Surnames starting with B

A nickname-based surname from Barbara, originally meaning “Barbara’s child” or “son of Barbara.”

Likely a diminutive surname built from the medieval personal name Babb or Babbe, often understood as a pet-form with a doubled ending.

A pet-form surname that likely means “son of Bob” or “son of Robert,” though early writers also linked it to Bartholomew.

A mainly English surname, probably from Babergh in Suffolk, though some families may have taken it from a local place-name or from later folk-etymology.

A surname that likely began as a pet-form or nickname built from a personal name meaning “child” or “little one,” though some branches may also be Slavic in origin.

A Spanish surname that most likely began as a nickname or place-based name, though its exact origin is not fully settled.

An English surname that likely began as a spelling transformation of Backhouse or Bakehouse, not a reference to the Roman god of wine.

A surname of German origin meaning “brook” or “stream,” sometimes also appearing in place-based English surnames tied to a brook or sandy brook.

A surname that can mean either “man by the brook” or “Bach’s man/servant,” depending on which German root it came from.

A German surname meaning “man by the brook” or “man from the streamside.”

An old English surname that could point to a backland, a ferry or wharf, or sometimes a person who worked there.

An English surname that can mean either “baker” or, in some older explanations, someone connected with a back or ferry.

An old surname often explained as meaning “bake-house,” likely from a Germanic occupational or house-name source.

An old surname with both Norman-local and nickname roots, best known in England as a family name long established after the Conquest.

A German surname that can mean either “bathhouse keeper/bather” or, in some families, descend from an old Germanic personal name.

A surname that most likely began as a nickname or occupational name, referring either to a badger-like person or to a hawker/buyer of corn and goods.

A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place name or a personal nickname built on an older Iberian root.

A surname that may be a short form or nickname in some traditions, but its origin is uncertain and may overlap with similar surnames like Bee or Beeby.

A surname with several roots, most often either German for "bear" or a Germanic word for "farm" or "dwelling."

A Spanish surname taken from the place-name Baeza, a historic city in Andalusia.

A surname most likely from an English place name, meaning someone who came from Bagby in Yorkshire.

A nickname surname, probably meaning “the shaggy” or “the rough-haired,” though some sources also connect it to a place-name pronunciation.

A surname usually taken from English place-names called Bagley, originally meaning a clearing or pasture on a swelling hill or hill-shaped ground.

An English surname most likely from Bakewell, a Derbyshire place name, or from a related local-name spelling that shifted over time.

A surname with several possible roots, including Germanic forms linked to place-names or old personal-name elements.

A Spanish surname likely tied to a place name, especially from southern Spain.

A surname with Germanic roots, often connected with the old personal name Ber/Bar and sometimes treated as a short form of names built on that element.

A German surname meaning “Bavarian” or “from Bavaria.”

A South Asian surname and honorific title, often linked to Turkic and Persianate traditions of nobility or local leadership.

A name that may come from an official title or a place-name, and is also found in forms linked to the Norman surname Baillol/Baillie.

A common surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a bailiff or a castle bailey.

A surname of likely Spanish origin, probably tied to a place name or local family name tradition.

A Scottish surname that often comes from a Gaelic nickname meaning “white” or fair-haired, though in some cases it may be locational.

A Yorkshire place-name surname meaning “bridge at Bainbrigg” or “bridge by the hill called Bainbrigg.”

An English surname that likely began as a locational name for someone from a place near Bayeux in Normandy.

Usually a locational surname, probably from a place name such as Bains in Normandy or a similar spot in England.

A surname often derived as a spelling variant of German Baer/Behr, originally meaning “bear.”

A Scottish surname with a debated origin, often linked either to the word for a poet or to a continental personal name.

An occupational surname for a person who baked bread, pastries, or other goods.

A surname with multiple possible roots, most likely from a Germanic personal name or a nickname for a bat.

A Scandinavian surname that most likely began as a patronymic or nickname from a personal name like Bakko/Bakke, though some forms may also connect to the word for a hill or slope.

A Dutch occupational surname meaning “baker,” from the man who baked bread.

A Spanish surname most likely linked to a place name, probably built from a term for a white or bright valley/plain.

An old English surname that may have begun as a nickname for someone thought proud or haughty, though some sources treat it as uncertain.

A Spanish surname likely tied to a place name, rather than a personal description.

A Spanish surname that likely began as a local or place-based name, and is especially associated with Spanish-speaking communities in the Americas.

A surname that likely developed as a medieval nickname or compound from old Germanic name elements, later reshaped in English usage.

An old personal name surname meaning “bold friend” or “brave friend.”

Most likely a variant spelling of Bale, with the final -s marking a plural or family form.

A surname usually tied to a ridge, boundary strip, or balk of land.

Usually a nickname or short form tied to Baldwin, though in some cases it may also reflect the common word for a ball.

A surname that most likely began as a nickname for a bald-headed person, though some older writers linked it to Celtic roots.

A surname most likely from French occupational roots tied to baking, though some sources also connect it with a continental personal-name form.

A surname usually taken as a Scottish or northern-English spelling variant of Ballantyne, likely from a place-name or a nickname for a bald or shining head.

A Spanish surname meaning “people associated with a crossbow” or, in some historical uses, a crossbowman or court officer.

A surname with several plausible origins, most likely a variant spelling of an older French or English family name.

An English surname that may come from a baker’s byname or from a place-name, with several medieval spellings clustered around similar sounds.

A surname of uncertain origin, found chiefly in English-speaking countries and sometimes linked to older French or English forms.

A Hungarian surname usually linked to a nickname meaning “left-handed” or “awkward,” rather than to a place or occupation.

A surname ultimately tied to the biblical name Balthazar, the traditional name of one of the Magi.

A place-based surname meaning “the croft on a bank” or “enclosure on a slope.”

A surname that may come from a word for a band, ribbon, strip, or banner, though its exact origin is often uncertain and can be regional.

An English surname that likely began as a nickname for someone with bowed or crooked legs.

A surname that in Scotland was often a nickname for someone fair- or white-haired.

A surname of Spanish use, most likely taken from a place name and meaning someone from or connected with Banegas.

A surname with several possible roots, most likely from a place-name or a nickname based on a sharp sound or a small hill.

An occupational surname for a banker, money-changer, or financial officer.

A surname most likely from a place-name or topographic term meaning “bank’s head” or the head of a slope or embankment.

A topographic surname for someone who lived by a bank, slope, or hillside.

An English-derived surname most likely from a place-name meaning “Bank’s town” or “bank settlement.”

Usually a surname taken from a banner or standard, likely for someone who made, carried, or was identified with a banner.

A surname most likely from an old personal name or place-name root, with early English and Germanic links.

An English surname usually explained as an occupational name for a crossbowman, though some historical writers linked it to a Norman place-name.

An Irish surname that is usually explained as meaning “white” or “fair,” though the details are not fully certain.

A surname that appears to have a local, place-based origin, probably referring to someone from a high place or hill country.

A surname meaning “baptizer” or “the Baptist,” ultimately tied to John the Baptist and Christian baptism.

A French and other European surname from the personal name Baptiste, meaning “of John the Baptist” or “baptizer.”

A Spanish surname most likely taken from the place-name Barahona, ultimately marking someone from that town or district.

A Spanish surname most likely linked to a place-name, especially the village of Barajas near Madrid.

A surname with more than one likely source, including an old title-based form and, in Slavic use, a word meaning “ram” or “sheep.”

A surname from the word for “beard,” often originally a nickname for a bearded man, though some bearers may come from place-names or saintly forms.

An American surname that is usually an altered spelling of Barber, though it can also reflect the common surname pattern of adding -ee to a name ending in -er.

An occupational surname for a barber—originally someone who trimmed hair and shaved beards.

A surname most often linked to the Latin-style personal name Barbara, meaning “foreign woman” or “stranger.”

An Italian occupational surname meaning “barbers,” originally referring to someone who cut hair or shaved beards.

A Portuguese and Spanish surname originally referring to a place marked by brambles or thorny bushes.

A spelling of Barber, originally an occupational surname for a barber or hair-cutter.

An Iberian surname most often linked to Barba/Barbosa-style place names and the Latin root for “beard.”

A Spanish surname likely tied to a place name, ultimately from a word meaning a bushy or scrubby place.

A surname that likely began as a place-name or local descriptive label in Spain.

A surname most often derived from Berkeley, the place name meaning ‘birch wood’ or ‘birch clearing.’

A name that can point to a poet or bard, though in some lines it may also reflect other surname forms that converged on the same spelling.

Likely a locational surname meaning someone from a place called Barden, especially the Yorkshire township.

A short surname that can be local, descriptive, or a reduced form of a longer name such as Barebones.

An English surname that may come from a nickname for someone who went barefoot, though some sources also treat it as a local surname from Barford/Barforth-type place names.

A surname of likely Spanish-language origin, probably tied to a place name or local geographic feature.

A locational English surname, most likely meaning “someone from or by the barley field.”

An English surname that may come from a form of “burgher,” meaning a townsman or citizen, though some later references also treat it as a spelling variant of related names like Berger.

A locational surname meaning “from Barham,” originally taken from one of several English places of that name.

An occupational surname for someone who stripped or prepared tree bark, especially for tanning leather.

A surname usually explained as a variant of Barclay or Berkeley, originally tied to a place-name in Britain.

A locational surname meaning “one who came from Barksdale,” a place-name built from Old English elements for a valley or dale.

Usually a locational surname, originally meaning someone from a place called Barley or a related parish name.

A habitational surname meaning “from Barlow,” originally taken from places in Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely from a personal name or a nickname, and also found in Hungarian and related traditions.

A surname of old Germanic origin, usually from the personal name Bernard, meaning “strong bear.”

A surname that most likely began as a Germanic or English name for someone connected with a barn, a district, or a place name.

A common surname that can come from a place-name, a barn-side dwelling, or, in some cases, the older surname Berners.

Usually a surname from the place name Barnet in Hertfordshire, though some older writers also treated it as a form of Barnard.

A surname most likely from a place name, especially Barnet in England, meaning a person from that area.

Usually a shortened form of Bernard or Barnard, though in some cases it may come from place-names in England.

An Americanized form of the German personal name Bernhard, meaning “brave as a bear.”

A Scottish locational surname meaning “dweller by the barn on the hill.”

An Americanized form of Barnham, a place-name surname ultimately meaning “the homestead of Beorn/Barn.”

A habitational surname from places called Barnwell, literally meaning “wooded field” in an old English analysis, though later scholars also linked it to Barneville in Normandy.

A surname that can come from a nickname for someone who affected noble rank, from a Norman/French place-name, or in some cases from a personal-name tradition.

An Italian surname from a word meaning “baron,” originally a title for a man of rank or distinction.

A surname that can come from a place-name, a gateway or barrier, or a byname meaning “bear” or “boar.”

A Hispanic surname that likely began as a nickname for a young man or bachelor, later becoming hereditary.

A Spanish surname probably built from barra, meaning “bar” or “iron rod,” with Barraza functioning as an augmentative or related form.

A Spanish surname most likely from a word for a barrier, fence, or boundary.

