rottedw's Personal Name List

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

Variant spelling of Winterbourne.

Derived from an Old English place name meaning "hill belonging to Wine".

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

Originally a nickname for a person who had white hair or a pale complexion, from Old English hwit "white".

Old German and Dutch locational name meaning “a house by water.”

From the given name Vos, which comes from the Frisian name Fos, which is from Old German given names beginning with the element folk meaning "people".

Derived from the given name Violet

Habitational name for a person from the town of Villalobos, Spain, which is derived from Spanish villa "town" and lobo "wolf".

Derived from french, meaning "green mountain" (Vert, "green"; mont, "mountain").

Means "from the field" in Dutch.

From the given name Valentine 1.

Means "dweller at the edge of the woods", from Old English under and wudu.

See Truslove.

Occupational name for a mender of kettles, pots and pans. The name could derive from the tinking sound made by light hammering on metal. It is possible that the word comes from the word tin, the material with which the tinker worked.

From the medieval female personal name Tiffania (Old French Tiphaine, from Greek Theophania, a compound of theos "God" and phainein "to appear"). This name was often given to girls born around the feast of Epiphany.

From any of the various places in England by this name, meaning "thorn town" in Old English.

The surname Teagarden was first found in Bavaria, where the name Tiegarten was anciently associated with the tribal conflicts of the area. The name appeared in Solingen as Thegarden as early as 1374 and was recorded as Tegarden in 1488. Theegarten is a district in Solingen today. The root is the Low German te garden meaning ""at the garden"".

From a nickname meaning "sweet, pleasant", from Old English swete.

Originally given as a nickname to a person who was noted for purity or excellence, which were taken to be attributes of the swan, or who resembled a swan in some other way. In some cases it may have been given to a person who lived at a house with the sign of a swan. It is also possible that the surname is from the Old Norse and Old English given name Swan.

Alternatively, it may be a variant of Swain or an Americanized form of German Schwan, Norwegian Sveen or Swedish Svan.

Occupational name for an owner of a sugar-house, a factory where raw sugar was made or refined, derived from Middle English sugre, suker meaning "sugar" and bakere meaning "baker".

From a nickname meaning "strong, rigid", from Old English stearc or Old High German stark.

Means "starling (bird)" in German, probably denoting a talkative or perhaps a voracious person. Alternatively, an Anglicized form of Stern 2.

From a medieval nickname for someone who spread their amorous affections around freely. A different form of the surname was borne by Dora Spenlow, the eponymous hero's "child-wife" in Charles Dickens's 'David Copperfield' (1849-50).

(Source: 'Encyclopedia of Surnames' (2007) by John Ayto)

From an Old Norse nickname or byname derived from sparkr meaning "sprightly".

Name for a person who lived near the southern gate of a town or in a town named Southgate, from Old English suþ and gæt.

Derived from a Norman French town called "Saint Clair".

From an English place name, derived from Old English scir "bright" and leah "woodland, clearing".

From a place name meaning "bright forest", derived from Old English scir meaning "bright" and wudu meaning "tree, wood".

Derived from the given name Serafin or Serafino.

Denoted a person from a town by this name in Buckinghamshire, England. It is derived from that of a river combined with Old English broc "stream".

From an Old English personal name derived from the elements sǣ "sea, lake" and beorn "warrior".

Variant of Schröter.

Means "Saint Mary" in Spanish, used as a name for someone from any of various locations named after the Virgin Mary.

Meaning "sacrament" in Spanish and Portuguese.

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).

From Irish Ó Ríoghbhárdáin meaning "descendant of Rígbarddán".

Topographic name derived from Old English rod meaning "cleared land", or a locational name from any of the locations named with this word.

Name possibly derived from the colour of the bark of trees or the name of the town Reedworth between Durham and Devon

Americanized form of the German family name Reinwasser, possibly a topographic name for someone who lived by a source of fresh water, from Middle High German reine ‘pure’ + wazzer ‘water’.

