, possibly pre-Roman, origin.

(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 Norman origin): from a nickname meaning ‘good’, from Old French bon ‘good’. Compare Bone 1. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Bohon in La Manche, France, of obscure etymology. Dutch: from Middle Dutch bone, boene ‘bean’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a bean grower or a nickname for a man of little importance (broad beans having been an extremely common crop in the medieval period), or possibly for a tall thin man (with reference to the runner bean).

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a spur of a hill, Old English hoh (literally, ‘heel’). German: from the Germanic personal name Hufo, a short form of a compound name formed with hug ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘spirit’ as the first element.

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).

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.

This surname means 'of the lion' in Spanish.

English, Scottish, German, and Dutch: from Middle English, Middle High German, Middle Dutch horn ‘horn’, applied in a variety of senses: as a metonymic occupational name for someone who made small articles, such as combs, spoons, and window lights, out of horn; as a metonymic occupational name for someone who played a musical instrument made from the horn of an animal; as a topographic name for someone who lived by a horn-shaped spur of a hill or tongue of land in a bend of a river, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this element (for example, in England, Horne in Surrey on a spur of a hill and Horn in Rutland in a bend of a river); as a nickname, perhaps referring to some feature of a person’s physical appearance, or denoting a cuckolded husband. Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads so named, from Old Norse horn ‘horn’, ‘spur of land’. Swedish: ornamental or topographic name from horn ‘horn’, ‘spur of land’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): presumably from German Horn ‘horn’, adopted as a surname for reasons that are not clear. It may be purely ornamental, or it may refer to the ram’s horn (Hebrew shofar) blown in the Synagogue during various ceremonies.

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).

Spanish: habitational name from a place named Lara de los Infantes in Burgos province.

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

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: 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.

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).

Catalan and Spanish: habitational name from any of various minor places called Cabrera, from Late Latin capraria ‘place of goats’ (a derivative of Latin capra ‘goat’).

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.

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

Spanish: unexplained. This is a frequent name in Spain.

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).

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.

Northern English: variant of Robertson.

Spanish (Juárez): regional variant of Suárez (see Suarez).

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named with fuentes, plural of fuente ‘spring’, ‘well’ (see Fuente), as for example Fuentes (Cuenca, Albacete, and Segovia provinces), Fuentes Calientes (Teruel), Fuentes de León (Badajoz), Fuentes de Valdepero (Palencia).

Spanish form of Basque Agirre, a topographic name from Basque ager, agir ‘open space’, ‘pasture’. This is found as the first element of several place names, reflected in surnames such as Aguirrezabal(a) ‘broad open space’; the modern surname may be a shortening of any of these.

English (southwestern): patronymic from Philip.

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 (mainly East Anglia): patronymic from a pet form of Dick 1.

German or Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a hill or mountain, from Middle High German berc. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe. Scandinavian: habitational name for someone who lived at a farmstead named with Old Norse bjarg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’. In Sweden this is commonly found as an element of ornamental names. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’, or a short form of any of the many ornamental surnames containing this word as the final element, for example Schönberg (see Schoenberg) and Goldberg.

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.

(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).

English: habitational name from the city of York in northern England, or perhaps in some cases a regional name from the county of Yorkshire. The surname is now widespread throughout England. Originally, the city bore the British name Eburacum, which probably meant ‘yew-tree place’. This was altered by folk etymology into Old English Eoforwic (from the elements eofor ‘wild boar’ + wic ‘outlying settlement’). This name was taken over by Scandinavian settlers in the area, who altered it back to opacity in the form Iorvík and eventually Iork, in which form it finally settled by the 13th century. The surname has also been adopted by Jews as an Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames.

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.

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).

Scottish: nickname for a person with red hair, from Gaelic ruadh ‘red’. English (of Norman origin): variant of Ray 1, cognate of 3. French: from Old French rey, roy ‘king’ (from Latin rex, genitive regis), a nickname for someone who lived in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities. Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: variant of Rai.

Northern Irish: reduced form of McCombs. English: variant of Coombs.

Spanish (of Basque origin): Castilianized form of the Basque personal name Otxoa, equivalent of Latin lupus ‘wolf’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived in a hollow (see Pitt). German (Pittmann): probably from a compound personal name formed with Pitt, a short form of Peter + Mann ‘man’.

Catalan, French, English, German (also Romann), Polish, Hungarian (Román), Romanian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian: from the Latin personal name Romanus, which originally meant ‘Roman’. This name was borne by several saints, including a 7th-century bishop of Rouen. English, French, and Catalan: regional or ethnic name for someone from Rome or from Italy in general, or a nickname for someone who had some connection with Rome, as for example having been there on a pilgrimage. Compare Romero.

English: patronymic from Garrett.

Altered spelling of German Bayer or Beyer. German: habitational name for someone from Boye (near Celle-Hannover). English: variant of Bowyer. Danish: habitational name from a place so named. The surname is also found in Norway and Sweden, probably from the same source.

English: patronymic from the personal name Atkin.

Scottish and Irish (Donegal): see Glenny.

Spanish and Italian: from a personal name, in origin an ethnic name for a Frank, a member of the Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the river Rhine in Roman times. See also Frank. The personal name was popularized by the cult of San Franco di Assergi. Italian and Spanish: nickname or status name from franco ‘free’ (usually denoting a freed slave). Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Spanish surname.

English: variant of Harold. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEarghail ‘descendant of Earghal’, a personal name with the same etymology as Fearghal (see Farrell).

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

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

English: nickname for a wealthy man (or perhaps in some cases an ironic nickname for a pauper), from Middle English, Old French riche ‘rich’, ‘wealthy’ (of Germanic origin, akin to Germanic ric ‘power(ful)’). English: from a medieval personal name, a short form of Richard, or less commonly of some other compound name with this first element. English: habitational name from the lost village of Riche in Lincolnshire, apparently so named from an Old English element ric ‘stream’ or, here, ‘drainage channel’. Some early forms of the surname, such as Ricardus de la riche (Hampshire 1200) and Alexander atte Riche (Sussex 1296) probably derive from minor places named with this element in southern counties, as for example Glynde Reach in Sussex. Americanized form of German Reich.

Spanish and Asturian-Leonese (Solís): habitational name from Solís in Asturies or a similarly named place elsewhere. English: from a medieval personal name bestowed on a child born after the death of a sibling, from Middle English solace ‘comfort’, ‘consolation’. The word also came to have the sense ‘delight’, ‘amusement’, and in some cases the surname may have arisen from a nickname for a playful or entertaining person.

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: patronymic from Flower 1.

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: habitational name from places in Lancashire and Sussex. The former seems from the present-day distribution of the surname to be the major source, and is named from Old English scingel ‘shingle(s)’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the latter gets its name from Old English sengel ‘burnt clearing’ + tun.

Dutch and French: from a variant of the personal name Mathias (see Matthew). English: patronymic from a pet form of Matthew.