A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place name or to the idea of a barrier or fence.

A mainly Portuguese and Spanish surname most likely meaning a person from a place called Barreto or Barretos-related terrain-name.

An old surname that likely began as a medieval personal name, later also shaped by French and English surname forms.

Likely means “bare ridge,” a topographic surname for someone who lived near a bleak hillside or exposed ridge.

A Spanish surname most likely derived from a place-name or a regional form built on barr- words associated with rough terrain or a barrier.

A Spanish surname that most likely began as a nickname for someone with a prominent belly or rounded build.

A surname from the old Germanic personal name Berengarius, later seen in forms like Beringer and Berringer.

A locational surname meaning “from Barrington,” a place name found in several English counties.

A Spanish surname meaning “neighborhoods” or “districts,” originally from a place name or local area called a barrio.

A surname with several possible roots, most often from Baron—either a nickname for someone dignified or a name linked to the status of a baron.

A Spanish and Portuguese surname that can refer to clay, muddy ground, or a person with facial blemishes or a reddish complexion.

A Spanish and Portuguese surname meaning “muddy,” “clayey,” or “covered with mud,” probably first used as a descriptive nickname or place-based name.

A surname usually from a place-name or a spot near a barrow, an old burial mound or low hill.

A name most likely taken from someone who lived by a barrow, hill, or burial mound.

A surname that can be locational, Norman-French, or in some Irish cases a shortened form of Welsh-style "ab Harry" meaning "son of Harry."

A surname with several possible roots, most likely a shortened form related to Bartholomew or a name built from a word meaning “field” or “woodlot.”

A surname that usually comes from medieval forms of Bartholomew, especially as a short form used in Germanic and Dutch-speaking areas.

A surname that usually began as a medieval given-name descendant of Bartholomew, meaning “son of Bartol/Bartholomew.”

A German and Dutch surname meaning “son of Bartel,” with Bartel itself a short form of Bartholomew.

A short form of Bartholomew, ultimately meaning “son of Talmai” in biblical tradition.

A German surname that began as a familiar short form of Bartholomew.

A surname from the old Christian given name Bartholomew, ultimately meaning “son of Talmai” or “furrowed.”

A surname that usually began as a pet form of Bartholomew, meaning “son of Bartholomew” or “little Bartle.”

Usually a surname formed from the personal name Bartholomew, though some local-place influence has also been suggested.

A surname of uncertain origin, likely from an old Germanic personal name or nickname-related root.

A classic English surname from place-names meaning a farmstead or manor house enclosure.

A surname that most often developed as a short form of Bartholomew or a related given name, later fixed in German-speaking and North American families.

A locational surname from places called Barwick, especially one meaning a settlement or farm on the river mouth or near barley fields.

An English surname that may have begun as a nickname for a bashful or shy person, though the evidence is not secure.

An English surname usually taken from the place name Barsham in Norfolk, with local pronunciation smoothing it into Basham.

A surname from the personal name Basil, ultimately meaning “kingly” or “royal.”

A surname most likely meaning “person from Basing” or another place-name ending in -ing(er).

A Norman locational surname from Bacqueville in northern France, later established in England by medieval landholders of that name.

A surname with a likely Irish origin, often explained as a diminutive form of a Gaelic name meaning “little little calf” or similar nickname sense.

Usually a nickname for a short or stout person, from a French word meaning “low” or “short.”

An English and Norman surname that likely began as a nickname for a small or short person, later also attaching to prominent landholding families.

An old personal-name surname, likely from a short-form Germanic name meaning “low” or possibly related to Latin-based naming traditions.

A short form of Sebastian, first used as a baptismal surname and later inherited as a family name.

A Spanish habitational surname from the place name Basurto, used for people who came from that locality.

An English surname meaning “the bachelor,” originally a form of Batchelor.

A surname from Middle English bachelor, originally meaning a young knight or an unmarried man, later used as a common byname.

Originally a medieval personal-name surname, probably meaning “Bate’s man” or “the son/servant of Bate.”

An old English surname that usually means “son of Bat(e),” a short form of Bartholomew.

A surname usually understood as a pet form of Bartholomew, especially in northern English usage.

A surname ultimately tied to “Baptist,” often marking a family connection to Christian baptism or a saint’s name.

A French and Creole surname ultimately linked to the name of John the Baptist.

A surname most likely taken from the Spanish place name Batres, especially the town in Madrid province.

An English surname meaning “son of Bat,” with Bat as a short form of Bartholomew.

An English surname usually tracing back to Batt, a short form of Bartholomew.

An Italian surname meaning “battle” or “fight,” likely first applied as a nickname or soldierly byname.

A surname with several overlapping origins: it can be a patronymic form of Bartholomew, or a locational name from places in Cornwall or elsewhere.

A surname from the given name Battista, ultimately meaning “baptizer” and tied to St. John the Baptist.

A surname that is usually local or descriptive, and may also reflect a nickname or an old personal name in some lines.

An English surname most likely from a byname or place-name linked to battle or conflict.

A patronymic surname meaning “son of Batt,” with Batt a short form of Bartholomew.

A surname with several possible roots, most likely from a medieval personal name or a nickname form related to Bate/Betty-type names.

A surname most likely from a place-name or an altered spelling of an older family name, rather than a word with a single obvious meaning.

A German occupational surname meaning “farmer” or “peasant,” originally used for a husbandman or tenant farmer.

An English surname that may be local in origin, though in some cases it may also reflect a dialect word meaning “bad” or “indifferent.”

A surname most likely from German Bacher or Bauer, brought into English spelling by immigrant families.

A surname most often understood as a variant of Baumann, meaning someone who lived by or worked with trees or a homestead, though in English-speaking areas it was often reshaped in spelling and sound.

A German surname meaning “tree,” often applied as a topographic or house-name surname.

A German surname that usually means a “builder” or “craftsman,” though it can also be a spelling variant of Baumann.

A German surname meaning “farmer” or “cultivator,” also sometimes linked to a person living by a boundary marker or barrier.

A German surname meaning “tree gardener” or “orchard keeper,” originally tied to someone who tended trees or a planted grove.

A German occupational surname meaning “orchard gardener” or “tree gardener.”

A Spanish surname from a given name meaning “baptist,” ultimately tied to St. John the Baptist.

A surname that likely began as a place name, probably meaning someone from or near a “bake” or “bakery” location in Old English, though the exact origin is not certain.

An old occupational surname meaning “baker,” especially in northern English and Scots usage.

A surname that can point either to a place-name near a bay or bay-tree, or to a nickname for someone with a bay-colored complexion.

A surname for someone connected with Bavaria, originally meaning “the Bavarian.”

An English surname most likely from a reduced form of Bayley/Bailey, meaning an official such as a bailiff.

Probably a variant of an occupational surname for a dancer or leaper, though some American bearers may come through German-looking variant spellings.

A Scottish surname usually linked to the Gaelic word for “white” or “fair,” with some names likely shaped by later spelling changes.

An English surname that can come from a place by a bay or from a topographic word meaning a pond or hollow.

A Spanish surname whose exact origin is uncertain, but which likely arose as a regional or altered form of an older place-name or nickname.

A likely English surname built from a place-name element, probably referring to someone from or near a particular moor or marshy area.

A Spanish surname meaning someone from or near a place with baths, pools, or marshy water.

A surname that usually began as a local name for someone who lived by a beach or riverbank, and in some cases was linked to the beech tree.

An English surname usually treated as a variant of Beauchamp, altered by sound and spelling over time.

A surname that likely began as a spelling of the English place-name Beachy or Beachy Head, rather than as a descriptive word.

An occupational surname for a beadle, an official messenger or parish officer.

Usually a habitational surname: originally someone “of Beal,” a place-name in northern England, though some sources allow other local origins.

A surname that can come from a place name, an open pass, or the French nickname le Bel, meaning “the handsome one.”

A surname most likely from a place name, originally meaning someone from Beal in northern England.

An English surname that may be a plural or variant form of Beal, itself often linked to a personal name or place-name.

Likely a topographic surname for someone who lived by a notable tree or boundary marker, though a few old sources also connect it with a wooden beam.

Usually a variant of Beeman, an old occupational surname for a beekeeper or honey seller.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to an occupational or descriptive nickname sense.

An English surname most likely from a place-name or an older personal-name form, rather than from the modern word “beam.”

A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname for Benjamin, a pet form of Beane, and possibly a name linked to beans or bean-growing.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to Bean as a diminutive or nickname, and in some traditions tied to Benjamin or Gaelic forms.

An English surname that may come from a nickname for a fierce or surly person, or occasionally from a place-name or other local source.

A nickname surname for someone distinguished by a beard, especially in medieval times when beards were a ready personal identifier.

A surname that likely began as a place-name or nickname form built from the Old English word for “beard.”

A place-based surname, probably meaning “from Bardsley” or a similar English locality name.

An English surname usually taken as a place-based name, most likely from one of several minor localities rather than a single famous place.

A surname with likely English roots, probably from a place-name form meaning “from Rasen” or from a shortened patronymic “son of …”.

A Scottish surname usually derived from Bethune, though in England it could also be a shortened form of Beatrice-based names.

A Scottish surname that likely began as a pet form of the female name Beatrice/Beatrix, though some Irish bearers may have a different origin.

A surname with more than one origin: often from Irish Gaelic words for a hospitable provider, but sometimes from a pet form of Beatrice or from other local spelling traditions.

A Scottish and northern English surname usually linked to the pet form of a medieval personal name, especially Beatrice/Beatus-style forms.

A Norman-French surname meaning “beautiful field” or “fair field,” brought to England after the Conquest.

A French surname probably tied to an old personal name built on the element meaning “bold” or “brave.”

A French surname that likely began as a name for someone from a place called Beaudry or a similar ‘beautiful’ place-name.

A French habitational surname meaning “beautiful place” or “fair location.”

A Norman place-name surname meaning “beautiful hill,” originally used for someone from one of several places called Beaumont.

A French surname meaning “beautiful view” or “fine outlook,” originally used for a pleasant place-name or house-name.

A surname that can come either from a place-name linked to Beauvoir/Beauver or from a nickname based on the animal beaver.

An English surname that likely began as a nickname or as a place-based name connected with beavers or Beaver- placenames.

A Spanish surname that began as a nickname or byname linked to a young cow or heifer.

A Spanish surname linked to becerro, “calf,” likely meaning a place or person associated with young cattle.

A German surname most likely formed as a diminutive of a short-name based on a root meaning “bright” or “shining.”

A German surname that likely began as a shortened form of Berchtold/Berthold, a medieval personal name meaning roughly “bright ruler.”

Usually a name for someone who lived by a small stream or beck.

A German surname meaning “baker,” though in some cases it may reflect an old personal name or be connected with a cup or drinker-related sense.

An English surname most often linked to a place-name meaning “beck-head” or “stream source,” though some early writers also treated it as a personal-name form.

A habitational surname meaning someone from Beckford, a place name originally tied to a brook or stream.

A locational surname from East or West Beckham in Norfolk, meaning “Beck’s homestead” or “Beck’s village.”

A locational surname meaning someone from a place called Beckley, originally “brook meadow” or “meadow by the brook.”