From a given name that was derived from Old English cwen meaning "queen, woman". In some occurrences it may have been a nickname.

From the name of Primrose in Fife, Scotland, a place originally named Prenrhos, literally "tree-moor" in Welsh. This is the family name of the Earls of Rosebery.

Nickname, possibly for a small person, from Middle English pink penkg ‘minnow’ (Old English pinc).English (southeastern): variant of Pinch .Variant spelling of German Pinck, an indirect occupational name for a blacksmith, an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of hammering which was perceived as pink(e)pank. German (of Slavic origin): from a diminutive of Sorbian pien ‘log’, ‘tree stump’, hence probably a nickname for a solid or stubby person.

Means "peach tree" in Portuguese, ultimately from Latin persicum. It indicated a person who lived near or worked with peach trees.

Nickname meaning "penny, coin" from Old English penning.

Means "shepherd" in Spanish.

Derived from the given name Osborn.

From a nickname meaning "noble, high-born, illustrious", derived via Middle English and Old French from Latin nobilis. In some cases the nickname may have been given ironically to people of the opposite character.

Variant of Mowbray, possibly influenced by the name of the fruit.

Derived from the given name Maurice.

English transcription of Morgenstern.

Originally indicated a person from the town of Moyon in Normandy.

Derived from Italian monte meaning "mountain" and verdi meaning "green"; literally means "green mountain".

From an aristocratic English surname meaning "sharp mountain", from Old French mont agu. In Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet (1596) this is the surname of Romeo and his family.

Variant of Meriwether.

Derived from the given name Matthew.

From the English word meaning, "to walk stiffly and proudly" or possibly from the month.

From a medieval nickname for a skilled conciliator. It was borne by English cricketer Harry Makepeace (1881-1952).

From a Scottish surname, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Amhalghaidh, itself derived from Amhalghadh, a given name of unknown meaning. A famous bearer of the surname was Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1861), a British Whig politician and noted historian. The given name is borne by the American former child actor Macaulay Culkin (1980-), who was named after the British politician.

From various places in Spain meaning "moon".

From a nickname derived from a Norman French lou meaning "wolf" and a diminutive suffix.

From a nickname for a lothario, derived from Middle English lufeles, Old English lufuleas meaning "loveless".

Combination of Middle English love(n), luve(n) "to love" and joie "joy".

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

From the name of the capital city of the United Kingdom, the meaning of which is uncertain.

Derived from the Welsh given name Llywelyn.

Derived from Lilly, a pet name for Elizabeth. It was also used as a nickname for someone with fair skin or hair, and is derived from Old English lilie meaning "lily (the flower)". It could also serve as a habitual surname for someone from Lilley in Hertfordshire (from lin "flax" and leah "clearing") and Berkshire (from Lillingleah meaning "wood associated with Lilla").

Occupational name for a washerman or launderer, Old French, Middle Dutch lavendier (Late Latin lavandarius, an agent derivative of lavanda "washing", "things to be washed"). The term was applied especially to a worker in the wool industry who washed the raw wool or rinsed the cloth after fulling. There is no evidence for any direct connection with the word for the plant (Middle English, Old French lavendre). However, the etymology of the plant name is obscure; it may have been named in ancient times with reference to the use of lavender oil for cleaning or of the dried heads of lavender in perfuming freshly washed clothes.

A Cajun surname meaning "the calf".

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.

The name of Marquis de Lafayette; a famous French man during the revolutionary war.

From Old English cniht meaning "knight", a tenant serving as a mounted soldier.

Either derived directly from the word, indicating a nickname for a joyous person, or a variant of Joyce.

From an English word meaning "carter, peddler". A famous bearer is the British musician Mick Jagger (1943-), the lead singer of the Rolling Stones.

Means "hunter" in German, from Old High German jagon meaning "to hunt".

Variant of Ivey. In some cases, might instead be derived from the name of the plant.

From a nickname meaning "innocent" in Italian.

From Middle English hide, a unit of land, approximately the size necessary to support a household.