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.

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

Altered spelling of Hoffmann.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Stein ‘rock’, Middle High German stein, hence a topographic name either for someone who lived on stony ground or for someone who lived by a notable outcrop of rock or by a stone boundary marker or monument. It could also be a metonymic occupational name for a mason or stonecutter, or, among Jews, an ornamental name. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe. Dutch: from a reduced form of the personal name Augustijn (see Austin). Norwegian: habitational name from any of ten or more farmsteads, notably in southeastern Norway, so named from Old Norse steinn ‘stone’. Scottish: from a reduced form of the personal name Steven (see Steen, Steven). Northern English and Scottish: from the Old Norse personal name Steinn meaning ‘stone’. Southern English: habitational name from a place named with Old English st?ne ‘stony place’, for example Stein in Sussex or Steane in Northamptonshire.

English: patronymic from Grime.

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 (mainly southern): from the Old French habitational name and personal name Paris (see Paris 1). Parrish is the most common form of the name in English, and is the result of confusion between -s and -sh (compare Norris), reinforced by folk etymological association with the modern English word parish. In the 17th and 18th centuries the surname was occasionally bestowed on foundlings brought up at the expense of the parish.

English: nickname for someone with golden hair, from Middle English gelden, golden (from Old English gylden). Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mag Ualghairg (see McGoldrick).

Americanized spelling of German Klein or a Jewish (Ashkenazic) variant of this name. Variant spelling of Scottish or Irish Clyne.

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, 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.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Gallegos, originally denoting a place settled by ‘people from Galicia’.

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).

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.

Spanish (Velásquez): patronymic from the personal name Velasco.

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’.

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

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).

English: patronymic from the personal name Wiggin.

English: patronymic from Jacob. As an American surname this name has absorbed cognates from other languages, for example Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch Jacobsen and Swedish Jacobsson.

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.

Spanish (Cárdenas): habitational name from places in the provinces of Almería and Logroño named Cárdenas, from the feminine plural of cárdeno ‘blue’, ‘bluish purple’ (Late Latin cardinus, from carduus ‘thistle’). Presumably the noun tierras ‘lands’ is to be understood, and the reference is to land covered with bluish plants, such as thistles or vines.

German, Dutch, Swedish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived in the mountains or hills (see Berg). As a Jewish name it is mainly ornamental. It is found as a surname throughout central and eastern Europe, either as a surname of German origin or as a German translation of a topographic name with similar meaning, for example Slovenian Gricar, Hribar, Gorjan or Gorjanc. Norwegian: habitational name from any of various farms so named with the plural of Berg ‘mountain’. French: occupational name for a shepherd, from Old French bergier (Late Latin berbicarius, from berbex ‘ram’).

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.

Northern Irish and Scottish: variant of Wylie. Possibly also English, a habitational name from Wylye in Wiltshire, named for the Wylye river (see Wilton). English: possibly a variant of Willey.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rivas or Ribas, a variant of Ribas. in some cases, variant of Catalan Ribes (see Ribas).

Spanish (also found in Portugal and Brazil): topographic name for someone who lived by a mountain ridge or chain of hills, from an adjectival derivative of serra.

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’.

Northern English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Yorkshire, all of which have the same origin as Middleton, with Old English middel replaced by its Old Norse equivalent meðal after the Scandinavian settlement of northern and eastern England.

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.

Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Uidhir (Scottish), Mac Giolla Uidhir (Irish), probably ‘son of the sallow lad’. Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Gille Dheòradha, Irish Mac Giolla Dheóradha ‘son of the servant of the pilgrim’.

English: patronymic from Jeffrey.

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.

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

Spanish (Treviño): habitational name from either of the places so named in the provinces of Burgos and Santander.

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’.

Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dubhghaill ‘son of Dubhghall’, a byname meaning ‘dark stranger’, used among the Gaels to distinguish the darker-haired Danes from fair-haired Norwegians. According to MacLysaght, this is the Irish form of the name of the Scottish clan McDougall, borne by a branch which went to Ireland from the Hebrides as mercenaries. However, Black shows that both forms were current in Scotland.

English: habitational name from a place in Lancashire named Beesley, perhaps from Old English beos ‘bent grass’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.

English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Cumbria, Derbyshire, County Durham, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, named Blackwell, from Old English blæc ‘black’, ‘dark’ + wæll(a), well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’.

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).

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.

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.

probably a habitational name from either of two places in Devon: Hensley in East Worlington, which is named with the Old English personal name Heahmund + Old English leah ‘(woodland) clearing’, or Hensleigh in Tiverton, which is named from Old English hengest ‘stallion’ (or the Old English personal name Hengest) + leah. possibly also a variant of Hemsley.

Scottish: habitational name from the lands of Keith in East Lothian. In the 17th century numerous bearers of this name settled in Ulster. German: nickname from Middle High German kit ‘sprout’, ‘offspring’.

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

Respelling of South German and Swiss Friedmann. Jewish (Ashkenazic): elaborated form of Fried.

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.

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

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: nickname denoting someone with very white hair or an exceptionally pale complexion, from Old English snaw ‘snow’. Americanized and shortened form of any of the Jewish ornamental names composed with German Schnee, Schnei, Schneu ‘snow’ as the first element.

English: variant of Pitt. Americanized spelling of German Pitz.

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.

Spanish (Colón): from the Latin Colombus, Colomba meaning ‘dove’, a personal name favored by early Christians because the dove was considered to be the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

English: patronymic from the personal name Henn(e), a short form of Henry 1, Hayne (see Hain 2), or Hendy. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAmhsaigh (see Hampson 2).

Galician: habitational name from a place in Lugo province named Cervantes.

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: from Old English cl?g ‘clay’, applied as a topographic name for someone who lived in an area of clay soil or as a metonymic occupational name for a worker in a clay pit (see Clayman). Americanized spelling of German Klee.

Spanish (Suárez): occupational name for a swineherd, Latin Suerius. Compare Portuguese Soares.

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.

Scottish: see McDonald.

Spanish (Calderón): topographic name from an augmentative of caldera ‘basin’, ‘crater’, ‘hollow’, a common element of stream and mountain names, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Calderón in Valencia province. Alternatively, it may be a metonymic occupational name from the same word in the sense ‘kettle’, ‘cauldron’.

English: patronymic from Wilkin.

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.

Americanized spelling of Dutch, German, and Jewish Klein. Slovenian (eastern Slovenia): probably a nickname or topographic name from klin ‘wedge’, ‘wooden peg’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places named Villar(r)eal, from Spanish villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + real ‘royal’ (Latin regalis), as for example Villarreal de San Carlos in Cáceres. The places were so named from having some particular connection with the Crown. in some cases, variant of Catalan Vila-real, from the town named Vila-real in Castelló de la Plana provinve.

habitational name from Merriott in Somerset, named in Old English as ‘boundary gate’ or ‘mare gate’, from (ge)m?re ‘boundary’ or miere ‘mare’ + geat ‘gate’. variant (as a result of hypercorrection) of Marriott, or of Marryat, which is from a Middle English personal name, Meryet, Old English M?rgeat, composed of the element m?r ‘boundary’ + the tribal name Geat (see Joslin).

