colters's Personal Name List

Means "southern dune" in Dutch.

Means "from Grimmelshausen", a town in Germany. It is itself derived from Grimmel, of uncertain meaning, and hausen meaning "houses". A famous bearer was the German author Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1621-1676).

Means "from Essen", a city in Germany, possibly a derivative of Old High German asc meaning "ash tree".

Originally indicated a person who lived in a meadow, from Old Norse vǫllr "meadow, field".

Scandinavian variant of Winter.

From the given name Vince.

Locational name in the Eure region of Normandy, from the Gaulish element vern "alder (tree)" with the genitive case maker onis.

Variant of Vaughan.

Variant of Leeuwenhoek. A famous bearer of this surname is Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a pioneer in the field of microscopy.

Dutch form of Horn.

Variant of Van der Veen.

Indicated a dweller by a fen, from Old English fenn meaning "fen, marsh".

Means "son of Baldo".

Means "knapsack" in Old French.

Means "at the edge, eave" indicating a person who lived at the edge of a forest or under a covered shelter.

From Middle English tele meaning "teal, duck".

Alternate transcription of Armenian Դարբինյան (see Darbinyan).

Derived from Middle English strange meaning "foreign", ultimately from Latin extraneus.

Means "grove of trees, small forest" in Spanish, ultimately from Latin saltus.

Means "tit (bird)" in Polish.

Derived from the Latin given name Severinus.

From Middle High German, Middle Dutch schenke meaning "wine server" (from Old High German scenken "to pour out").

From Welsh saer meaning "carpenter".

Variant of Savage.

English nickname meaning "wild, uncouth", derived from Old French salvage or sauvage meaning "untamed", ultimately from Latin silvaticus meaning "wild, from the woods".

From any of the numerous places named after Saint Anna. A famous bearer is the Mexican-American musician Carlos Santana (1947-).

From Spanish sala meaning "hall" and Basque zahar meaning "old". It can also refer to the town of Salazar in Burgos, Spain, which is of the same origin.

Denoted a person who lived near a river, from Middle English, from Old French riviere meaning "river", from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".

From Middle High German riter meaning "rider, knight", a cognate of Ryder.

Italian form of Rey 1.

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

Means simply "outlaw" from Middle English outlawe.

Irish Gaelic form of Reagan.

Derived from Slavic novŭ "new", originally a name for someone who was new to a village.

Either from Nardo, a short form of names like Bernardo or Leonardo, or from Ardovino, a variant of Arduino.

Derived from Spanish moral meaning "mulberry tree", of Latin origin.

Variant of O'Mooney.

Anglicized form of Mac Giolla Eoin. The last part of the surname was mistakenly taken as the Gaelic word for "Monday", Luain.

Gaelic form of McRae.

Derived from the given name Madoc.

From the Old English given name Lufu meaning "love".

Means "son of the lion", from Georgian ლომი (lomi) meaning "lion".

Derived from Old English hlaw "hill".

From the name of the animal, perhaps a nickname for a shy person.

Nickname meaning "small" in Hungarian.

Means "king" in Hungarian, of Slavic origin (a cognate of Król).

Variant of Whelan.

Occupational name meaning "ewe herder", from Old English eowu "ewe" and hierde "herdsman, guardian".

Anglicized form of Irish Ó hAonghuis meaning "descendant of Aonghus".

Derived from the region in southern Finland known as Häme, also called Tavastia.

Occupational name meaning "steward, farm manager" in Middle English, related to the German title Graf.

Occupational name for a steward, derived from Middle English greyve, related to the German title Graf.

From any of the various minor places by this name in Germany, meaning "stone of the Franks" in German. It was used by the author Mary Shelley in her novel Frankenstein (1818) for the character of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a monster and brings it to life. The monster, nameless in the novel, is sometimes informally or erroneously called Frankenstein in modern speech.

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

Nickname given to a person who was a foster child or foster parent.

From the name of the bird, from Old English finc. It was used by Harper Lee for the surname of lawyer Atticus Finch and his children in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).

From a name for someone who dwelt near a marsh, from Old English fenn meaning "fen, swamp, bog".

Derived from Middle English feare meaning "friend, comrade".

Occupational name meaning "keeper of falcons", from Middle English and Scots faulcon, from Late Latin falco, of Germanic origin.

From a place name meaning "fair ravine, fair cliff" in Old English.

Derived from a short form of the German given name Anselm.

Derived from the given name Elijah, or sometimes Elisedd.

Derived from German Einhorn (Middle High German einhorn) "unicorn", denoting someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a unicorn.

Means "from the rose bushes", from French rosier "rose bush". It probably referred to a person who lived close to, or cared for a rose garden.

French cognate of De la Fuente.

Variant of Debenham.

Means "quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English coi.

French form of Costa.

From French place names derived from beau "beautiful" and chêne "oak".

From a nickname derived from Old English ban "bones", probably for a thin person.

Occupational name for one who practiced archery, from Latin arcus "bow" (via Old French).

From Latin Agnus Dei meaning "lamb of God". This was a nickname for someone who was particularly religious or someone who wore this symbol.

Derived from Old Dutch ekster "magpie".