From the name of the variety of shrubs (genus Vaccinium) or the berries that grow on them. This is also the anglicized form of the German surname Hackelberg.

Derived from the name of the English town of Hunnacott, derived from Old English hunig "honey" or the given name Huna combined with cot "cottage".

English and Scottish variant spelling of Holme.

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.

Topographic name for someone who lived in or near a lush forest, from Old English grene "green" and wudu "wood".

Nickname for a companionable person, from Middle English frend "friend" (Old English freond). In the Middle Ages the term was also used to denote a relative or kinsman, and the surname may also have been acquired by someone who belonged to the family of someone who was a more important figure in the community

Means "son of the king" in Anglo-Norman French, from French roi meaning "king". This name has been bestowed upon illegitimate children of kings.

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 Irish Gaelic Ó Fearadaigh "descendant of Fearadach", a personal name probably based on fear "man", perhaps meaning literally "man of the wood". A famous bearer was British chemist and physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867).

From Middle English fayr "fair, beautiful, pleasant" and weder "weather", a nickname for a person with a sunny temperament, or who only worked in good weather.

A Fairweather family in Scotland have a legend that their surname derived from Job 37:22 ‘Fair weather cometh out of the north’, in reference to them being of northern descent.

Means "beautiful child" in Middle English.

Means "from the forest", from French bois "forest".

Possibly from the nickname or byname do(u)bel meaning "the twin", or a combination of the given name Dobbel (a pet form of Robert) and Middle English day(e) meaning "servant".

From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Ó Donndubháin, itself derived from the given name Donndubán. This name is borne by the Scottish folk musician Donovan Leitch (1946-), known simply as Donovan.

Meaning “given to God”, surname given to a child because they were given to a priest or monastery or either an orpan.

Means "the Frisian" in Dutch, referring to a person from Friesland.

From an English surname, of Norman French origin, meaning "from Evreux". Evreux is a town in France.

Anglicized form of Irish Deasmhumhain meaning "south Munster", referring to the region of Desmond in southern Ireland, formerly a kingdom. It can also come from the related surname (an Anglicized form of Ó Deasmhumhnaigh), which indicated a person who came from that region. A famous bearer is the South African archbishop and activist Desmond Tutu (1931-2021).

Means "of the Rose" in Spanish.

Means "from the forest" in French.

From Middle English crane "crane (bird)", a nickname for a tall, thin man with long legs. The term included the heron until the introduction of a separate word for the latter in the 14th century. Can also be an Anglicized form of names with a similar meaning, such as German Krahn or Kranich.

The ancestors of the Crabtree surname lived in the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. It comes from when they lived in the county of Yorkshire. Their name, however, indicates that the original bearer lived near a prominent crabtree.

From the English word, derived from Old English cirice, ultimately from Greek κυριακόν (kyriakon) meaning "(house) of the lord". It probably referred to a person who lived close to a church.

Spanish cognate of Castle.

Cana is the short form of 'cana de açucar' that means "sugar cane", and Brava is the feminine form of 'bravo' that means "angry". There is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, called Canabrava do Norte, and according to oral tradition, the origin of the name is due to the disease and subsequent death of some animals after eating a plantation of sugar cane.

Comes from the pesonal name 'Bona' which is derived from Latin 'bonus', which means 'great'.

From Old English meaning "happy, joyous, blithe".

From the English words bird and song. Possibly an English translation of the German surname Vogelsang.

Patronymic name from the Medieval personal name Ben Avid, of Arabic origin, derived from ibn Abd meaning "son of the servant of God".

French and English form of Belmonte.

Derived from Middle High German becker meaning "baker".

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

Derived from the nickname barbon meaning "old codger" as well as referring to a "confirmed bachelor".

Given to someone who made arrows from the Old English elements arwe "arrow" and smiþ "smith".

Extremely common variant of Applegarth, in which the less familiar final element has been assimilated to the northern Middle English word gate meaning "road" or to modern English gate.