A surname that can mean “man by the brook,” though in some cases it may also be a shortened or altered form of a name based on Beck/Bek.

A German surname meaning “brook man” or sometimes linked to a baker’s name, depending on the local family line.

A surname most likely related to German names built on Beck-, often from a brook, baker, or place-name base.

A place-based surname from Yorkshire, probably meaning “the farm or settlement by the brook.”

A surname from the office of a beadle or parish officer, originally meaning someone who served in an official minor role.

A habitational surname from Bedford, the historic county town in Bedfordshire, England.

A Central and Eastern European occupational surname meaning “cabinetmaker” or “cooper.”

A Spanish-language surname probably arising as a regional place-name or nickname, now most common in Mexico and Mexican American communities.

A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place name, probably from northern Spain.

An English surname that most likely began as a place-name surname, especially from the Bedfordshire hamlet of Bedwell.

Usually an English nickname or shop-sign surname, and sometimes a shortened form of a place-name ending in -by.

An English surname from a place name, originally meaning someone from Beeby in Leicestershire.

A topographic surname for someone who lived by a beech tree or a beech landmark.

Usually an English locational surname, originally for someone living by a beech tree or beech wood.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably an old Germanic name that was Anglicized in North America.

Either a surname for a beekeeper or a local-name form from Beaumont in some cases.

A surname that is most likely a spelling variant of Bean or Beane, rather than a name with its own separate origin.

A surname usually from a place-name, especially people from one of several English places called Beer.

A surname usually taken from a place-name, especially Beer in Dorset or Beers in the Low Countries.

A surname that likely began as a nickname for someone with a beery, ale-loving, or tipsy reputation.

An English surname usually understood as a shortened or altered form of Beeston, a place-name meaning “Bee farm” or “Bēo’s farm.”

A Navajo surname, widely understood as a surname adapted from a Navajo word or clan-based naming tradition rather than from English occupation or place-name roots.

A name that likely began as a nickname or patronymic from the short form Begg, itself often linked to “little” or “small.”

An Irish surname most likely from Ó Beigléigh or a related Gaelic form, often interpreted as “descendant of the little scholar” or a similar nickname-based name.

A South Asian honorific surname from a title for a Muslim noblewoman or princess.

A German surname most likely linked to Böhme/Böhm, meaning a person from Bohemia.

A German surname that likely began as a pet form of a personal name such as Bernhard or Benedict.

A German surname that usually goes back to a word for “bear,” sometimes also shaped by forms of the name Bernhard.

A German patronymic surname meaning “son of Behrend,” ultimately tied to the old Germanic name Bernhard, “bear-hard” or “strong as a bear.”

A surname with several possible roots, including a medieval nickname or a regional form related to Bell/Beal.

A German surname most likely tied to a maker or user of an axe, though some older writers treated it as an occupational or descriptive name more broadly.

A Spanish surname likely meaning someone from a place called Bejar or Béjar.

A surname most likely from a French nickname meaning “good cheer” or “fine manners.”

A surname most likely tied to a place-name in Kent, England, though some older writers also linked it with related forms like Belding.

A surname of French origin, usually understood as a form of "the beautiful island."

A surname probably from a word for a ridge or bank, though some sources treat it as a later variant of Balk.

An English surname often explained as meaning “good page” or “good youth,” though the old derivation is not entirely certain.

A common surname with several roots, most often from the Old French word for “beautiful” or “fair.”

A surname from Old French meaning “fair friend,” originally used as a friendly form of address.

A surname with several possible origins, including a place-name source and occasional use from residence near a bell-house or similar landmark.

Usually an English form of Berenger, a name tied to the idea of a spear-carrying warrior.

A surname of several possible origins, but in English records it is often tied to Norman French place-names meaning “beautiful field” or “fair/beautiful place.”

A surname probably from a place-name like Bellhouse or Billows, though early writers also linked it to Bellew.

A surname usually taken from a Norman or French place-name meaning “beautiful hill.”

A place-based surname meaning “beautiful mountain,” found in Spanish, Italian, and related Romance traditions.

Usually an English name from the belt or girdle, though in some cases it may be a nickname or local name.

A surname usually taken from one of several English place-names called Belton.

A Spanish surname most often linked to the old Germanic personal name Bertram, meaning roughly “bright raven.”

A surname of uncertain origin, probably linked to a nickname or dialect word rather than a single well-known place or trade.

A surname that is likely a shortened or altered form of a personal-name-based surname, with early American spelling variation including Bemish.

A short surname most likely reduced from Benedict or another name beginning with Ben-, though in some cases it may also reflect a place-name source.

A Navajo surname, often seen as a family name of Native American origin in the Southwest.

A Spanish surname most likely referring to someone from a place named Benavides or a similar settlement.

A Spanish surname most likely meaning “son of Benavides,” linking the name to an older place-name or family line.

A surname with multiple origins, most often linked to bending, bow-making, or a German occupational name related to binding or rent-collection.

An Italian surname from the personal name Benedetto, meaning “blessed.”

A surname from the medieval personal name Benedict, meaning “blessed.”

An English surname from a place-name, most likely meaning someone from Benefield in Northamptonshire.

A mostly English place-name surname, originally meaning someone from Benefield in Northamptonshire.

A likely English habitational surname meaning “from Benford,” with the place name itself probably referring to a ford or river crossing.

A surname that likely began as a shortened form of Benjamin.

An English surname with multiple possible roots, often explained as a place name or as a short form of Benedict.

A biblical surname from the Hebrew personal name meaning “son of the right hand,” often linked with Jewish families in English usage.

A short form of Benedict, often appearing in families connected with medieval Benedictine religious influence.

A surname with Germanic roots, often explained as a short form of older names beginning with Ben- or Ber-.

A surname from the personal name Benedict, meaning “blessed.”

A very common surname from the medieval personal name Benedict, meaning “blessed.”

An old patronymic surname meaning “son of Ben,” with English place-name connections as well.

A French surname from the personal name Benoît, meaning “blessed.”

A surname with two main roots: most often “son of Ben,” and in some cases a shortened form of Benedict.

A surname most often taken from a place on a bend, curve, or open bent of land.

A habitational surname meaning someone from a place called Bentley, originally referring to a grassy clearing or pasture covered with bent grass.

A place-based surname, usually meaning “from Benton,” a common English place-name meaning an enclosure or settlement on bent grass land.

A German surname that most likely began as a short form of Benedict.

A surname with several possible European roots, especially German and French forms built on older personal names like Banso/Benzo or related short-name forms.

A Spanish surname meaning “son of Benito,” from the personal name Benedict.

A surname of old Germanic origin, probably meaning “strong as a bear” or “bear-hard.”

An Italian surname most often meaning "son of Berardo," a medieval given name related to Bernard.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a medieval personal name or to older place-name elements rather than the animal bear.

A common German and Scandinavian surname meaning “hill” or “mountain,” often originally for someone who lived near one.

A name that may point to a hill, a bank, or a place name built from a Germanic root for “fort” or “hill.”

A surname that can come from places named Bergen, or from a Germanic word for “hill” or “mountain.”

A surname with several independent origins, most often from French for “shepherd” or German for someone living near a hill or mountain.

A French surname meaning “young shepherd” or “little shepherd,” formed as a diminutive of Berger.

An Irish surname, usually from an older Gaelic personal name associated with the Byrne/Beirne family-name cluster.

A Scandinavian surname meaning “mountain grove” or “hill grove.”

A surname meaning “man from the hill or mountain,” or sometimes simply “man who lived by a hill.”

A German surname meaning “mountain man,” often used for someone who lived on or near a hill or mountain, or worked in the mountains.

A Scandinavian surname meaning “mountain twig” or more loosely “hill branch,” built from nature words that became common in Swedish-style surname formation.

A Scandinavian surname meaning “mountain stream” or “stream by the mountain.”

A short surname that may point to a hill, a borough, or a place-name root meaning “fortress” or “ridge.”

A surname most likely tied to the Swiss-German name Bürki, ultimately from a word for a hill or mound.

A locational surname meaning “of Berkeley,” from places in England called Berkeley.

A Jewish surname meaning “son of Berk” or “son of Berko,” built on a Slavic-style patronymic ending.

Usually a surname taken from the city of Berlin, so it is a locational name meaning “from Berlin.”

An English surname that often began as an occupational name for a man who looked after bears or, more broadly, a bear-man/bearward.

A Spanish patronymic surname meaning “son of Bermudo,” with a Germanic personal name at its root.

A surname from the given name Barnabas/Bernabé, meaning “son of encouragement.”

A surname found especially in Spanish-speaking families, likely built from the old given name Bernard/Bernald.

A surname from the old personal name Bernard, originally meaning “brave as a bear.”

A Romance and Germanic given-name surname from Bernardo, originally meaning “brave as a bear” or “strong bear.”

A German surname from a short form of names like Bernhard, ultimately meaning “bear-strength.”

A surname that likely began as an occupational name for someone who handled or supplied hounds, though in some cases it may also reflect a personal name or place-name origin.

A Germanic surname from a personal name meaning “bold as a bear” or “strong bear.”

A German surname meaning “strong or brave as a bear,” built from old Germanic roots for “bear” and “hardy/brave.”

A French surname that likely began as a pet form of Bernard or a related Germanic name with the element for “bear.”

A German surname meaning “amber,” especially common among Ashkenazi Jewish families.

A Spanish-language surname most likely linked to a place name or regional family name, especially in the Hispanic world.

Berry is usually a place-based surname, often meaning “someone from a bury/bourg/borough,” though it can also reflect other local place-names.

A place-based surname meaning “dweller by the berry-covered hill.”

An English surname most likely from borough-man, meaning a man of the borough or town.

An old personal name that became a surname, originally meaning “bright raven” or “famous raven” in Germanic languages.

A French surname from an old Germanic personal name meaning, roughly, “bright” or “famous raven.”

A German surname often representing a softened or expanded form of a short name beginning with Bert- or Ber-.

A Spanish-language surname most likely tied to a place name, especially the town of Berumen in Spain, later carried to the Americas.

Usually a pet-form surname from the female name Elizabeth, especially the nickname Bess.

A French surname that likely began as a nickname or diminutive built from a personal name or descriptive root.

A surname that usually began as a nickname, often meaning “the beast” or, less certainly, as a spelling change from Basset.

A surname of French and Spanish use, ultimately meaning someone from a place called Béthencourt or Betancourt.

A surname that likely comes from a Bible name, especially the feminine name Bithiah/Bethia, rather than from a place or trade.

An English and Welsh surname most likely from the Welsh patronymic meaning “son of Ithel,” though it can also overlap with place-name origins.

A surname of French origin, taken from the town of Béthune in Artois, northern France.

A surname of likely Norman-French origin, originally meaning someone from a fortified court or estate.

A surname that probably began as a short form of Bett, Betts, or Betty, ultimately from a medieval pet name for Elizabeth or Beatrice.

A surname that likely began as a pet form of the female name Betty, though some older writers also linked it to Latin Beatus.

A German surname often treated as a short form of Bernhard, with some early writers also linking it to nicknames built on “Bär” (bear).

