jfifles's Personal Name List
Albuquerque
Usage: Portuguese
Pronounced: al-boo-KEHR-ki(European Portuguese) ow-boo-KEKH-kee(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the name of the Spanish town of Alburquerque, near the Portuguese border in the province of Badajoz. It is probably derived from Latin alba quercus meaning "white oak".
Alhambra
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: a-LAM-bra
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Refers to the Alhambra, a palace complex located in Granada, Spain. The name itself is derived from Arabic الْحَمْرَاء (Al-Ḥamrā) meaning "the red one" or, ultimately, from Arabic أَحْمَر (ʾaḥmar) "red".
Angelopoulos
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Αγγελόπουλος(Greek)
Pronounced: ang-gyeh-LO-poo-los
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From the personal name
Angelos or a shortened form of the personal name
Evangelos + the patronymic ending -poulos.
Bagatsing
Usage: Filipino
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Filipinized form of
Bhagat Singh, a combination of Sanskrit भगत
(bhagat) meaning "devotee, follower" combined with सिंह
(siṃhá) meaning "lion". A notable bearer was
Ramon Bagatsing (1916-2006), the 19th Mayor of Manila who was of Indian descent.
Baumfree
Usage: Dutch, American, African American
Pronounced: BAWM-free(Dutch)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
This name is clearly derived from Sojourner Truth, a former African-American slave who was born as Isabella Bomefree (but at some point the surname was changed to the more German-looking Baumfree). Although Sojourner's original owners - James and Elizabeth Bomefree/Baumfree - were apparently of Dutch descent, it is questionable whether the surname is really of Dutch origin. The first part of the surname could indeed refer to a tree (from Dutch boom, German Baum - plural: bomen, Bäume) - but the second part of the surname is very atypical for a Dutch surname. Either this surname was somewhat tampered with by the ancestors of the Baumfree family (adding a self-invented part to the original surname), or the surname is actually of English origin. In the case of the latter, it might be derived from the medieval herb comfrey, which was used for aiding blood clotting and for expelling phlegm. Please also note the similarity of Bomefree/Baumfree with Pomfrey, the surname of the "Harry Potter" character Poppy Pomfrey.
Blythe
Usage: English
Pronounced: BLIEDH
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From Old English meaning "happy, joyous, blithe".
Bomba
Usage: Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak
Other Scripts: Бомба(Ukrainian)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From bomba "bomb", (Latin bombus), hence probably a nickname for someone with an explosive temperament, or a metonymic occupational name for an artilleryman.
Bones
Usage: English
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Derives from bon, "good" in Old French.
Castiglione
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: kas-teel-LYO-neh
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Habitational name for someone from any of various places called Castiglione, derived from Italian castiglione meaning "castle, fortress".
Chadwick
Usage: English
Pronounced: CHAD-wik
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
From the name of English towns meaning "settlement belonging to
Chad" in Old English.
Chandran
Usage: Indian, Malayalam, Tamil
Other Scripts: ചന്ദ്രൻ(Malayalam) சந்திரன்(Tamil)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Derived from Sanskrit चन्द्र (candrá) meaning "glittering, shining" or "moon".
Chengcuenca
From
Cuenca de Cheng, "
Cheng's basin" in Spanish
Cherry
Usage: English
Pronounced: ch-EH-ree
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.
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The surname Cherry was brought to England by a great wave of migration following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The name Cherry is derived from the Anglo Norman French word, 'cherise', which means cherry, and was probably used to indicate someone who lived by a cherry tree.
86,045 people have this surname, and is most prevalent in the United States.
Cohen
Usage: Jewish
Other Scripts: כֹּהֵן(Hebrew)
Means
"priest" from Hebrew
כֹּהֵן (kohen). It originally denoted one of the priestly tribe of Levi.
Cojuangco
Usage: Filipino
Pronounced: khaw-HWUNG-ko(Tagalog)
From Hokkien 許寰哥 (Khó͘ Hoân-ko), which was the nickname of Co Yu Hwan (許玉寰), a Chinese migrant who arrived in the Philippines in the 19th century. This is the name of a prominent political and business family in the Philippines.