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

English and French: nickname from Middle English, Old French prince (Latin princeps), presumably denoting someone who behaved in a regal manner or who had won the title in some contest of skill. Translation of German and Ashkenazic Jewish Prinz or of a word meaning ‘prince’ in some other language.

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.

Irish (especially Ulster): Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Mac Cú Uladh, a patronymic from Cú Uladh ‘hound of Ulster’. Compare McNally, which is from Mac Con Uladh, genitive form of the same name. It has sometimes been erroneously associated with Gaelic cullach ‘wild boar’, and some families in County Sligo have translated it into English as Boar.

Northern Irish and Scottish: variant of McKay.

Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic): from the Biblical personal name Levi, from a Hebrew word meaning ‘joining’. This was borne by a son of Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29: 34). Bearers of this name are Levites, members of the tribe of Levi, who form a hereditary caste who assist the kohanim (see Cohen) in their priestly duties.

English and Irish: topographic name for someone who lived by a fen or marsh, Old English fenn. Compare Fann.

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 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’.

Variant of Scottish or Irish McLean.

English (of Norman origin): habitational name, with the preposition d(e), from Orsay in Seine-et-Orne, France, recorded in the 13th century as Orceiacum, from the Latin personal name Orcius + the locative suffix -acum.

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

English: variant of Woodward.

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.

This surname is derived from an official title. or nick, 'a baron,' or a man who put on an air of dignity such as might become a baron. Middle English baron and barun.Osbert le Barun, Close Roll, 2 Edward I.Richard le Baron, Devon, 1273.

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: 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 and German: patronymic from Winter.

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 Middle English bullok ‘bullock’ (Old English bulluc), referring to a young bull rather than a castrated one, probably applied as a nickname for an exuberant young man, or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of bullocks.

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’.

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: nickname for a man with some fancied resemblance to a he-goat (Old English bucc(a)) or a male deer (Old English bucc). Old English Bucc(a) is found as a personal name, as is Old Norse Bukkr. Names such as Walter le Buk (Somerset 1243) are clearly nicknames. English: topographic name for someone who lived near a prominent beech tree, such as Peter atte Buk (Suffolk 1327), from Middle English buk ‘beech’ (from Old English boc). German: from a personal name, a short form of Burckhard (see Burkhart). North German and Danish: nickname for a fat man, from Middle Low German buk ‘belly’. Compare Bauch. German: variant of Bock. German: variant of Puck in the sense ‘defiant’, ‘spiteful’, or ‘stubborn’. German: topographic name from a field name, Buck ‘hill’.

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

This surname is derived from a nickname. ' the strong'; compare Strongfellow and Strongman, and also Long, Longman, and Longfellow. Naturally this has taken a firm hold upon our directories, the sobriquet being a popular one. There is no need for many instances.

English: nickname, sometimes perhaps ironic, from Middle English, Old French genterie ‘nobility of birth or character’. Compare Gentle.

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: habitational name from Durham, a city in northeastern England, named from Old English dun ‘hill’ (see Down 1) + Old Norse holmr ‘island’.

Chinese : Cantonese variant of Cai 1. Chinese : variant of Xu 1. Korean: variant of Choe.

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.

(Ger.) Shepherd [Ger. schäfer; from (with agential suff. -er) schaf, Middle High German schâf, O.H.Ger. scâf, a sheep]

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

Spanish, Galician, Aragonese, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places called with Salas, like Salas and Salas de los Barrios, (Galicia), Salas de los Infantes, (Burgos province), Salas Altas and Salas Baxas (Aragon), from the plural of Sala. Catalan and Asturian-Leonese: variant of Sales. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Szálas, a nickname from szálas ‘tall’.

German: from Middle High German hane ‘rooster’, hence a nickname for a conceited or sexually active man. In some instances it may have been a habitational name from a house bearing the sign of a rooster. German: patronymic from a reduced form of the personal name Johannes (see John). This surname is also found in Denmark and Sweden. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Hahn ‘rooster’, one of the many Ashkenazic surnames based on vocabulary words denoting birds or animals.

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.

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).

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

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

Spanish and Asturian-Leonese (Castañeda): habitational name from any of various places in Santander, Asturies, and Salamanca, named with castañeda, a collective of castaña ‘chestnut’.

Portuguese: unexplained. This very common Portuguese surname seems to have originated in Andalusia, Spain.

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).

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).

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

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, French, Dutch, Slovenian, Croatian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements heri, hari ‘army’ + man ‘man’. As a Jewish surname this is no doubt an adoption of the German surname Hermann. Respelling of the German cognate Hermann.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rosales, from the plural of rosal, collective of rosa ‘rose’ (see Rosal). Galician (Rosalés): name for someone from Rosal, a town in Baixo Miñ district in Galicia.

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: status name for a mayor, Middle English, Old French mair(e) (from Latin maior ‘greater’, ‘superior’; compare Mayor). In France the title denoted various minor local officials, and the same is true of Scotland (see Mair 1). In England, however, the term was normally restricted to the chief officer of a borough, and the surname may have been given not only to a citizen of some standing who had held this office, but also as a nickname to a pompous or officious person. German and Dutch: variant of Meyer 1. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Meyer 2.

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’.

Dutch, German, and English: patronymic from the personal name Hendrick.

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.

Scottish and English: from Middle English stark ‘firm’, ‘unyielding’, hence a nickname for a stern, determined, or physically strong person. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a strong, bold person, from Middle High German stark(e), German stark ‘strong’, ‘brave’.

Spanish: from mercado ‘market’, topographic name for someone living by a market or metonymic occupational name for a market trader.

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the Stout'; compare Bigg, Little, &c. Stout was once a familiar surname in Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is now somewhat rare in England, but flourishes in America.Willelmus Stoute, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

English: variant of Meadow.

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 and German: metonymic occupational name for a glazier or glass blower, from Old English glæs ‘glass’ (akin to Glad, referring originally to the bright shine of the material), Middle High German glas. Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of the epithet glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’ or any of various Gaelic surnames derived from it. German: altered form of the personal name Klass, a reduced form of Nikolaus (see Nicholas). Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Glass ‘glass’, or a metonymic occupational name for a glazier or glass blower.

Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Levin. Altered spelling of French Lavigne.

English (chiefly southern Yorkshire and Lancashire): habitational name from any of several places called Mos(e)ley in central, western, and northwestern England. The obvious derivation is from Old English mos ‘peat bog’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’, but the one in southern Birmingham (Museleie in Domesday Book) had as its first element Old English mus ‘mouse’, while one in Staffordshire (Molesleie in Domesday Book) had the genitive case of the Old English byname Moll.