A Welsh surname meaning “son of Evan,” Evan being the Welsh form of John.

A surname taken from the English place name Beverley, Yorkshire, originally referring to the town itself.

Usually an English/Welsh surname from the personal name Bevan, meaning “son of Evan,” though some older writers also linked it to Beauvais in France.

A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname from “bay” for a tawny complexion and, in some cases, Germanic or Welsh personal-name origins.

A surname most often linked to Bavaria or to German/Dutch forms of “Bayer,” meaning a Bavarian.

A South Asian surname and given-name element meaning “devotee” or “worshipper.”

A North Indian surname tied to the Bhatia mercantile community, ultimately from a clan or regional group name rather than a descriptive nickname.

An Indian surname often linked to learned Brahmin ancestry or an honorific title for a scholar or priest.

An ethnic surname from South Asia, most often linked to the Bhatti clan or group name.

An Italian surname meaning “white,” originally a nickname or family-name form from Bianco.

An Italian surname meaning “the white one,” from a nickname for someone with fair hair, pale complexion, or a white-clad association.

A rare surname that may come from the old personal name Blaise/Bias, though some bearers may instead descend from a local place-name.

An English surname most likely from a pet form or nickname, though some old sources also connect it with a bird-related nickname.

A surname most likely from a medieval pet form of a given name such as Bibb or Bibbe, later inherited as a family name.

A rare surname probably arising as an Irish form of another name, rather than from the sacred book itself.

A surname of mixed and uncertain origins, most likely from a Welsh patronymic form and sometimes linked to Cornish place-name roots.

A surname with German roots, often explained as a diminutive form built from a short personal name.

A locational surname meaning “from Bickford,” a place-name in England.

An English surname probably denoting someone from a small West Country place-name, likely meaning “Bick- hill” or “Bick- valley.”

A location-based surname, most likely from a place in Somerset or Warwickshire called Bickenhall or Bickenhill.

An English surname with at least two old explanations: either a shortened form of Biddulph or a spelling related to beadle, an officer or messenger.

An English surname probably meaning “from the well or spring by the settlement boundary,” though its exact place-name origin is not fully secure.

A German surname meaning “beaver,” likely first used as a nickname or as a name tied to the animal’s traits.

An occupational surname meaning “beer man” or “beer seller/brewer,” formed from the word beer plus man.

An English surname likely from Baguley, the name of a place in Suffolk, later reshaped in spelling.

A surname that likely grew as a variant or patronymic form of Bigger, itself probably from a nickname or byname rather than a single fixed place-name.

A surname that most likely began as a nickname or a place-name form, often linked to the old name Bigg or to a ridge-related location.

An English surname most likely from a place-name, probably a Staffordshire local name in the Bingham/Bigg- variant family.

A Swiss locational surname meaning someone from the village of Biglen in the canton of Bern.

A surname most likely from a place name or an altered older English family name, though its exact origin is not firmly settled.

An English surname that is often treated as a variant of Ellis, though some early writers also linked it to other similar names.

A short English surname that usually began as a nickname for a William-ancestor or, in some cases, came from a place name.

A surname that most likely began as a place-based name, referring to someone from Billing in England.

A locational surname meaning “from Billingsley,” a place name in Shropshire.

A place-based surname, most likely meaning “from Billington,” a name borne by several English localities.

A surname of likely French origin, probably a regional diminutive or variant of a personal name.

Bills is usually an English surname that can be a patronymic form linked to Bill, itself a short form of William.

A surname most likely built from the medieval name Billip or Philip, with an English family-name ending added over time.

A surname that can be French and locational in origin, and in English also appears as a nickname from the familiar form of William.

A French-Canadian surname that likely began as a nickname or descriptive byname and later became hereditary.

Usually an occupational surname for a bookbinder or other maker of bindings, though a few cases may reflect other binding-related crafts.

An old surname that likely began as a short personal name, later giving rise to place-based surnames like Bingham and Bingley.

A surname that likely developed as a variant of Bingham, with an added Germanic-looking ending in American usage.

A habitational surname meaning “from Bingham,” most strongly linked to the Nottinghamshire place-name, with early records also in Somerset.

A surname with likely English or Irish roots, probably a reduced or altered form of an older personal name or place-based surname.

A surname most often understood as a variant of a Germanic or English place-name style surname, likely referring to a bent or hooked clearing or field.

Usually a locational surname, most likely meaning someone from a place called Binns or a nearby district in northern Britain.

A surname from the birch tree, often originally marking someone who lived by birch trees or a birch grove.

A surname most likely from a place-name meaning “birch tree field.”

A nickname surname from the bird, likely applied to someone thought to be lively, light, or bird-like.

An English surname that likely began as a nickname or descriptive byname for someone associated with birdsong, singing, or a bird-like voice.

An English surname probably meaning “bird spring” or “bird’s well,” from a place-name or topographic feature.

A locational surname from the English city of Birmingham, originally meaning “the homestead or settlement of Beorma’s people.”

A German surname meaning “bishop,” often from a nickname or an association with a bishop’s household or church office.

A short English surname that is often a clipped form of Bishop.

Originally a nickname or occupational surname for someone who worked for, acted like, or was connected with a bishop.

An old surname with several possible roots, including a French nickname and an English place-name form.

A French surname that may come from a nickname for a twin or from an older form related to "buisson" (bush).

A surname of German origin, most likely a simplified spelling of Buettner/Büttner, meaning a cooper or barrel-maker.

An English surname with a disputed origin, most likely tied either to a beadle or to a Welsh personal name that became common in western England.

A German surname most likely related to Büttner, originally a term for a cooper or barrel maker.

A surname most likely from a family-name variant of Bivin/Bivin, itself usually treated as a diminutive of the medieval personal name Bivin or Bivinus.

A surname with uncertain roots, most likely an American spelling variant of Bivens, which itself may have developed from a personal name or older surname form.

An English locational surname, probably from a place-name meaning “village among box-trees.”

A German surname most likely from a shortened or altered form related to Büchsler/Büchler, a name connected with a maker or seller of boxes or cases.

A Scandinavian surname meaning “birch,” usually from a place name or a nickname tied to birch trees.

A nickname surname for someone with dark hair, complexion, or dress.

A place-based surname meaning “someone from Blackburn,” especially the Lancashire town.

A locational surname originally given to someone from a place called Blackford, meaning “dark ford.”

A surname that usually meant “the dark-complexioned man,” though in some cases it may also have come from an old descriptive nickname or byname.

An English-style surname that likely began as a nickname or variant spelling built on Black- plus a second element that may have been reshaped over time.

A place-based surname meaning “from Blackmore” or “black moor,” most likely tied to English place names.

A surname likely formed from a place-name or landscape term with a dark or black element, though its exact origin is not securely established.

An English surname that usually comes from place-names meaning “black stone” or from a locality called Blackstone/Blackston.

A surname originally given to people from places called Blackwell, literally “black spring or stream.”

A habitational surname meaning “from the black wood” or a place so named.

Likely a surname from a medieval personal name or a local place-name, with some early writers also linking it to sword blades.

A surname with several possible roots, most often treated as a place name or as a French/Scottish form related to Blair or Blane.

Blaine is most often a surname that can reflect a place-name or an altered form of another surname such as Chamberlain.

A mainly Scottish surname from a place-name meaning a plain or battlefield.

A French surname tied to the saint’s name Blaise, ultimately from a Latin nickname meaning “lisping” or “stammering.”

A surname of English origin, probably a variant of Blaisdale, meaning someone from a place named for a dark or bleak valley.

A surname with two main roots: in English it can mean “dark” or “pale,” while in Ireland it is tied to a medieval family who came from England.

A surname usually understood as local in origin, especially from Blackley near Manchester, though some writers also connect it with Blake-ney or with a descriptive “black” element.

An English surname usually understood as a spelling variant of Blackman, originally a nickname for someone with dark hair or complexion.

A surname of local origin, probably meaning someone from a place called Blakemere or Blackmore—literally, a dark moor or marsh.

A habitational surname from places in England, especially Blakeney in Norfolk, meaning a person who came from that locality.

An English place-based surname, probably from a lost or reduced place name with a ‘lea’ or meadow ending.

An English surname most likely built from the name Blake with a diminutive or descriptive ending, originally suggesting someone associated with a dark or swarthy complexion.

A surname most likely from a place-name meaning “dark place” or “black clearing.”

A surname most likely from a place-name or old descriptive nickname built on the element “blaw/blae,” often referring to blue or pale color.

A French surname meaning “white” or “fair,” often first used as a nickname for someone with light coloring.

A surname from the Old French word for “white” or “whitish,” originally a nickname for a fair-haired, pale, or fair-complexioned person.

A French surname meaning “little white one,” originally a nickname or diminutive form of Blanche.

A Spanish surname meaning “white,” usually from a nickname for someone fair, pale, or gray-haired.

A surname that likely began as a nickname for a gentle, mild, or fair-haired person, though some early evidence also points to a place-based origin in Yorkshire.

A surname most likely built from a personal name or place-name base, with the ending -ing suggesting “descendant of” or “belonging to.”

A surname with Welsh and Irish roots, often explained as a place-name meaning a hill or valley-end.

A surname usually traced to the French word for “white” or “bright,” and sometimes treated as a short form or variant of Blanch/Blanchett.

An English-language surname that looks like a coined or transferred name built from “blank” plus “ship,” though its exact origin is not securely established.

A surname with uncertain roots, probably tied to the old word blank meaning “white” or “fair.”

A surname with multiple possible English and Scottish roots, most likely tied to a place-name or an old personal name.

A short form of the name Blaise/Blasius, ultimately from a Roman personal name meaning “lisping” or “stammering.”

A German and Yiddish surname originally referring to a leaf or sheet of paper.

A likely English surname, probably built from a place-name or local dialect form, though the exact origin is not securely established in the excerpted sources.

An American surname whose spelling points to an older place-based name, though its exact origin is not securely settled.

A surname that began as a nickname or devotional name based on the word for a blessing or favor.

An English and Welsh surname probably built from a personal name, later established especially in Wales, Ireland, and the United States.

An English surname from a word meaning joy, gladness, or blessedness.

An English surname most likely from a nickname connected with stormy weather or a brisk, blustering person.

A surname that can come from the German word for a block or log, and in some Jewish contexts from an East/Central European ethnonym for a Wallachian or Romanian.

A surname that can come from a block of wood or stone, a blocky landmark, or in some cases a German nickname.

An occupational surname for someone who made blocks, especially hat-blocks or shoe blocks.

An English surname whose exact origin is uncertain, but it is most likely from a nickname or a place-name that was later fixed as a family name.

A Swedish-style surname meaning “flower branch” or “blossom twig,” built from words for bloom and twig or branch.

A surname with two main explanations: from the word for blood, or from a Welsh patronymic that later became anglicized as Blood.

An English surname probably built from the old personal name Blood and the place-name element -worth, suggesting an ancestral farmstead or enclosed settlement.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked either to flowers or to old iron-working terms.

An occupational surname for someone who worked at a bloomery or bloom-iron furnace.

A habitational surname meaning “someone from the bloom- or flower-field.”