Coltrane
Usage: Irish (Anglicized)
Corlett
Usage: Manx
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Anglicization of Manx
(Mac) Thórliótr "(son of)
Þorliótr".
De Leeuw Van Weenen
Means "the lion of Vienna" in Dutch.
Dykstra
From Frisian dyk meaning "dike, ditch". The name was given to a person living near a dyke or embankment.
Faraon
Usage: Filipino (Modern)
Pronounced: pha-RA-on or pa-RA-on
The Tagalog word for "Pharaoh".
Fitzgerald
Means
"son of Gerald" in Anglo-Norman French. It was brought to Ireland with William the Conqueror. A famous bearer was Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), an American jazz singer.
Gatsby
Usage: English (Rare), Literature
Rare variant of
Gadsby. This name was used by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald for the central character in his novel
The Great Gatsby (1925). In the book, James Gatz renames himself as Jay Gatsby at age 17 because he believes it sounds more sophisticated.
Gough 1
Nickname for a red-haired person, from Welsh coch "red".
Grimm
From a nickname for a stern person, derived from Old High German grim "stern, severe, angry". Famous bearers include Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), known for compiling German folktales.
Hatzi
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Χατζής(Greek)
A Greek rendering of حاج (ḥājj), denoting one who has successfully completed a pilgrimage. In a Christian context, the title designates a person who has visited Jerusalem and the Holy Land and was baptised in the Jordan River. While this surname stands alone, it is also a prefix of Greek family names.
Iskandar
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: إسكندر(Arabic)
Pronounced: ees-KAN-dar
Jason
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAY-sən
Probably a patronymic from
James or any of various other personal names beginning with
J-.
Kaʻanāʻanā
This Hawaiian surname means The Black Magic.
Ka meaning "The" ʻanāʻanā meaning "Black Magic"
Lyons
Usage: English
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Maharaj
Usage: Indian, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Trinidadian Creole
Other Scripts: महाराज(Hindi, Marathi) મહારાજ(Gujarati) মহারাজ(Bengali)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Means "great king" or "great ruler" from Sanskrit महा (mahā) meaning "great, large, big" combined with राज (rāja) meaning "king, sovereign".
McCool
Usage: Scottish (Anglicized), Northern Irish (Anglicized), Irish (Anglicized)
Scottish and northern Irish Anglicized form of Gaelic
MacDhubhghaill (see
McDowell).
Scottish and northern Irish Anglicized form of Gaelic
Mac Gille Chomhghaill (Scottish),
Mac Giolla Comhghaill ‘son of the servant of (Saint)
Comhghall’, a personal name, possibly an intensive of
gall ‘stranger’, borne by an early Irish saint.
Irish, possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic
Mac Cumhaill ‘son of Cumhall’, a byname meaning ‘champion’. Fionn Mac Cumhaill is the name of a famous hero in traditional Irish literature.
Mozart
Usage: German
Pronounced: MOHTS-ahrt
The surname was first recorded in the 14th century as Mozahrt, and later as Motzhardt in Germany. It is a compound word, the first part of which is Middle High German mos, also spelt mosz, and meaning “bog, marsh” in southern dialects (compare modern German Moos). The second part is the common name-forming suffix -hart. It was used as a negative nickname for dirty or sloppy people.
Nasmith
This surname is derived from an occupation, "nail-smith", but may also mean "knife-smith".
Othonos
Usage: Greek (Cypriot)
Other Scripts: Όθωνος(Greek)
Pronounced: Ótho̱nos(Cypriot Greek)
Comes from Όθων meaning "Otto" in Greek.
Pacquiao
Usage: Filipino, Cebuano
Pronounced: puk-YOW(Tagalog)
From Cebuano pakyaw meaning "wholesale, to buy in bulk", ultimately from Hokkien 跋繳 (poa̍h-kiáu). A famous bearer is Filipino politician and former boxer Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao (1978-).