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.

Welsh and English: variant of Morris. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames, especially Moses. Compare Morris.

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.

Catalan (València) and Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called València or Valencia, principally the major city in eastern Spain, which was formerly the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom of the same name, until it was reconquered in 1239 by James I, king of the Catalan dynasty, and became part of the Crown of Aragon together with the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon. The city was apparently named from an honorary title derived from Latin valens ‘brave’.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of Zamora in northwestern Spain, capital of the province which bears its name.

Gain(e)’s (Son): v. Gain(e.

German: occupational name or status name from the German word Knapp(e), a variant of Knabe ‘young unmarried man’. In the 15th century this spelling acquired the separate, specialized meanings ‘servant’, ‘apprentice’, or ‘miner’. German: in Franconia, a nickname for a dexterous or skillful person. English: topographic name for someone who lived by a hillock, Middle English knappe, Old English cnæpp, or habitational name from any of the several minor places named with the word, in particular Knapp in Hampshire and Knepp in Sussex. German and western Slavic: variant of Knabe.

Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cathmhaoil ‘son of Cathmhaol’, a personal name composed of the elements cath ‘battle’ + maol ‘chief’. Anglicized form of Mac Cathail ‘son of Cathal’ (see Cahill).

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.

Irish: variant of Scottish Colquhoun.

Americanized spelling of German Konrad. In some cases the name may be French in origin, from the French form of the same name, or alternatively it may be an Americanized form of any of the various cognates in other languages, such as Dutch Koenraad or Czech Konrád.

habitational name from any of the numerous places named Villanueva, from Spanish villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + nueva (feminine) ‘new’ (Latin nova). Castilianized spelling of Catalan and Galician Vilanova, a habitational name from a frequent place name, of the same derivation as 1 above.

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: 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.

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

English: variant of Harding. French: from a pet form of any of several Germanic compound personal names beginning with hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

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.

Scottish: habitational name from a place in Lothian, originally named in Middle English as Levingston, from an owner called Levin (see Lewin 1), who appears in charters of David I in the early 12th century. Irish: name adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Ó Duinnshléibhe and Mac Duinnshléibhe (see Dunleavy). Americanized form of Jewish Lowenstein.

Northern English: variant of the English surname Blenkinsop, a habitational name from a place called Blenkinsopp in Northumberland.

English (mainly East Anglia): metonymic occupational name for someone who dealt in weights and measures, for example a grain factor, from Middle English pekke ‘peck’ (an old measure of dry goods equivalent to eight quarts or a quarter of a bushel). English: variant of Peak 1. Irish: variant of Peak 2. South German: variant of Beck. North German and Dutch: metonymic occupational name for someone who prepared or sold pitch, from Middle Low German pek, Middle Dutch pec, pic. Dutch: from Middle Dutch pec, pick ‘desperate straits’, hence a nickname for a person in difficult circumstances or perhaps for someone with a gloomy disposition.

English (mainly Yorkshire): patronymic from Seller 1–4.

English: patronymic from Ellis.

French and English: nickname from a pet form of Old French proux ‘valiant’, ‘brave’, or ‘wise’ (see Proulx, Prue).

Spanish: nickname for an elegant or haughty person, from lozano ‘splendid’, later ‘good-looking’.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhloinn and Ó Fhloinn (see Flynn). Scottish: variant of Lyne 3. English: habitational name from any of several places so called in Norfolk, in particular King’s Lynn, an important center of the medieval wool trade. The place name is probably from an Old Welsh word cognate with Gaelic linn ‘pool’, ‘stream’.

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

Northern Irish: variant of McFarlane.

Son of Patrick: v. Patrick.

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.

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.

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

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.

English: from Anglo-Norman French cas(s)e ‘case’, ‘container’ (from Latin capsa), hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of boxes or chests. Americanized spelling of French Caisse. Americanized spelling of Kaas. Americanized spelling of German Käse, a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of cheese. Compare Kaeser.

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.

French: variant of Blanc 1 (‘white’, ‘blond’, ‘pale’), with the definite article le.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Labhradha (see Lavery). Northern English and Scottish: from a pet form of Lawrence. Southwestern English: habitational name from Lowery in Devon, named with the Old English personal name Leofa or Lufa + Old English worðig ‘enclosure’.

Scottish and English: habitational name from any of various places in southwestern Scotland and northern England that are named with Old Norse kross ‘cross’ + býr ‘farm’, ‘settlement’. Irish: Scottish and English surname (see 1 above) adopted by bearers of Gaelic Mac an Chrosáin (see McCrossen).

(German) One who made casks, a cooper.

English: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements frid, fred ‘peace’ + ric ‘power’, introduced into England from France by the Normans. See also Friedrich.

English and German: classicized spelling of Randolf, a Germanic personal name composed of the elements rand ‘rim’ (of a shield), ‘shield’ + wolf ‘wolf’. This was introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers in the Old Norse form Rannúlfr, and was reinforced after the Norman Conquest by the Norman form Randolf.

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: 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: variant of Gold.

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’.

English: from a vernacular short form of the Latin personal name Paschalis (see Pascal, Italian Pasquale). nickname for a mild-mannered and peaceable person, from Middle English pace, pece ‘peace’, ‘concord’, ‘amity’ (via Anglo-Norman French from Latin pax, genitive pacis). Italian: from the medieval personal name Pace, used for both men and women, from the word pace ‘peace’ (see 1).

English (chiefly Lancashire and Cumbria): habitational name from places called Pennington, in Lancashire, Cumbria, and Hampshire. The latter two are so called from Old English pening ‘penny’ (Penny) (used as a byname or from a tribute due on the land) + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The place of this name in the parish of Leigh in Lancashire is recorded in the 13th century as Pinington and Pynington, and may be from Old English Pinningtun ‘settlement (tun) associated with a man named Pinna’.

English: occupational name for a sexton or churchwarden, from Middle English sexteyn ‘sexton’ (Old French secrestein, from Latin sacristanus). Irish (Munster and midlands): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seastnáin ‘descendant of Seastnán, Seasnán’, a personal name meaning ‘bodyguard’, from seasuighim ‘to resist’, ‘to defend’.

Mexican (Cantú): probably a habitational name from Cantù in Italy. This surname is extremely frequent in Mexico, but rare elsewhere.

Vietnamese (Hu?nh): unexplained.

Spanish (Macías) and Portuguese: from a variant of the personal name Matías (see Matthew).

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’.

Galician and Portuguese: habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia and Portugal named Andrade, perhaps originally villa Andr(e)ati ‘estate of a man named Andreas’.

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: 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: 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.

Spanish (Vélez): patronymic from the personal name Vela. Spanish (Vélez): habitational name from any of various places in Andalusia called Vélez. Portuguese (Velez, Velêz): unexplained. It may be a habitational name from Vellés in Salamanca.

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’.