Likely a German-language surname, probably a variant of a word formed from Blos- or Bloß-, though its exact origin is not securely established from these excerpts.

A surname for someone who was fair-haired or light-complexioned, from an old French word meaning “blond.”

Probably a nickname surname, perhaps for a horn-blower or from a word meaning “blossom” or “flower.”

A nickname surname for someone identified by the color blue, likely from clothing or appearance.

A German surname meaning “flower” or “bloom,” often used as a nickname or ornamental name.

A German surname from the word for “flower” or “bloom.”

A German ornamental surname meaning “flower valley.”

A surname that most likely began as a nickname for a fair-haired or blond person, with some historical overlap in medieval spellings like Blount and Blund.

A surname most likely meaning “son of Ely/Elie,” though it may also be a reduced form of a place-based name.

A surname from Middle English meaning “happy” or “cheerful,” though some families may also have taken it from places called Blyth/Blythe.

A surname usually understood as meaning someone who lived by a board, plank, or boundary, with some cases possibly influenced by sign-board names.

An English surname that originally referred to a cottager or bordar, though some later sources also explained it as a boarding-house keeper.

An occupational surname for a boatman, ferryman, or someone who worked with boats.

An occupational surname for a boat builder or ship carpenter.

An occupational surname for a maker or builder of boats.

A Spanish surname from a place name, originally meaning someone from Bobadilla or a similar settlement.

An old nickname-based surname, most likely meaning “son of Robert” through the short form Bob.

An English surname probably built from the medieval personal name Bob or Bobby, with the ending -itt forming a diminutive or familiar shape.

A name that may descend from very old Germanic pet forms built on childlike sounds like “bob-” or “bub-,” later used as a surname.

A Spanish surname meaning “black mouth,” likely first used as a nickname or descriptive byname.

Usually a German and Dutch surname, with roots in a word for a male goat or a pointed/bucklike shape; in some cases it may be a short form of older personal names.

A surname usually treated as a variant of Boddy or Bodie, ultimately built from a medieval nickname or personal name rather than from a place or trade.

A surname with several possible roots, most likely from a medieval personal name related to Bod- or Baud-, and sometimes from a place-name.

An old surname probably linked to the medieval personal name Baldwin, though some early forms may also reflect local or regional variation.

A surname probably connected with a French word for someone merry, waggish, or sportive.

A Slavic surname usually linked to a cooper or barrel-maker.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely from a nickname or a Gaelic form meaning “red-haired.”

A German surname often used as an ethnic name for a Bohemian, and sometimes as a spelling variant of Böhm.

A German surname meaning “butcher,” from an occupational name for someone who cut and sold meat.

A surname that may come from an Irish patronymic form, though some sources also link it to an older English/Scottish name meaning “the bent one.”

A surname likely tied to an old Germanic form meaning “hard” or “strong,” though its exact pathway is uncertain.

A surname of Dutch origin, most likely meaning “orchard” or “tree garden.”

A surname with more than one possible origin, but most often explained either as “son of Roger” or as a place-based name from Norman/French or Cornish forms.

An English surname likely meaning someone who lived by or near a bog, marsh, or wet low-lying ground.

Usually a locational surname meaning “someone from the bog” or “marshy ground,” though in some cases it may have been formed as a patronymic from Bogg.

Likely a nickname surname linked to a “bogey” or spectre-like figure, though older writers also connected it with a diminutive personal name.

A surname of likely Irish and Scottish origin, often linked to a Gaelic name or to a word meaning bent or stooping.

An Anglicized Irish surname, usually treated as a variant of Buchanan or Bohanan-style forms.

A surname with German roots, often linked to the word for “bean” or to short forms built from old Germanic names.

A French surname meaning 'green wood' or 'fresh wood,' originally a descriptive or locational name.

A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place name or older regional form, now especially associated with Spanish-speaking communities in the Americas.

A surname with more than one likely root: in Ireland it is often tied to Gaelic personal-name forms, while in English records it can also be a local name linked to a place like Bolland/Bowland.

A Spanish surname most often linked to place names, ultimately from a word for a small hill or mound.

A surname with both English place-name and older personal-name roots, often linked to Baldwin or to a place called Bolden.

An English surname most likely meaning “son of Baldwin,” with the extra -i- added later in popular speech.

A Germanic surname usually understood as coming from a byname for someone “bold” or brave.

A French-Canadian surname most likely from a place-name or local nickname, best known in North America through Quebec and New England families.

A surname found in Dutch and North German records, likely from an older personal name rather than a descriptive nickname.

A surname with several possible roots, most often treated as a variant of Bowles or as a name from a place-name or occupation.

A surname with several possible roots, most likely a variant spelling of an older place-name or nickname form rather than a single clear origin.

An Irish surname, probably from an older Gaelic family name later recorded in anglicized form.

A surname most likely from a Germanic place-name or nickname base, later Anglicized in English-speaking countries.

A surname with several possible roots, most likely an Anglicized or variant form of a Scandinavian name, though the evidence is not fully certain.

An English surname most likely meaning “son of Boling” or linked to a medieval personal name of the same form.

A surname most likely built from a Germanic place-name or personal-name base, later stabilized in English spelling as Bolinger.

A surname that likely began as a patronymic or tribal name, connected to a Germanic personal name such as Bolli/Bolle.

A surname of Swiss origin, most likely meaning someone from Bollingen near Lake Zurich.

A name that can come from the word for an arrow or bolt, though in England it may also be a shortened form related to Bold/Bolda and place-names.

A place-name surname meaning someone from a settlement called Bolton, literally a “homestead” or “village” by a hill or enclosure.

A surname most likely formed as a short, Germanic nickname or pet form, rather than a straightforward occupational name.

A likely English surname that may be a variant spelling of a place-based or nickname-style name, rather than a long-established mainstream form.

A rare surname that most likely began as a shortened or altered form of an older Norman-French place-name surname.

An Italian surname built on bon- and anno, conveying a sense of “good year” or good fortune.

An old English surname originally meaning a householder or husbandman, later also linked to the idea of being bound or attached.

A surname often explained as a status name for a freeholder or tenant bound by feudal ties, though some bearers may also descend from the personal name Bond.

A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname for “the good man” and, less certainly, a place-name or physical-description origin.

A surname that likely began as a nickname from “bonny” or “bone,” though its exact origin is not fully certain.

Usually a surname that came from the French bonhomme, “good man,” or from a place-name ending in -ham.

A surname of uncertain origin, often linked either to the Spanish word for ‘good’ or to a place-name source.

A surname with more than one possible source, most often explained as a French or German name built from a short form like Bon, or as a regional surname associated with northern German noble lines.

A surname with a mostly local English history, though some writers also linked it to older continental personal names.

A surname most often explained as from a nickname meaning “debonair” or “courteous,” though in some cases it may reflect other sources such as French place- or personal-name forms.

Usually a French-derived surname from bon, meaning “good” or “fine,” often used as a nickname or pet form.

A surname most likely from the Old French name Bony, linked to a place in northern France.

A name with several possible roots, including a Norman byname from Latin bono, meaning “good,” and, in some cases, an Italian surname from the same word.

A likely Americanized surname of Germanic origin, probably tied to a personal name rather than a place or trade.

Likely an occupational surname from a word for “butcher,” with spelling shaped by later Anglicization.

A surname that most likely began as a nickname or a name tied to books, writing, or learning.

An English surname that can come from the old word for a writer or scribe, and in some cases is also linked to Bowker.

An English and Irish surname often linked to the Norman name Bohun, with a parallel sense of “good-natured” from the word boon.

A surname with several possible roots, including German forms linked to a word meaning “bad” or as a short form of older given names.

An English surname meaning someone who lived near a booth, hut, or temporary shelter—and in some cases one taken from a place called Booths.

A spelling variant of Booth, originally a local name for someone who lived near a booth, hut, or temporary shelter.

A surname most likely built from a nickname or byname connected with drinking, and possibly also influenced by the surname Booz.

A German surname that most likely began as a given-name patronymic, meaning “son or descendant of Borchard.”

A chiefly French surname, most likely a reduced or altered form of an older regional French name.

Usually a place-based surname, often meaning someone from Borden or a similar named locality.

A surname that likely began as a local or boundary-related name, referring to someone who lived near a border or borderland.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely a regional or patronymic form rather than a single fixed meaning.

A surname from words for a fort or stronghold, especially common in Scandinavian and Dutch naming traditions.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a place-name or to Germanic words for a fortified place or hill.

An English surname most likely based on a place name, though its exact origin is not securely established from the available evidence.

A Spanish surname most often linked to the town of Borja in Aragón, later famed through the House of Borja (Borgia).

A surname of likely Spanish origin, probably tied to a place name or regional form of Borges/Borja.

A short German surname that likely began as a reduced form of Burkhart/Burckhardt or a related name stem.

A Polish surname meaning “from Borków” or “of Borko,” referring to a place-name or personal name built from bór, “pine forest.”

A Scottish and northern English surname usually understood as “boar land” or a variant of “bordland,” land held for a lord’s table.

A surname that can be either a form of Bourn/Bourne, meaning a stream or boundary, or a name taken from the word for being born.

A Polish surname most often meaning “from the pine forest” or “from Borów/Bory,” a place-name tied to woods or pine groves.

A Spanish surname originally meaning “young sheep” or “lamb,” often arising as a nickname or occupational byname.

An Italian surname, most likely a patronymic or diminutive form built from a personal name such as Borrello.

A Spanish surname most likely linked to a place-name or to a word for a ploughman or farm worker, depending on the regional origin.

An old nickname surname likely meaning “broad-chested” or “the chest,” later also linked to personal names in some traditions.

An English habitational surname, originally meaning someone who came from Bourton or a similar place-name.

A short surname likely linked to cattle, especially the ox or bull.

A surname meaning “wood” or “thicket,” often from Dutch or German place-names.

A surname from Latinized forms meaning “of the wood,” often linked to people who lived near woodland or to names like Bois/Dubois.

A surname with several possible roots, including a place-name or a nickname based on a rounded or humped form.

An English surname taken from Bosley, a place in Cheshire.

A surname with at least two possible roots: either a place-based name or an old personal-name nickname form.

A surname that most likely began as a nickname or place-name linked to a hump, bump, or hill.

A surname most likely from a nickname or short form related to Boast, though some French and older Scandinavian connections have also been suggested.

A surname most likely from a place name or an older family-name form, with roots in medieval naming patterns.

A surname most likely developed from a place name or a nickname based on an older personal name form.

A surname that can come from the English place-name Boston, or less certainly from an old personal name tradition recorded in early scholarship.

A place-based surname, probably meaning “dwelling by the creek or harbor,” though older writers also tried linking it to a wood or boose-like roots.

A surname of Norman origin, probably from a French place-name such as Bosville, later reshaped in English spelling.

A habitational surname taken from Bosworth in Leicestershire, especially associated with the historic Battle of Bosworth Field.

A Portuguese surname most often understood as a diminutive or nickname-based name, probably tied to a small vessel or container word in old Portuguese.

A Spanish surname that likely began as a nickname or occupational name tied to bottles, vats, or a seller/maker of such containers.

