Furcifer's Personal Name List

Occupational name for a forester, meaning "ward of the wood" in Old English.

Originally denoted one who lived in or worked in a forest, derived from Old English wudu "wood".

From Middle High German or Middle English wolf meaning "wolf", or else from an Old German given name beginning with this element.

From various English place names, derived from Old English winn "meadow, pasture" and feld "field".

From Old High German and Old Dutch fogal meaning "bird". It was originally an occupational name for a bird catcher, or a nickname for a person who liked to sing.

Originally applied to a person who lived in or near a thorn bush.

Originally indicated the bearer was from a town of this name, derived from Old English sumor "summer" and feld "field".

English topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream, Middle English streme. Americanized form of Swedish Ström or Danish Strøm (see Strom).

Nickname for a man of blustery temperament.

Derived from city of Stirling, which is itself of unknown meaning.

Occupational name for a steelworker, from Old English stele meaning "steel".

From Middle English sterre meaning "star". This was usually a nickname, but it could also occasionally be a sign name from the name of an inn called the Star.

From a nickname for a person with grey hair, from Old English seolfor "silver".

Posibly from the given name Shell.

From Old English, indicated the original nearer lived on sandy ground.

Derived from the given name Solomon.

Anglicized form of Ó Ruadháin.

Means "rose" from Middle English, Old French and Middle High German rose, all from Latin rosa. All denote a person of a rosy complexion or a person who lived in an area abundant with roses. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental, from Yiddish רויז (roiz).

Means "rose bushes" in Spanish.

Italian and Catalan form of Rose 1.

Topographic name for someone who lived near a notable crag or outcrop, from Middle English rokke "rock" (see Roach), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Rock in Northumberland.

From Spanish ribera meaning "bank, shore", from Latin riparius.

Denoted a person who lived near a ridge, from Old English hrycg.

Variant of Read 1.

An occupational surname for a gardener.

From Middle English pecok meaning "peacock". It was originally a nickname for a proud or haughty person.

Topographic surname for someone who lived near an oak tree or in an oak wood, from Middle English oke "oak".

Topographic name from Old French montagne "mountain" (see Montagne).

Means "open land by the River Maun", from the Celtic river name combined with the Old English word feld "field".

From various places in Spain meaning "moon".

Indicated a person who lived near a linden tree, derived from Old High German linta or Old Dutch linda.

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.

Means "deer, hart" in German. This was a nickname for a person who resembled a deer in some way, or who raised or hunted deer.

Denoted a person who lived near a hawthorn bush, a word derived from Old English hagaþorn, from haga meaning "enclosure, yard" and þorn meaning "thorn bush". A famous bearer was the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), author of The Scarlet Letter.

Originally a nickname for a person who had a hawk-like appearance or who acted in a fierce manner, derived from Old English hafoc "hawk".

From Old English graf meaning "grove of trees". A famous bearer was the American president Grover Cleveland (1837-1908).

From Old English and Old High German gold meaning "gold", an occupational name for someone who worked with gold or a nickname for someone with yellow hair. As a Jewish name it is ornamental.

Means "cat" in Italian, originally a nickname for an agile person.

Occupational surname for one who was a gardener, from Old French jardin meaning "garden" (of Frankish origin).

From Old English and Old High German meaning "frost", a nickname for a person who had a cold personality or a white beard.

From the English word frog which is a type of amphibian.

From the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.

Derived from Swedish fors meaning "waterfall" and berg meaning "mountain".

Denoted a keeper or one in charge of a forest, or one who has charge of growing timber in a forest (see Forest).

Originally belonged to a person who lived near or in a forest. It was probably originally derived, via Old French forest, from Latin forestam (silva) meaning "outer (wood)".

Name given to someone who lived by a ford, possibly the official who maintained it. A famous bearer was the American industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947).

From Middle English flour meaning "flower, blossom", derived from Old French flur, Latin flos. This was a nickname given to a sweet person. In other cases it could be a metonymic occupational name for a maker of flour (a word derived from the same source).

Means "son of Floro" in Spanish.

From Middle English fische, fish ‘fish’, a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller, or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a fish.
Americanized spelling of German and Jewish Fisch.

Name for a person who lived on or near a field or pasture, from Old English feld.

From place names meaning derived from Old English eofor "boar" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Nickname for a lordly, impressive, or sharp-eyed man, from Middle English egle "eagle" (from Old French aigle, from Latin aquila).

Means "of the river" in Spanish.

From the Old English given name Deora meaning "dear, beloved".

From Old English dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.

From various English place names, which meaning either "coal valley", "coal hill" or "cow pasture" in Old English.

Occupational name for a keeper of horses, derived from Middle English colt.

Derived from various place names that meant "ford by a cliff" in Old English.

An invented Jewish name based on Yiddish tsitrin "lemon tree".

Means "horse" in Italian, an occupational name for a horseman.

From a place name meaning "cold field", from Old English ceald "cold" and feld "pasture, field".

Originally a name for a person who lived near a prominent bush or thicket.

From a nickname meaning "young bull".

From a nickname for a person who acted like a bull.

From an English place name derived from bucc "buck, male deer" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Denoted a person who lived near a brook, a word derived from Old English broc.

Americanized form of Boomgaarden.

Derived from German Blumen "flowers" and Thal "valley".

Means "bloom, flower" in Swedish.

From an English place name meaning "black wood".

Occupational name for a person who raised or hunted birds.

From Middle High German birche, Old English birce, Old Danish birk, all meaning "birch". This was likely a topographic name for someone living by a birch tree or a birch forest. It may also be a habitational name from places in Germany named with this word (see also: Birke).

From Old High German, Old Dutch and Old Norse berg meaning "mountain".

Means "beautiful rose" in French.

English cognate of Bach 1.

From French place names derived from beau "beautiful" and mont "mountain".

Surname meaning a bear cub.

From the Middle English nickname Bere meaning "bear" (Old English bera, which is also found as a byname), or possibly from a personal name derived from a short form of the various Germanic compound names with this first element. Compare for example Bernhard. The bear has generally been regarded with a mixture of fear and amusement because of its strength and unpredictable temper on the one hand and its clumsy gait on the other, and in the medieval period it was also thought to typify the sins of sloth and gluttony. All these characteristics are no doubt reflected in the nickname. Throughout the Middle Ages the bear was a familiar figure in popular entertainments such as bear baiting and dancing bears.

English cognate of Bohn.

Means "near the beech trees".

Name for someone living near a beach, stream, or beech tree.

English cognate of Basso.

Derived from a number of English place names that variously mean "barley hill", "barn hill", "boar clearing" or "barley clearing".

From various English place names, derived from the Old English given name Bacga combined with leah "woodland, clearing".

Meaning "ash tree field".

From Old English æsc meaning "ash tree", indicating a person who lived near ash trees.

From Latin arbor meaning "tree".

From the name of various English towns, derived from Old English æppel "apple" and Old Norse býr "farm, settlement".

Indicated a person who lived by or at an apple garden, from Dutch appel "apple" and hof "yard, court".

From Italian albero meaning "tree", ultimately from Latin arbor, referring to someone who lived in the woods or worked as a woodcutter.

Means "eagle" in German.