English: derivative of Ayer. The -s most probably represents a trace of the Latin nominative singular in heres ‘heir’, but it may also signify the son or servant of someone known as ‘the heir’, i.e. someone who was heir to some great estate.

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Santana, an assimilated form of Santa Ana.

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’.

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.

Respelling of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Kaufmann. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name Kaufman, Yiddish koyfman, meaning ‘merchant’.

Irish: variant spelling of Doherty.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived in a place overgrown with broom, from a collective form of escoba ‘broom’ (Late Latin scopa), or a habitational name from any of the various places named with this word: for example, Escobar de Campos (León), Escobar de Polendos (Segovia), and three minor places in Murcia.

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.)

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Brand': said to be still in use in Iceland as a fontal name. In England it had gone out of use before the 13th century began.William Brand, or Brant, Lincolnshire, 1273.

English (chiefly West Midlands): occupational name denoting the servant (Middle English man) of a man called Hick. According to Reaney and Wilson, Hickman was also used as a medieval personal name. This surname has long been established in Ireland, notably in County Clare. In the U.S., it could be an altered spelling of German Hickmann, a variant of Hick 4.

occupational name for a maker or seller of stoneware mugs and jugs, from an agent derivative of Middle High German kruoc ‘jug’, ‘pitcher’, German Krug. occupational name from Krüger ‘innkeeper’, an agent derivative of Krug ‘inn’, ‘tavern’, from Middle Low German kruch, kroch (probably originally a different word from 1, with which it has subsequently fallen together).

Scottish and English: variant of Dunlop.

English: variant of Wall. Scottish: most probably a derivative of Wallace.

Jewish (Ashkenazic): acronym from the Hebrew phrase kohen tsedek ‘priest of righteousness’ (see Cohen). German: nickname from Katz(e) ‘cat’. Compare English Catt.

Spanish and Catalan: topographic name for someone who lived near a gate or fence, from Spanish and Catalan barrera ‘barrier’. topographic name for someone who lived by a clay pit, Spanish barrera, barrero (a derivative of barro ‘mud’, ‘clay’).

English and Scottish: from a medieval personal name, Latin Valentinus, a derivative of Valens (see Valente), which was never common in England, but is occasionally found from the end of the 12th century, probably as the result of French influence. The name was borne by a 3rd-century saint and martyr, whose chief claim to fame is that his feast falls on February 14, the date of a traditional celebration of spring going back to the Roman fertility festival of Juno Februata. A 5th-century missionary bishop of Rhaetia of this name was venerated especially in southern Germany, being invoked as a patron against gout and epilepsy. It is probably also an Americanization of Valentin, Valentino, and possibly other European cognates.

French (Hébert) and Dutch: assimilated form of Herbert. German: variant of Heber 1. Dutch: from the personal name Egbert.

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, from Portuguese and Galician rocha ‘rock’, ‘cliff’.

English: variant spelling of Shepherd. Americanized form of some Jewish surname sounding like or meaning ‘shepherd’.

French (also English, imported to Britain by the Normans): from the Germanic personal name Landric, a compound of land ‘land’ + ric ‘powerful’, ‘ruler’.

English: patronymic from Spear.

English: topographic name for someone who lived among rushes,nfrom Middle English rush (a collective singular, Old Englishnrysc), or perhaps an occupational name for someone who wovenmats, baskets, and other articles out of rushes. Irish: reducednAnglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ruis ‘descendant of Ros’,na personal name perhaps derived from ros ‘wood’. In Connacht itnhas also been used as a translation of Ó Luachra (seenLoughrey). Irish: Anglicized form (translation) of GaelicnÓ Fuada, ‘descendant of Fuada’ a personal namenmeaning ‘hasty’, ‘rushing’ (see Foody). KaM Alterednspelling of German Rüsch or Rusch (see Rusch)nor Rosch. EG

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.

English (southwestern): from Middle English hous ‘house’ (Old English hus). In the Middle Ages the majority of the population lived in cottages or huts rather than houses, and in most cases this name probably indicates someone who had some connection with the largest and most important building in a settlement, either a religious house or simply the local manor house. In some cases it may be a status name for a householder, someone who owned his own dwelling as opposed to being a tenant, but more often it is an occupational name for a servant who worked in such a house, in particular a steward who managed one. English: respelling of Howes. Translation of German Haus.

French and English: from the French medieval personal name Blancard, Blanchard, from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements blank ‘white’, ‘shining’ + hard ‘strong’, ‘brave’.

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: patronymic form of Dodd.

English: habitational name from a pair of villages in Northumbria named with Old English bean ‘beans’ (a collective singular) or beonet ‘bent grass’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The name is now most frequent in the West Midlands, however, so it may be that a place of the same name in that area should be sought as its origin.

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.

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: 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.

Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hugh or ap Huw ‘son of Hugh’ (see Hughes).

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.

German (also Hüber, Hueber): status name based on Middle High German huobe, a measure of land, varying in size at different periods and in different places, but always of considerable extent, appreciably larger than the holding of the average peasant. The surname usually denotes a holder or owner of this amount of land, who would have been a prosperous small farmer and probably one of the leading men of his village. This name is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, not only in German-speaking lands. Slovenian (eastern Slovenia): status name of Franconian origin (see 1) for a peasant who had his own landed property, dialectally called huba. Dutch: variant of Hubert. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a southern Yiddish pronunciation of Yiddish hober ‘oats’ (see Haber).

Spanish (of Basque origin): habitational name from Orozco in Bilbao province.

Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan (Móra): habitational name from any of the places named Mora, in some cases from mora ‘mulberry’ (Late Latin mora, originally the plural of classical Latin morum). Occitan and Catalan (Morà): from Morandus, an old personal name of uncertain derivation and meaning. Italian: topographic name from Old Italian mora ‘pile of stones’. Hungarian (Móra): from a pet form of the personal name Móricz, Hungarian form of Morris. Czech and Polish: from a short form of a personal name, e.g. Czech Mauric, Polish Maurycy, derived from Latin Mauritius (see Morris). Polish: possibly a nickname from mora ‘sickness’, ‘plague’. Czech: possibly a nickname from mora ‘vampire’.

English: metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of beans, from Old English bean ‘beans’ (a collective singular). Occasionally it may have been applied as a nickname for a someone considered of little importance. English: nickname for a pleasant person, from Middle English bene ‘friendly’, ‘amiable’ (of unknown origin; there is apparently no connection with Bain or Bon). Scottish: Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name Beathán, a diminutive of beatha ‘life’. Translation of German Bohne, or an altered spelling of Biehn. See also Bihn. Mistranslation of French Lefevre. As the vocabulary word fèvre ‘smith’ was replaced by forgeron, the meaning of the old word became opaque, and the surname was reinterpreted as if it were La fève, from fève ‘(fava) bean’. Lefevre is the most common name in French Canada; great numbers of them migrated to the US, where many adopted the name Bean, in the belief that it was a translation of Lefèvre. See also Lafave.