An English surname with several possible roots, most often explained as a shortened form of an old personal name or as a local name.

A surname from a place-name or landscape term meaning a low-lying hollow or valley bottom.

A surname usually treated as an English name, probably a spelling variant of Bott or a related nickname form.

A French surname that can mean “big mouth,” though some lines trace it to the old Germanic name Burchard.

A French surname meaning “butcher,” originally an occupational byname.

A French surname most likely meaning “one from Boudreau” or a descendant of a person with a related nickname or place-name origin.

A Cajun French surname, most often understood as a regional form of Boudreau, ultimately a French family name with a medieval personal-name origin.

An English habitational surname, originally meaning someone from one of several places called Boughton.

A surname most likely derived from a medieval personal name, with spelling shaped over time in English-speaking countries.

A surname of uncertain origin, most likely a regional or altered form of an older English name.

An English surname that likely began as a nickname or place-based name tied to boundaries, enclosures, or local district limits.

A French surname meaning “townsman” or “citizen,” originally used for someone belonging to the burgher class.

A habitational surname for someone who lived near a stream, spring, or boundary brook.

A French surname most often tied to a place-name or regional word for a small settlement, wood, or grove.

A French surname most likely tied to a personal name or nickname built from the root Bout- rather than to English “button.”

A surname of likely French origin, probably from a place-name or a French word-based nickname.

A surname most likely built from a place-name element, with “well” pointing to a spring or stream.

A surname most likely descended from a medieval personal name or nickname, rather than from a clear occupation or place-name.

A surname found in Norman and French records, likely from a word meaning an ox or bull, or a related place-name linked to cattle or grazing land.

Usually a place-based surname, originally meaning someone from Bowden or a similar “bowed hill” place-name.

Usually an English surname from a house or inn marked by a bow sign, though in some cases it may be a shortened form of Rowe.

A Welsh surname meaning “son of Owen,” originally from the patronymic form Ap Owen.

A Welsh surname that usually began as a patronymic form meaning “son of Bowen.”

A name that can point to a bower, chamber, or a person who worked in a lord’s private rooms.

An occupational surname meaning “chamber servant” or “attendant in the bower (lady’s chamber)."

Usually a place-based surname, originally meaning someone who lived near or worked at a bower or small dwelling, though it can also be linked to the plural of Bower.

A surname from places named Bowes, especially the Yorkshire parish of Bowes, with roots in an Old English word for a bend or curve.

A surname with more than one likely origin, most often linked either to a bow-maker or to a Gaelic nickname for a yellow-haired person.

A northern English surname often explained as an occupational name for a butcher, though some sources link it to the washing of linen.

An English surname that could mean either a maker of bowls or, in some cases, someone nicknamed for cooking or boiling.

A surname usually understood as a locational name, probably from a place-name in Normandy or Belgium, though some early writers also linked it to other forms.

Bowlin is usually an English or Irish surname that likely began as a nickname or a spelling variant of a longer name such as Bowland, Bollen, or Baldwin.

Usually a locational surname for someone from Bowling near Bradford in Yorkshire.

An English occupational surname for a maker or user of bows, later also understood more broadly as an archer.

A surname with more than one possible origin, most likely from an old French term of respect or from a related occupational nickname.

An occupational surname for a maker of bows, especially for archery.

Usually a locational surname, originally for someone from Box in Wiltshire or a place marked by box trees.

Usually a surname from French bois, meaning “wood,” though in Scotland it was also used as a spelling of Boece.

A Scottish surname traditionally linked to the Gaelic word for “fair” or “yellow-haired.”

An English occupational surname meaning “bowyer,” or maker and seller of bows.

A surname most likely from a medieval nickname or diminutive, though its exact origin is not certain.

A French-looking surname that may come from a diminutive form of a personal name or an old nickname.

An English-style surname likely built from “boy,” originally a nickname or diminutive form.

An English and Scottish surname that likely began as a patronymic form meaning “son of Boykin,” with Boykin itself probably a pet form of Boy.

An Irish surname usually explained as a shortened form of a Gaelic name beginning with Boyle- or Bóth-; in England it can also reflect a place-name like Boyland.

A surname with both Irish and Scottish roots, often explained as meaning someone descended from O’Buidheill or as a Norman name linked to Boville/Boyville.

A surname that likely began as a variant of Boyle, especially in Scottish and Irish family lines.

A locational surname from Boynton in Yorkshire, originally meaning a settlement on or beside higher ground.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably a regional or altered form from an older Germanic or English place-name or nickname source.

An English-language surname most likely from a place name, originally meaning “someone from Bozham/Boz(e)’s homestead” or a related local name.

Brace is most often an English surname from a place-name, especially Brace in Shropshire, though some lines may come from a shortened or altered form of a similar surname.

An English surname probably from a Norman place-name, though its exact source is not certain.

A surname with several possible roots, including a shortened form of Brake/Bracq and, in Manx usage, a word for “trout.”

Usually an Irish or English surname from a place name, and sometimes linked to the bracken fern itself.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably an old nickname or occupational form, with possible links to words for breaking or to related place-based names.

A Norman surname probably taken from a place-name in France, later established in England after the Conquest.

A surname usually linked to a place-name origin, likely meaning “from Bredbury/Bradbury” or a similar broad or dark-colored settlement name.

A locational surname meaning “from the place called Bredbury/Bradbury,” originally referring to a township near Stockport in Cheshire.

A locational surname, most likely meaning “from Broad Oak” or “the broad oak place.”

A surname usually treated as a variant of Brady, ultimately from an Irish Gaelic nickname meaning lively or spirited.

An English surname most likely from a place name, originally meaning someone from Bradden in Northamptonshire.

A habitational surname meaning “(from the) broad field,” originally used for someone who lived near a wide field or came from one of several places named Bradfield.

A habitational surname meaning “from Bradford,” originally referring to someone from a town or place called Bradford—literally, a broad ford.

A habitational surname meaning “from the broad clearing or meadow,” especially common in England.

A habitational surname meaning “from Bradshaw,” an English place-name usually glossed as “broad wood” or “broad copse.”

An Irish surname most often derived from Ó Brádaigh, traditionally understood as a descendant of Brádaigh.

A surname most often tied to the Portuguese and Spanish place name Braga, especially the historic city in northern Portugal.

Usually a nickname surname for a boastful or spirited person.

An English surname of uncertain origin, probably a variant built from the older name Brain, with the final -ard perhaps added by sound change or later spelling development.

A locational surname meaning someone from Braithwaite, a place-name in northern England likely referring to a cleared or broad piece of land.

An English surname often linked to brushwood, thickets, or a brushy enclosure.

An English surname whose exact origin is uncertain, though it may be linked to an older byname or place-name form.

A surname most likely from a place-name based on broom or bramble, or a reduced form of a related medieval name.

Usually an English surname linked to a place-name, likely a reduced or altered form of a local name such as Bramall or a similar Yorkshire place-name.

A surname that can be locational, from the Wiltshire hundred called Branch, and in some cases may also reflect the ordinary word for a tree branch.

A surname from an old Germanic personal name meaning “sword” or “firebrand,” later used as a family name in England and Scandinavia.

A German surname taken from the place name Brandenburg, originally the name of a frontier mark or region.

A surname most often taken from place-names in England, especially Brandon in Norfolk and Suffolk.

A surname from a Germanic personal name, often understood as “son of Brand” or linked to the old name Brand/Brandr.

A surname that likely began as a place name or a nickname built from an old English word for grain or bran.

A surname that likely began as a short form or spelling variant of names related to Brown, Bran, or Branch.

An Irish surname usually taken as a shortened form of an older Gaelic family name, though the exact derivation is not certain.

A surname likely related to Irish names built on the element for “raven” or “little raven,” with Brannon and Brannan as close kin.

A surname that is most often treated as an anglicized Irish form related to Brannan or Brennan.

A surname that can mean either “son of Brand” or a person from the place called Branson.

A surname that likely began as a nickname or short form from a Germanic word for "firebrand" or "sword."

A place-based English surname, likely meaning “someone from Brantley” or a similarly named settlement.

An American surname of uncertain origin, probably a variant spelling of Brash or a related British name.

An occupational surname for a brazier or brass-worker, with a later French-linked form also influencing the name.

An English-style surname most likely built from a place-name or field-name, later established in the southern United States.

A surname most likely from a medieval byname or place-based form, probably tied to an older English personal or nickname form rather than a modern word.

A Westmorland and Yorkshire surname from a place-name meaning “broad clearing.”

A habitational surname from several English places called Bratton, literally meaning a “farmstead” or “settlement” associated with broom or a similar shrub.

A German occupational surname meaning a brewer, especially a beer-brewer.

A German and Jewish surname meaning “brown,” often originally a nickname for someone with brown hair, complexion, or clothing.

A surname from a word meaning “fierce, bold, or brave,” especially in Spanish and Italian.

A surname with uncertain roots, often treated as an Irish name and sometimes linked to the Broly/Brolly group.

A surname most likely developed from a place-name or an older spelling family related to Browner/Braner-type forms.

A surname that most likely began as a place-based name meaning “from Brax’s town” or “Brock’s town.”

A surname with both Norman place-name roots and English local ties, especially to places called Bray in Normandy and Berkshire.

Likely a nickname or occupational surname linked to brazil wood, the source of a red dye used by medieval merchants and craftsmen.

A surname most often taken from the trade of working in brass.

A surname that may come from a place name, a trade name tied to brazil-wood dye, or an Irish form of Ó Breasail.

A French surname most likely from a nickname or place-name built on a word for marshy or brushy ground.

A French surname, most often a plural or regional spelling tied to place names based on a word for a marsh, heath, or brushy land.

A Scottish surname that likely began as a place name, probably meaning “bridge by the bracken.”

A habitational surname most likely referring to someone from Breedon or Bredon in England.

An English surname that may have begun as a nickname or place-name connected with hawk-breeding, but its exact origin is not certain.

An English-language surname that likely began as a nickname, probably for someone thought especially affectionate or fertile, though the exact sense is uncertain.

An Irish surname, most often treated as a reduced form of O'Brien or related Gaelic names built on a personal byname.

A German surname most likely related to an old nickname or personal name built on the root for “famous” or “renowned.”

A surname that is most likely locational, originally referring to someone from a place called Breland or a similarly named area.

A German and Dutch surname meaning “someone from Bremen.”

A common Irish surname, probably meaning a descendant of a person named Brennan or Branan.

A surname of Germanic origin, likely a spelling variant of a name built from a German personal name element and the common suffix -man.

A surname for someone associated with burning or a burner/burner’s trade, and in some cases a German place-name surname from the Brenner region or pass.

A place-based surname originally meaning “from Brent,” referring to several English places by that name.

An Irish surname, usually linked to an anglicized Gaelic form whose exact origin is not entirely certain.

An Irish surname, most likely a Anglicized form of an older Gaelic family name.

A surname most likely connected to Berger/Bressier-type forms, ultimately tied to herding or shepherding in French name traditions.

A surname for someone from Brittany, the Celtic region in northwest France.

A surname from Brittany or from the medieval French word for a Breton—someone from Brittany.