Popa
Usage: Romanian
Pronounced: PO-pa
From Romanian
popă "priest", from Old Church Slavic
popŭ. This is the most common surname in Romania.
Raj
Usage: Indian, Punjabi, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Odia
Other Scripts: ਰਾਜ(Gurmukhi) राज(Hindi) ராஜ்(Tamil) രാജ്(Malayalam) రాజ్(Telugu) ರಾಜ್(Kannada) রাজ(Bengali) ରାଜ(Odia)
Pronounced: RAHJ(Hindi)
Derived from Sanskrit राज
(raja) meaning "king".
Redlightning
Usage: Indigenous American, Sioux (?)
Rifkin
Metronymic from the Yiddish female given name
Rifke from the Hebrew given name
Rivka (see
Rebecca), with the addition of the Slavic suffix -
in.
Rommel
Usage: Upper German, Dutch
Nickname for a noisy and disruptive person, from Middle Dutch
rommel "noise, disorder, disturbance". Alternatively, a variant of
Rummel.
Rosencrantz
Means "rose wreath" in German.
Rothschild
Usage: Jewish
Pronounced: RO-chilt(German)
From Middle High German
rot "red" and
schilt "shield", or Yiddish
רויט (roit) and
שילד (shild). The famous Rothschild family of bankers took their name from a house with a red shield on it.
Rousopoulos
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Ρουσόπουλος(Greek)
Meaning "of Russian descent".
Sangster
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: SANG-stər(English)
Occupational name or nickname for a singer, from Old English singan "to sing, to chant".
São João
Usage: Portuguese
Pronounced: sɐ̃w̃ ʒuɐ̃w̃
Means "St. John" in Portuguese.
Sax
Usage: English, Norwegian
From the Old Norse personal name
Saxi meaning "knife, sword".
Sax
Jewish (Ashkenazic) variant spelling of
Sachs.
Sendaydiego
Usage: Filipino
Pronounced: sehn-die-DYEH-go
Possibly from Japanese 仙台
(Sendai), the name of a city in Japan, combined with the given name
Diego.
Setiawan
Usage: Indonesian, Javanese
Shapiro
Usage: Jewish
Other Scripts: שׁפּירא(Hebrew)
Means "pretty, lovely" in Hebrew, from Aramaic.
Þórsson
Means "son of
Þór" in Icelandic.
Tollefsen
From a patronymic from Tollef, a variant of Torleiv, from Old Norse
þorleifr (see
Torleif).
Valmorida
Means "valley of the forest field" derived from Spanish
val, a contraction of
valle meaning "valley", combined with Japanese 森
(mori) meaning "forest, woods" and 田
(ta) "paddy, field" (see
Morita).
Vanderlei
It derives from the Dutch surname Van der Leij/Ley. The surname arrived in Brazil by Kaspar Nieuwhoff Van Der Leij by 1630, a cavalry captain from the Dutch army.
Vinogradov
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Виноградов(Russian)
Means "vineyard" in Russian (ultimately from German), referring to a person who worked at a vineyard or lived near one.
Weinstein
Usage: Jewish
Other Scripts: ויינסטין(Hebrew)
Pronounced: VIEN-shtien(German) WIEN-steen(English) WIEN-stien(English)
Means "wine stone" from German wein meaning "wine" and stein meaning "stone". It originally referred to the potassium bitartrate crystals produced from the process of fermenting grape juice.
Wijaya
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Indonesian, Sinhalese
Other Scripts: විජය(Sinhala)
Pronounced: wee-JA-ya(Indonesian)
Derived from Sanskrit विजय (vijaya) meaning "victory". It is sometimes used as a feminine name in Indonesia.
Xylander
From Greek
ξύλον (xylon) meaning "wood, timber" and
ἀνδρός (andros) meaning "man". This surname was a Greek translation of German surnames of the same meaning.
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