English, French, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and Slovenian: from a Germanic personal name (see Bernhard). The popularity of the personal name was greatly increased by virtue of its having been borne by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090–1153), founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux. Americanized form of German Bernhard or any of the other cognates in European languages; for forms see Hanks and Hodges 1988.

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 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.

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

Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name composed of German Gold ‘gold’ + Stein ‘stone’. German: from a medieval personal name, nickname, or occupational name from Middle High German, Middle Low German golste(i)n ‘gold stone’, ‘precious stone’, (probably chrysolite or topaz, which was used as a testing stone by alchemists).

Jewish (Ashkenazic): surname used as a translation of Cohen, from German Kaplan or Polish kaplan ‘chaplain’, ‘curate’. German, Swedish, Czech, and Slovenian; Slovak (Kaplán); Polish (Kaplan); Hungarian (Káplán): status name for a deacon, chaplain, or curate (ultimately from Late Latin capellanus (see Chaplin 1), or a nickname for someone resembling a clergyman). Turkish: from kablan ‘tiger’, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble a tiger, typically in having indomitable courage or spirit. In the form Kaplanis, this is also found as a Greek surname, with various patronymic and other derivatives (Kaplanidis, Kaplanoglou, Kaplanellis, etc.)

German: habitational name from any of numerous places named Goldberg. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name, a compound of German Gold ‘gold’ + Berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill’, or occasionally a habitational name of the same origin as 1.

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.

English: patronymic from the personal name May (see May).

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in southern and central England named Ashley, from Old English æsc ‘ash’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.

Scottish: variant of Stewart.

Spanish: habitational name from places named Valenzuela in Córdoba and Ciudad Real. The place name is a diminutive of Valencia, literally ‘Little Valencia’.

Scottish: from the Gaelic personal name Fionnlagh (Old Irish Findlaech), composed of the elements fionn ‘white’, ‘fair’ (see Finn) + laoch ‘warrior’, ‘hero’, which seems to have been reinforced by an Old Norse personal name composed of the elements finn ‘Finn’ + leikr ‘fight’, ‘battle’, ‘hero’.

Danish, Norwegian, German, and Dutch: patronymic from the personal name Erasmus (see Rasmus).

Dutch, German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle Dutch, Middle High German hase, German Hase ‘hare’, hence a nickname for a swift runner or a timorous or confused person, but in some cases perhaps a habitational name from a house distinguished by the sign of a hare. As a Jewish name it can also be an ornamental name or one of names selected at random from vocabulary words by government officials when surnames became compulsory.

English (chiefly West Yorkshire): habitational name from any of several places named with Old English heg ‘hay’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

Czech and Slovak, Croatian and Serbian, Slovenian, Hungarian (Novák), and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from Slavic novy ‘new’, denoting a newcomer to a place. Compare English Newman. Slovenian: also a topographic name for a peasant who settled on newly cleared land.

Irish: Anglicized form of the common and widespread Gaelic name Ó Maoláin ‘descendant of Maolán’, a byname meaning ‘tonsured one’, ‘devotee’ (from a diminutive of maol ‘bald’). English: topographic name for someone who lived by a mill, or a metonymic occupational name for a miller, from Anglo-Norman French mo(u)lin, mulin ‘mill’ (see Mill). In some instances it may be a variant of Millen, from Middle English mullelane. Dutch and Belgian (van Mullen): habitational name from Mullem in East Flanders, Mullem in West Flanders, or possibly Mollen in Brabant. Dutch (van (der) Mullen): variant of van der Molen (see Molen 4).

Irish: variant of McCarthy, reflecting the common southern Irish pronunciation of th.

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

Basque: habitational name from any of several places in the Basque Country named Ibarra, from ibar ‘meadow’ + the definite article -a.

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’.

English: habitational name from any of various places named Farley, of which there are examples in Berkshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Kent, Somerset, and Staffordshire, from Old English as fearn ‘fern’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. See also Farleigh, Fairley, Fairlie. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fearghaile (see Farrelly).

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

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.

English and Irish: from Middle English duk(e) ‘duke’ (from Old French duc, from Latin dux, genitive ducis ‘leader’), applied as an occupational name for someone who worked in the household of a duke, or as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces. English and Irish: possibly also from the personal name Duke, a short form of Marmaduke, a personal name said to be from Irish mael Maedoc ‘devotee (mael, maol ‘bald’, ‘tonsured one’) of Maedoc’, a personal name (M’Aodhóg) meaning ‘my little Aodh’, borne by various early Irish saints, in particular a 6th-century abbot of Clonmore and a 7th-century bishop of Ferns. Scottish: compare the old Danish personal name Duk (Old Norse Dukr). In some cases, possibly an Americanized form of French Leduc or Spanish Duque. Possibly an Americanized spelling of Polish Duk, a nickname from dukac ‘to stammer or falter’.

Spanish: probably a variant of Rengel. This name is also found in Portugal.

English: variant of Eastes, still pronounced today as two syllables, as it was in medieval times.

English, Scottish, Dutch, and German: metonymic occupational name for a herring fisher or for a seller of the fish, Middle English hering, Dutch haring, Middle High German hærinc. In some cases it may have been a nickname in the sense of a trifle, something of little value, a meaning which is found in medieval phrases and proverbial expressions such as ‘to like neither herring nor barrel’, i.e. not to like something at all. German: habitational name from Herringen in Westphalia. Dutch: from a personal name, a derivative of a Germanic compound name with the first element hari, heri ‘army’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant spelling of Hering.

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.

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.

South German: variant spelling of Schmidt.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from German braun ‘brown’ (Middle High German brun), referring to the color of the hair, complexion, or clothing, or from the personal name Bruno, which was borne by the Dukes of Saxony, among others, from the 10th century or before. It was also the name of several medieval German and Italian saints, including St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order (1030–1101), who was born in Cologne.

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.

Irish and English: variant spelling of Hayes 1–4.

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

English: variant spelling of Birch. North German: habitational name from any of several places called Burg, in northern Germany originally denoting a fortified town or a fortified residence within a town. The form reflects the north German pronunciation of Burg.

topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or river bank, or on the coast (ultimately from Latin costa ‘rib’, ‘side’, ‘flank’, also used in a transferred topographical sense), or a habitational name from any of numerous places named Costa or named with this word. of Greek origin (see Costas).

Spanish (Meléndez): variant of Menéndez (see Menendez).

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

English: variant spelling of Shepherd.

German: from a personal name composed of the Germanic elements war(in) ‘guard’ + heri, hari ‘army’. Compare Warner.

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

Irish: possibly a shortened form of MacMoyer, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Mhaoir ‘son of the steward’, from maor ‘steward’. Americanized form of German Meyer 1. Dutch: occupational name for a mower or reaper.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Kraus. German: from Middle High German kruse ‘pitcher’, ‘jug’; a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of jugs or a nickname for a heavy drinker.