A surname most likely tied to a place-name or ethnic label from the German-speaking world.

A German surname usually connected with brewing or, in some cases, with Brauer as a spelling variant.

An occupational surname for a brewer of ale or beer, though some families may instead descend from a Norman place-name meaning “heath.”

An English-looking surname that likely developed as a locational or nickname form built around the word “brew” and the place-name-like ending “-ington.”

An occupational surname meaning “brewer,” originally tied to women who made ale.

A surname most likely linked to a place-name or an old personal name built on the element for “brew.”

A surname that usually began as a patronymic from the personal name Brian, especially in Irish and English usage.

A surname that can come from the personal name Brice, ultimately tied to St. Brice, though in some cases it may also reflect Welsh patronymic forms like Price.

A Spanish surname, probably stemming from a place-name or an old personal name, with the ñ giving it a distinctly Iberian shape.

A short surname that may be occupational or reduced from a place-name with “bridge” in it.

Likely an English surname tied to a bridge-related name such as Bridger, though some families may have a different local origin.

A Manx surname most likely tied to St. Bridget, with forms that appear to preserve a local-name or devotional nickname tradition.

A topographic surname for someone who lived near a bridge, or sometimes at the bridge-end.

A surname for someone who lived by, worked at, or was otherwise connected with a bridge.

Usually a topographic surname for someone who lived by a bridge, sometimes linked to places named Bridge or Bridges.

A locational surname meaning “from Bridgewater,” the Somerset town now usually called Bridgwater.

An English surname most often explained as meaning "at the bridge" or "of Bruges," depending on the family line.

A place-based surname from a village name meaning “homestead by the bridge” or “bridge homestead.”

An English surname from an old word meaning “bright” or “shining,” sometimes also used for a cheerful or noble person.

A likely English surname that may come from a personal name with the common -man ending, though the exact source is not certain.

A surname most likely linked to place-names such as Brierley or Brill, though the exact form is a little uncertain.

A mostly locational surname, usually linked to the place-name Brill in Buckinghamshire and sometimes to the Dutch town of Brielle/Brill.

A surname most likely tied to a place-name or the idea of an edge, border, or brim.

A surname usually tied to someone who lived on a brink, bank, slope, or edge.

A North German surname meaning someone who lived by a brink or raised edge of land, often a grassy slope or village border.

A Dutch surname likely meaning “court messenger” or “chief messenger,” though the old explanation is not entirely secure.

A locational surname from a place name in Cambridgeshire, originally meaning someone from Brinkley.

A surname formed from the word brink, meaning a grassy edge, bank, or border, with -man added as a habitational or descriptive surname ending.

An English surname that likely began as a place-name form of Brian, though some writers also linked it loosely to brown or burn-like nicknames.

A Spanish surname most likely taken from the place-name Briones, especially the town in La Rioja, Spain.

A surname most likely from a place-name, especially one linked to a birch wood or birch-enclosed area.

A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place-name or regional byname, written with the characteristic ñ sound.

A surname most likely tied to the old French personal name Brice/Brisson, with some forms also linked to Saint Brice.

An English surname that likely developed as a regional form of Bristol or Bristow.

A locational surname referring to the famous English city of Bristol.

An English place-based surname, usually taken from the old name of Bristol.

A surname of ethnic origin meaning “the Breton” or “man from Brittany.”

A surname often shortened from forms meaning “Breton” or “from Brittany.”

A surname originally used for someone from Brittany, or for a Breton immigrant.

A surname most likely meaning “Britton’s homestead” or “Brittan’s settlement,” from an English place-name pattern.

A surname that usually meant “the Breton” or “person from Brittany,” with some later confusion with Britain itself.

A northern English surname meaning “at the broad bend” or “wide curve” in the landscape.

A surname of English origin, likely a nickname or descriptive name built from words meaning “broad” and a place-name-like ending.

A habitational surname for someone who came from a place called Broadwater, originally meaning “broad water” or a wide stretch of water.

A locational surname meaning someone who lived by, or came from, a broad road or a place called Broadway.

Usually a nickname or place-name surname referring to a badger, though it can also come from a brook-related medieval form.

A place-based surname meaning “one from Brockington,” referring to a settlement name built from an older personal name plus “town.”

Likely an English surname meaning either “badger-man” or “horseman,” depending on which old sense of brock is intended.

An English surname probably built from a place-name element meaning “badger” plus a road or way, though the exact origin is not fully certain.

A surname of Irish origin, most often explained as an Anglicized form of an Irish Gaelic name.

A French surname meaning “embroiderer,” originally for someone who embroidered cloth.

A Scottish locational surname from the lands of Brodie in Moray, likely meaning “little ridge” or “brow of a hill.”

A Slavic surname meaning someone from a place called Brod or “ford,” or, in some cases, a name formed with the Slavic adjective ending -sky.

A surname with more than one possible origin: in Irish contexts it can be linked to a word for “proud,” while in Scottish and other European contexts it may be locational or descriptive.

An Irish surname most likely tied to the Gaelic name Ó Brógáin, meaning a descendant of Brogán.

An English surname that is most likely a spelling variant of Brogden, probably from a place name meaning a valley or dene associated with a man named Brock or with a badger-like sense of the root.

A surname with likely Dutch roots, probably from a place-name or older family name brought to North America by Dutch-speaking settlers.

A habitational surname meaning someone who came from a place called Bromley, literally a “broom-field.”

Originally a variant of Brownson, meaning “son of Brown,” referring to a brown-haired or brown-complexioned ancestor.

A surname for someone who lived by a brook or stream.

A surname originally used for someone who lived by a brook or stream.

A surname meaning “one who lives by a brook,” though it may also sometimes reflect the occupational word broker.

Brookins is a surname most likely built from the name Brook or Brooks, with the ending -ins suggesting “descendant of” or “little Brook.”

A common surname meaning “of the brook” or “from the brook,” originally a local name for someone who lived by a stream.

A place-based surname meaning someone from, or living near, a brook or stream area.

A mainly English surname that usually points to someone who lived near broom plants or came from a place called Broom.

Usually a locational surname, referring to someone from a place called Broome or Brome, likely named for broom shrubs.

An Irish surname, most likely from Gaelic Ó Bróghaigh, meaning a descendant of a person with an uncertain byname.

Likely a patronymic or plural-family surname from “brother,” originally meaning “the brothers” or “son of Brother.”

A habitational surname from Brotherton in Yorkshire, literally meaning the settlement associated with a brother or brothers.

A habitational surname for someone who came from a place called Brough, from an Old English word for a fort or borough.

A English habitational surname from places named Broughton, meaning a settlement on or by a hill or borough.

A French surname most likely linked to brushwood or a place among thickets.

An English-style surname that may reflect a spelling variant of Browder/Broder-type forms, ultimately tied to a nickname or an occupational byname for a brother or brewer in some traditions.

A surname usually taken as a Dutch occupational name for a brewer.

A very common surname originally used as a nickname for someone with brown hair, complexion, or clothing.

A very common surname from the color brown, often spelling Brown in modern English but Browne in older or more formal usage.

A surname that likely began as a diminutive or pet form of Brown, with the ending -ell softening the original nickname.

An English habitational surname meaning “dweller by the brown field.”

A surname that can come from an old personal name meaning “brown” or, in some cases, from a place-name near beech trees.

A Scottish surname most likely meaning “brown clearing” or “brown meadow,” from a place-name or topographic description.

A surname likely developed from a place-name or older Germanic/English form, with spelling shaped over time in English-speaking records.

A Pennsylvania German surname, probably an Americanized form of a German name built on Brubach/Brubach(er)-type roots.

A famous Scottish surname, traditionally linked to the Norman place-name Braose and the noble family of Annandale.

A surname most likely derived from a German place-name ending in -bach, later reshaped in America.

A surname that likely began as a place-based name meaning “from Brumfield” or “from the broom-covered field.”

An English-style surname that likely began as a place-based name, probably meaning someone from a brook- or broom-covered clearing.

Likely a variant spelling of a local surname such as Broomhead or another place-name form, later stabilized as Brummett.

An English surname probably from a place-name or a descriptive byname built on an old word for a bridge or boundary.

A French surname likely meaning “little brown one” or “the brown-haired one.”

A surname with several possible Germanic and French roots, most often linked to a personal name or a word for “brown.”

A surname likely referring to someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion.

A surname of uncertain origin, most likely a short German form built from the stem brun-, meaning “brown.”

A German surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a person who lived by a spring or well.

A surname and given name from a Germanic root meaning “brown,” originally used as a personal name.

A surname that usually comes from the medieval nickname or byname Brun, meaning “brown,” or from a related Germanic personal name.

A surname that usually means “son of Brun” or “son of Brown,” pointing to an ancestor known for brown hair, coloring, or complexion.

A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname for someone linked to brushwood or broom, and in some cases a shortened form of a personal name like German Brusch.

A surname most often taken from the place name Bruton in Somerset, or from a term for someone from Brittany.

An old Celtic personal name, later adopted as a surname, often understood to mean “high” or “noble.”

A surname that most often means “son of Bryan,” with Bryan itself an old Celtic personal name.

Usually a Scottish form of Ap Rhys—literally “son of Rhys”—though some writers also linked it to Brice/Brise and other older spellings.

A Scottish and English surname meaning “son of Brice” or “son of Bryce.”

An Italian surname most often understood as a patronymic or plural family name from a personal name or nickname, especially in central and southern Italy.

A Scottish surname from the parish of Buchanan in Stirlingshire, originally a place-name rather than a personal description.

A German surname that can mean either “bookman” or, in some cases, someone from a place called Buch or Buchen.

A German habitational surname meaning “from the beech wood” or “book wood,” originally referring to a place by beech trees.

A likely Hispanic surname, probably linked to a personal name or local family-name formation rather than an English occupational meaning.

Usually a nickname from the male deer, later also applied from house or trade signs using the buck as an emblem.

A habitational surname for someone who came from Buckingham, the county town of Buckinghamshire in England.

A habitational surname from places named Buckland, meaning “meadow or open land near a beech tree/wood.”

An English surname most likely tied to making buckles, though one old source also linked it to shields or to a surname form related to bachelor.

Likely an occupational surname for someone who made buckles or related metal fittings.

Usually a surname from a place-name: “of Buckley,” especially the Cheshire township, though some bearers may descend from other local Buckley names.

An English surname that likely began as an occupational name for someone in charge of bucks, or possibly as a place-name form in some cases.

An English surname probably built from buck, the deer, plus an ending used in old personal or place-names.

An old surname probably from an early personal name, sometimes linked to a messenger or beadle-like nickname.

Buell is an English surname, probably from a nickname or place-name source, later carried widely in the United States.

A Spanish surname from the adjective bueno, meaning “good.”

A Spanish surname meaning “good face” or “fine-looking,” likely first used as a nickname or descriptive byname.

A German surname usually from an occupational word connected with barrels or tubs.

An English-style surname most likely from a place name meaning “the settlement of Bufa’s people” or from an older local place-name element now obscured.

An English surname that likely began as a place-name for someone from a ford or river crossing associated with a beech tree or a similar feature.

