colters's Personal Name List

Derived from Old Dutch ekster "magpie".

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

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

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

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

French form of Costa.

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

Variant of Debenham.

French cognate of De la Fuente.

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.

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

Derived from the given name Elijah, or sometimes Elisedd.

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

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

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

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

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

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).

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Variant of Whelan.

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

Nickname meaning "small" in Hungarian.

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

Derived from Old English hlaw "hill".

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

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

Derived from the given name Madoc.

Gaelic form of McRae.

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

Variant of O'Mooney.

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

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

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

Irish Gaelic form of Reagan.

Means simply "outlaw" from Middle English outlawe.

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

Italian form of Rey 1.

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

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

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.

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

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

Variant of Savage.

From Welsh saer meaning "carpenter".

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

Derived from the Latin given name Severinus.

Means "tit (bird)" in Polish.

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

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

Alternate transcription of Armenian Դարբինյան (see Darbinyan).

From Middle English tele meaning "teal, duck".

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

Means "knapsack" in Old French.

Means "son of Baldo".

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

Variant of Van der Veen.

Dutch form of Horn.

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

Variant of Vaughan.

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

From the given name Vince.

Scandinavian variant of Winter.

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

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

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 "southern dune" in Dutch.