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

The surname Blevins is derived from the Welsh word for wolf, blaidd. The name originally had a diminutive suffix of yn, which over time changed to in, and at some point in history, s was appended to the end of the name to create the modern spelling.

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: nickname from Middle English gode ‘good’ (Old English god). English: from a medieval personal name, a survival of the Old English personal name Goda, which was in part a byname and in part a short form of various compound names with the first element god. Americanized form of like-sounding names in other languages, for example German Gut or Guth.

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.

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).

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

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’.

English and Irish: habitational name from Dudley in the West Midlands, named from the Old English personal name Dudda (see Dodd) + Old English leah ‘woodland clearing’. Irish (County Cork): English name adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Dubhdáleithe ‘descendant of Dubhdáleithe’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘black’ + dá ‘two’ + léithe ‘sides’.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places throughout England (but especially in the south) named Compton, from Old English cumb ‘short, straight valley’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

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

English: habitational name from a place in Herefordshire, the etymology of which is uncertain. The second element is Old English eg ‘island’, ‘piece of higher ground in a low-lying area’; the first appears to be hwitan, which is either the genitive singular of an Old English byname Hwita (meaning ‘white’), or the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of the adjective hwit ‘white’.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Sandford,' parishes in Devon and Oxfordshire (2), townships in Berkshire and Salop, and hamlets in Westmoreland and Berkshire. For suffix, v. Ford and Forth.Richard de Sanford, Oxfordshire, 1273.

English (northern): occupational name from Middle English prok(e)tour ‘steward’ (reduced from Old French procurateour, Latin procurator ‘agent’, from procurare ‘to manage’). The term was used most commonly of an attorney in a spiritual court, but also of other officials such as collectors of taxes and agents licensed to collect alms on behalf of lepers and enclosed orders of monks.

English: variant spelling of Fry. North German: variant of Frey.

English (of Welsh origin): patronymic from the Welsh personal name Madog (see Maddock).

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 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.

V. O’Shea.

English: habitational name from Cantrell in Devon, recorded as Canterhulle in 1330, from an unexplained first element + Old English hyll ‘hill’. English: from Old French chanterelle ‘small bell’, ‘treble’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a bellmaker or ringer. English: diminutive of Canter. French: nickname for someone who liked to sing.

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.

Spanish (Castilian and Galician): topographic name from Old Spanish acebedo, azevedo ‘holly grove’ (from azevo ‘holly’ + -edo ‘plantation’). This name is common in Tenerife.

Spanish: from the popular medieval personal name Arias which is probably of Germanic origin. Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Spanish family name.

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 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.

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

German: from Middle High German rit(t)er ‘knight’, ‘mounted warrior’, Middle Low German ridder, applied as a status name, occupational name, or nickname. Compare Knight.

English: from Middle English chirie, cherye ‘cherry’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of cherries, or possibly a nickname for someone with rosy cheeks. Probably in some cases a translation name of German Kirsch.

German: from Middle High German keiser ‘emperor’, from the Latin imperial title Caesar. This was the title borne by Holy Roman Emperors from Otto I (962) to Francis II (who relinquished the title in 1806). Later, it was borne by the monarch of Bismarck’s united Germany (1871–1918). It is very common as a German surname, originating partly as an occupational name for a servant in the Emperor’s household, partly as a nickname for someone who behaved in an imperious manner, and partly from a house sign. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Kaiser ‘emperor’, adopted (like Graf, Herzog, etc.) because of its aristocratic connotations. Muslim: from Arabic qay?sar ‘emperor’, which, like 1, is of Latin origin, from the imperial title in the Roman Empire.

English: topographic surname for someone who lived near a church. The word comes from Old English cyrice, ultimately from medieval Greek kyrikon, for earlier kyriakon (doma) ‘(house) of the Lord’, from kyrios ‘lord’. Translation of German Kirch.

English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in northern France called Rivières, from the plural form of Old French rivière ‘river’ (originally meaning ‘riverbank’, from Latin riparia). The absence of English forms without the final -s makes it unlikely that it is ever from the borrowed Middle English vocabulary word river, but the French and other Romance cognates do normally have this sense. Common Americanized form of French Larivière.

German: status name for a free man, as opposed to a bondsman or serf, in the feudal system, from Middle High German vri ‘free’, ‘independent’.

Americanized spelling of the Swiss surname Joder, from a reduced form of the personal name Theodor(us) (see Theodore). This was the name of the patron saint of western Switzerland.

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 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.

English, etc.: variant spelling of Cook.

patronymic from a variant of Dunn 2. variant (plural) of Down.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of the places in the provinces of Barcelona, Cuenca, and Burgos named Pineda, from Spanish and Catalan pineda ‘pine forest’. in some instances possibly Asturian-Leonese Piñeda, from a town called Piñeda in Asturies.

Dutch and German (northwest): patronymic from the personal name Hendrik (see Henry 1).

German: from a pet form of Friedrich. It is also found as a surname in Denmark, Sweden, and elsewhere.

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.

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’.

Scottish: regional name from Galloway in southwestern Scotland, named as ‘place of the foreign Gaels’, from Gaelic gall ‘foreigner’ + Gaidheal ‘Gael’. From the 8th century or before it was a province of Anglian Northumbria. In the 9th century it was settled by mixed Gaelic-Norse inhabitants from the Hebrides and Isle of Man.

English: variant of Petit. The name is also found in Ireland, the main branch there having been established in County Kerry in the 17th century by Sir William Petty.

North German: topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous beech tree, Middle Low German hester. Irish (mainly County Mayo): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hOistir ‘descendant of Oistir’.

Scottish: altered form of Ewen (itself a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Eòghainn ‘son of Eòghann’), formed as if it were an English patronymic ending in -ing. See also McEwen.

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

English: occupational name for someone concerned with books, generally a scribe or binder, from Middle English boker, Old English bocere, an agent derivative of boc ‘book’. English: variant of Bowker. Americanized form of German Bucher.

Irish: variant spelling of Doherty.

Spanish: probably a Castilianized or Americanized form of Sousa, or (less likely) from sosa ‘seaweed’.

English (of Norman origin) and French: from the Continental Germanic personal name Mainard, composed of the elements magin ‘strength’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

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’.

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.

Spanish (Galván): from a medieval personal name. This is in origin the Latin name Galbanus (a derivative of the Roman family name Galba, of uncertain origin). However, it was used in a number of medieval romances as an equivalent of the Celtic name Gawain (see Gavin), and it is probably this association that was mainly responsible for its popularity in the Middle Ages.

Northern English: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a ridge, Old Norse hryggr. Compare Ridge.

English and Irish: variant of Tyrrell.

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.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named with arroyo ‘watercourse’, ‘irrigation channel’ (a word of pre-Roman origin).

English: patronymic from a pet form of Rollo or Rolf.