An English surname with several possible roots, including a nickname for a bugbear or a shortened form of an old personal name.

An old English surname usually treated as a plural or variant form of Bugg, with a likely nickname or personal-name origin.

Bui is most likely a surname with multiple possible origins, including a personal-name form in medieval England and a separate East Asian surname.

A surname found in Scotland and Ireland, probably tied to a nickname or place-name meaning “yellow” or “fair.”

A Polish surname usually meaning “from Buków/Bukowa” or another place named for beech trees.

An Irish surname of uncertain origin, probably linked to an older Gaelic family name later Anglicized as Bulger or Bolger.

A surname that began as a nickname for a strong, bull-like person, though in some cases it may also come from an old personal name or place-name.

An old English occupational surname meaning the man who tended the bull or handled bull-baiting.

A surname with more than one possible root, including a local name from continental places and an older English sense linked to sealing or perhaps even deception.

A place-based surname meaning “someone from Bullington,” a name borne by several English localities.

An English surname usually derived from the animal bullock, likely first used as a nickname or sign-name.

A surname of German origin, usually a spelling variant of Baumgardner/ Baumgartner, meaning someone who lived or worked at an orchard or garden.

An American surname usually reflecting a regional spelling of a German occupational name for a gardener or farmworker.

Usually an English surname that seems to be a shortened or altered form of Bunn, with some older writers also connecting it to the medieval French nickname le bon, “the good.”

A surname that most likely began as a nickname from “bunch,” for a lump, cluster, or stocky shape.

Likely an English surname of uncertain origin, perhaps a diminutive or pet form related to an older personal name such as Bund or Bundig.

Likely from French bon coeur, meaning “good heart,” though some sources also suggested an occupational link to banking or exchange.

Usually a surname from an old word for “good,” though in some cases it may reflect a nickname or an old personal name.

An English surname that may be a diminutive form of Dunn, or a place-name surname from Bonehill in Staffordshire.

An old surname probably from a nickname for a short, plump person, though some early writers also thought of a local origin.

A surname with uncertain roots, probably a place-based name that may ultimately be connected with older forms like Bunting or similar local names.

A surname most likely built from the words for a fortified hill or bank, though its exact origin is uncertain.

Usually a shortened or altered form of Birch, the tree-name surname.

A surname probably built from the name Burch, with the ending -ham added in English usage.

An English surname ultimately from the old Germanic personal name Burchard, meaning “fortress-strong” or “castle-guard.”

An English habitational surname probably meaning “someone from the birch-field.”

A surname of uncertain Spanish/Mexican origin, most likely tied to a place name or local nickname rather than a common occupation or patronymic.

A surname with several possible roots, including a place-name origin and an old Scottish poetic word meaning “maiden.”

A surname with several likely English origins, including a place name and, less certainly, a link to a pilgrim’s staff.

An old English surname of uncertain origin, recorded in medieval records and later borne by notable gentry and baronets.

A surname most likely built from a French personal name or nickname, later established in English-speaking countries.

An English surname most often understood as a nickname or habitational name, with roots in medieval forms that likely pointed to a personal trait or place-name.

A surname with uncertain roots, probably related to the Burden/Burdon family of names found in English records.

A habitational surname from places called Burford, especially in Oxfordshire and Shropshire.

A surname from a word for a fortified place, castle, or town, especially in Germanic languages.

A surname with several possible English roots, most likely from a place-name or from an older form related to “burh” or “burgh,” meaning a fortified settlement.

A surname that most often began as a status name for a town citizen or burgher, though in some cases it also comes from place names like Burg or Hamburg.

An English surname from the word for a town freeman or borough citizen.

An English surname most likely from a medieval nickname or a place-based family name, later carried to North America.

A surname probably derived from a person from Burgundy, France, or from the Burgoyne name family.

A surname of place origin, most likely referring to the Spanish city of Burgos, or more broadly to a person from a town or borough called Burgos.

A surname usually connected with Burke or Burgh, and sometimes with Germanic names built on the element meaning “fortress” or “protection.”

An Irish surname from Anglo-Norman de Burgh, later hardened in pronunciation and spelling into Burke.

A surname usually linked to the Anglo-Norman Burgh/De Burgh family name, with Burkes often reflecting an Irish branch or plural family form.

An English surname with several possible roots, most likely a diminutive or variant related to Burk or Burke.

Burkey is most likely a spelling variant of Burger or another Germanic name beginning with Burk-, often tied to a place name or the element meaning “castle.”

A German and Swiss surname meaning someone who lived near or worked for a castle or fortress keeper.

A German surname from the old personal name Burkhard, meaning “strong fortress” or “firm protection.”

A German surname from the old given name Burkhard, meaning roughly “castle-fort strong.”

A German-language surname most likely meaning “one who holds or manages a fort or castle.”

A surname most often tied to the Irish and Anglo-Norman name de Burgh, with Burks functioning as a later variant or anglicized form.

A patronymic surname meaning "son of Burle" or "son of Burrel," likely developed from a medieval personal name or nickname.

A place-based surname from several English villages and hamlets called Burley, meaning a settlement by a fort or in a defended clearing.

A surname of English place-name origin, carried to the U.S. from Burlingham in Norfolk.

A German occupational surname meaning “town magistrate” or “mayor,” related to the office of burgomaster.

A surname probably from a nickname for a brownish or tawny complexion, though some early writers left the exact origin uncertain.

Burnett is usually an English surname from Bernard/Barnard, though some early writers also linked it to a brownish descriptive word.

A surname usually understood as a French-influenced form of Burnett, itself long associated with a reddish-brown color term or a place-name origin.

A surname with several possible roots, including an English place-name origin and an Irish/Scottish Gaelic form related to MacBirney.

A surname most often taken from English place-names meaning “the homestead by the burn/stream.”

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a stream or burn, but sometimes treated as a patronymic or a spelling variant of Burn/Burne.

A Scottish and northern English place-based surname meaning “by the stream/brook side.”

A surname with several possible origins, most often linked to a place-name meaning a hill or fortress, and sometimes to a nickname for a rough, blunt person.

Usually a variant of Borel/Burel, a medieval nickname for someone plain or rustic, though some later bearers may reflect place-name influence.

A surname with uncertain roots, likely developed from a place name or a shortened local form of an older English name.

Burris is most likely a surname that developed from a place-name or a local nickname form, with Irish and English records sometimes treating it as a variant of Burrows or a related form.

A surname from the old word for a fortified town or borough, originally marking someone who lived in or came from such a place.

A surname usually taken from someone who lived near a borough, hill, or earthwork, or from a place-name with that sense.

A common English surname usually from a place name, often referring to someone who lived by or came from a burgh, borough, or similar settlement.

Likely a name tied to a “bower-house” or similar dwelling-place term, though the evidence is slim and historical sources treat it as uncertain.

A surname that most likely began as a shortened form of an older personal name or as a local English family name that later took on modern spelling.

A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a short medieval personal name meaning “bright” or to a place-name form.

A very common English surname meaning someone from one of many places called Burton.

A surname that most likely began as a place name, meaning someone from Burwell or a similar locality.

A place-based surname from several English and Scottish localities called Busby or Bushby, literally tied to a bushy or wooded place.

A German and Dutch surname originally meaning “bush” or “thicket,” often marking someone who lived near brushwood or a wooded place.

A mostly topographic surname for someone who lived by a bush, thicket, or wooded place.

A surname most likely linked to the parish of Bushey in Hertfordshire, though some early writers also considered a Norman origin.

A surname that likely began as a descriptive name for someone who lived or worked in the bushes or remote wild country.

A habitational surname probably referring to a bushy, wooded place or a house in the wood.

A surname with multiple possible roots: a locative name for someone “at the bush,” a nickname, or possibly an old Norse personal name.

A surname with several possible roots, including a German/Dutch form related to Bos or Bosse and an English spelling variant of Bush or Buss.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely from a nickname or a place-name, and long established in England.

A surname of place-based origin, probably from Norman French Buci/Bussy and possibly linked to the English place-name Bushey.

A Spanish surname likely taken from a place-name, meaning “bushy hill” or a similar wooded rise.

A Spanish surname likely built from a nickname or descriptive word related to a bust or sculpted figure, though the exact origin is not fully certain.

A Spanish surname most likely from a place name, and in some traditions linked to the word for a bust or torso-like sculpture.

An occupational surname for a butcher or meat seller.

A surname that usually began as an occupational name for a steward or wine-cellar officer, especially in noble households.

A surname that can come from a place-name, a topographic feature like a boundary or hill projection, or sometimes from a byname linked to archery butts.

A medieval English place-name surname meaning “the field where buttercups grew” or possibly “butter field,” depending on the local place-name behind it.

A Lancashire place-name surname meaning someone from Butterworth near Rochdale.

An English surname that was often used for someone from a place called Hutton or Bitton, though some families may also have been influenced by the nickname-like form of Burton.

A surname usually taken from a place-name meaning “at the butts,” referring to archery targets or the field where archery was practiced.

A surname with German roots, probably a nickname or short-form name that later produced spellings like Butts and Putz.

A habitational surname from English places named Buxton, probably meaning “Bucca’s town” or “Bucga’s settlement.”

An English surname that likely began as a nickname, and in some cases was also influenced by the place-name Leighton Buzzard.

A surname with a few possible British-Isles roots, most likely a local name tied to a place called Beer or Byfield.

A likely English habitational surname, probably originally meaning someone from a place called Byby or a similar settlement name.

Usually a locational surname from a place-name meaning “dwelling” or “village,” though it may also reflect an old personal name in some cases.

Usually a shortened form of Boyer, from an old name for a Bavarian or, in some cases, a wool buyer.

An English surname likely built from a place-name, probably meaning someone from a settlement or clearing named with a "byr" element.

A surname with both local and nickname-style origins, often linked to places called Byfield or to forms related to “bye”/“biar.”

An English-looking surname likely formed from a place-name or an old family name built on the element “By-,” though its exact origin is uncertain.

Byler is likely a spelling variant of a German or Swiss-German surname, possibly tied to an occupational or place-name root, though its exact source is not fully certain.

A surname most likely taken from a place-name, especially one formed from Old English elements meaning a settlement or homestead.

An English surname that usually began as a nickname for a bird-like person or as a variant spelling of Bird.

An Irish surname most often linked to the Gaelic Ó Broin, meaning “descendant of Bran.”

A surname of Irish origin, usually treated as a variant of Byrne, itself from an old Irish clan name.

An English surname that most likely began as a place-name, though some families may also descend from the Norman place Biron or from Irish names later anglicized as Byron.

An English surname most likely from a place-name, later established in the United States in forms like Byrum and Byram.

A Spanish surname that is most often treated as a patronymic or regional name, though its deeper origin is not firmly settled in the old sources.

A French surname most likely derived from an old personal name or nickname form, long established in French Canada.

A French surname usually understood as a nickname or byname built from a word for a beautiful or attractive person.

A French-Canadian surname most often understood as a place-based name or a nickname-form surname that developed in Quebec.

A German surname meaning someone from a place called Bühle, Bühlen, or a similar hilltop or slope settlement.