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 and Irish: variant of Mayhew. Variant of French Mailhot.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catharnaigh ‘descendant of Catharnach’, a byname meaning ‘warlike’. Irish: reduced form of McCarney. Irish: variant of Cairney. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cearnaigh ‘descendant of Cearnach’. Compare Kearney.

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.

Spanish (Córdova): variant of Cordoba.

English: habitational name from any of several minor places named with the Old English elements myrige ‘pleasant’ + hyll ‘hill’.

= Daley, q.v.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Chúille ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Mochúille’, a rare Clare name, or a reduced form of McCooley, a variant of McCauley. Americanized form of German Kuhle or Kühle, variants of Kuhl.

German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a happy person or someone who liked to sing, or a metonymic occupational name for a bird catcher, from Middle High German, Middle Low German vogel ‘bird’. This name is found throughout central Europe, not only in German-speaking lands. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish female personal name Foygl, cognate with 1 above.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called, which split more or less evenly into two groups with different etymologies. One set (with examples in Berkshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire) is named from the Old English weak dative hean (originally used after a preposition and article) of heah ‘high’ + Old English tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The other (with examples in Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Suffolk, and Wiltshire) has Old English hiwan ‘household’, ‘monastery’. Compare Hine as the first element.

German: from the personal name Kuno, a short form of Kunrat (see Konrad). The German word kühn, meaning ‘bold’, may have influenced the popularity of this short form, but is not necessarily the immediate source of it. German: variant spelling of Kühn(e) (see Kuehn). Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German kühn ‘bold’, but in some cases an altered spelling of Cohn or Kohn (see Cohen).

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.

Irish: variant of Farrell.

English: variant of Chesney. French: habitational name from any of the various places called Chanet or Le Chanet, from Latin canna ‘reed’ + the suffix -etum denoting an inhabitant.

German: topographic name for someone who lived by an elder tree, Middle High German holder, or from a house named for its sign of an elder tree. In same areas, for example Alsace, the elder tree was believed to be the protector of a house. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Holder ‘elder tree’. English (chiefly western counties): occupational name for a tender of animals, from an agent derivative of Middle English hold(en) ‘to guard or keep’ (Old English h(e)aldan). It is possible that this word was also used in the wider sense of a holder of land within the feudal system. Compare Helder.

English and Scottish: probably a variant of Hanney. Scottish or Irish: reduced form of McHaney. Americanized spelling of Norwegian Hanøy, a habitational name from any of four farmsteads so named, from Old Norse haðna ‘young nanny-goat’ or hani ‘cock’ (probably indicating a crag or mountain resembling a cock’s comb in shape) + øy ‘island’. Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.

English (mainly Yorkshire and central England): habitational name from any of the various places named Hatfield, for example in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Hertfordshire, and Essex, from Old English h?ð ‘heathland’, ‘heather’ + feld ‘pasture’, ‘open country’.

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).

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

English (mainly Lancashire and Yorkshire): occupational name for a gatherer of tolls exacted for the right of passage across a bridge, ford, or other thoroughfare, from Middle English travis ‘crossing’, variant of travers (see Travers). German: Americanized variant of Drewes.

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: 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.

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’.

North German: nickname for someone with white hair or a remarkably pale complexion, from a Middle Low German witte ‘white’. South German: from a short form of the old German personal name Wittigo. English: variant of White.

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: from Middle English, Old French branche ‘branch’ (Late Latin branca ‘foot’, ‘paw’), the application of which as a surname is not clear. In America it has been adopted as a translation of any of the numerous Swedish surnames containing the element gren ‘branch’, and likewise of French Labranche, German Zweig, and Finnish Haara, Oksa, and Oksana.

Spanish: nickname from rubio ‘red’ (Latin rubeus), probably denoting someone with red hair or a red beard. Catalan (Rubió): habitational name from any of the places named Rubió in Catalonia.

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.

Dutch: variant of Sneider ‘tailor’. Americanized form of German Schneider. Respelling of Slovenian Žnider, from žnidar, an occupational name for a tailor of German origin (see Schneider).

English: from the Old Norse byname Gamall meaning ‘old’, which was occasionally used in North England during the Middle Ages as a personal name. Altered spelling of German Gambel.

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.

Basque (Zuñiga): habitational name from a place in Navarre province named Zuñiga, from Basque zuin ‘cultivated field’ + iga ‘incline’, ‘slope’.

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Donnchadha ‘descendant of Donnchadh’, a personal name (sometimes Anglicized as Duncan in Scotland), composed of the elements donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + cath ‘battle’.

Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Néill, a patronymic from the personal name Niall (genitive Néill), thought to mean ‘champion’ (see Neill). In Scotland MacNeills are associated with Barra and Gigha in the Hebrides; some of them went to Antrim and Derry in Ireland.

English, Scottish, and Irish: nickname from Middle English boner(e), bonour ‘gentle’, ‘courteous’, ‘handsome’ (Old French bonnaire, from the phrase de bon(ne) aire ‘of good bearing or appearance’, from which also comes modern English debonair). Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Ynyr ‘son of Ynyr’, a common medieval personal name derived from Latin Honorius. Swedish: unexplained.

Scottish and northern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a cattleshed, Middle English byre, or a habitational name with the same meaning, from any of several places named with Old English b¯re, for example Byers Green in County Durham or Byres near Edinburgh. Americanized spelling of German Bayers.

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’.

(Ulster) Anglicized form of Scottish Mac Neachtain, which is usually Anglicized as McNaughton. part translation of Gaelic Mac an Ridire ‘son of the horseman (Gaelic ridire)’.

English and German: variant of Kay. Irish: reduced form of McKay.

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.

Spanish: from the personal name Bautista, Spanish form of Baptist.

habitational name from Ryedale in North Yorkshire, being the valley of the river Rye (a name of Celtic origin). variant of Riddell.

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

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

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.

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.

English: occupational name for a carver of wood or a sculptor of stone, from an agent derivative of Middle English kerve(n) ‘to cut or carve’. English: occupational name for a plowman, from Anglo-Norman French caruier, from Late Latin carrucarius, a derivative of carruca ‘cart’, ‘plow’. Americanized spelling of German Garber, Gerber, or Körber (see Koerber). Irish: variant of Carvey. Possibly also a reduced form of Irish McCarver.

Scottish: habitational name from a place near Forfar, named in Gaelic with gaothair ‘windy place’ (a derivative of gaoth ‘wind’) + the locative suffix -ach. Possibly an Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mag Uchtre ‘son of Uchtre’, a personal name of uncertain origin, perhaps akin to uchtlach ‘child’. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Fhlaithimh ‘descendant of Flaitheamh’, a byname meaning ‘prince’. This is the result of an erroneous association of the Gaelic name in the form Ó Fhlaithimh (Fh being silent), with the Gaelic word laithigh ‘mud’, and of mud with gutters, and an equally erroneous association of the Scottish surname Guthrie with the word ‘gutter’. Compare Laffey.

German and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): see Lehmann.