A History of Surnames

Pinterest Origin: Japanese Meaning: Kaneko is a Japanese surname meaning "gold child" with the kanji  金子. Kaneko can also be used as a given name for girls.

Pinterest Origin: Japanese Meaning: Wada is a Japanese surname meaning "harmonious rice paddy" or "harmonious rice field" with the kanji  和田. 

Pinterest Origin: Japanese Meaning: Yamaguchi is a Japanese surname meaning "mountain entrance" or "mountain gateway" ( 山口).

Pinterest Origin: Japanese Meaning: Ishikawa is a Japanese surname meaning "stone river" ( 石川), originally referring to someone who lived near a river.

Pinterest Origin: Japanese Mori is a Japanese surname meaning "forest" from Japanese  森. Variants : Mouri 

Pinterest Origin: Gaelic Meaning: Cahill is a Gaelic surname, the Anglicized form of O Cathail meaning "descendant of Cathal", Cathal a given name meaning "battle".

Origin: French, Latin, English Meaning: As a surname, Bessey has several possible origins. It could be derived from a place name in France, which seems to come from Bassiacum, a Gallo-Roman name made up of Latin given name Bassius which either comes from Greek bassos "fox" or from Latin bassus "short, low".  Another possible meaning is that is comes from French besson meaning "twin", "twice" or "double" from Latin bissus, originally used as a nickname for someone who was a twin. It could also have started out as a matrynonic for Elizabeth  or its nickname Bess , a female given name meaning "God is my oath" or "God is my abundance". Pinterest Variants : Besse Beesey  Bessen 

Pinterest Origin: Greek, Old English, Germanic Meaning: Sanders was originally a patrynomic surname meaning "son of Sander", originally given to someone who's father was named Sander or Alexander "defender of men" or "defending man". Sanders could also be derived from a place name in English, a village called Sanderstad , meaning "house on a sandy land". It's also an occupational surname referring to someone who worked with sand either for agriculture or construction. It comes from the Germanic word for sand. Variants : Saunders Sanderson Sandar Sandars

Pinterest Origin: Germanic Meaning: Montgomery is an English surname derived from a place in Normandy, France, meaning "Gumarich's mountain", Gumarich being a Germanic given name meaning "man ruler" or "ruler of man" from Germanic elements guma (man) and ric (power, ruler). Variants : De Montgomery Montgomerie 

Pinterest Origin: Chinese Meaning: Tan is a Taiwanese surname, the Min dialect of Chinese surname Chen  meaning "exhibit, display, old, ancient".

Origin: English Meaning: Gore is an English surname which comes from Old English word gara meaning "a triangular plot of land". It's also an English word referring to blood that is shed, or something with too much bloodshed or violence; as a verb it refers to piercing through something. It's related to Old English gar meaning "spear". Pinterest

Pinterest Origin: Spanish, Portuguese Meaning: Taveras is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, the plural form of Tavera , a variant spelling of Tabera  which is the name of a town in Spain, or a variant of Tabeira , a town in Galicia. Variants : Tavera  Tabera  Tabeira  Taverez  Tabarez

Pinterest Origin: Ancient Greek Meaning: Monk is an English surname that comes from Late Latin monachus from Ancient Greek monakhos meaning "single, solitary" from monos (alone). It was either an occupational surname for a servant who worked at a monastery, or had originally been given as a nickname to someone who had similar habits as a monk.

Pinterest Origin: Latin Meaning: Esposito is an Italian surname meaning "exposed" which comes from the Latin verb  exponere (to place outside, to expose); it was originally given to abandoned children or those given over to an orphanage. Variants : Esposuto  Esposto  Esposti  Exposi  Espote  Sposito  Exposito  D'Esposito  Degli Esposti  E spósito (Spanish) Ex pósito (Spanish)

Pinterest Origin: Gaelic Meaning: Campbell is a Scottish surname meaning "crooked mouth" from Gaelic cam (crooked) and beul (mouth), which could also mean "wry-mouthed" in reference to how someone smiled. It likely came about as a nickname that eventually became a surname. Campbell has also been used as a given name as well for both sexes, making it a unisex name.

Pinterest Origin: Greek Meaning: Partridge is an English surname which comes via Old French perdriz, derived from Latin perdix, perdicus  meaning "partridge" in reference to the bird. It likely comes from Greek   pérdomai which means "to break wind, to fart" from Proto-Indo-European root word *perd (to fart, break wind). According to Greek myth, the partridge first came into existence when the famous craftsman Daedalus (of the Minotaur fame) threw his nephew off a hill, jealous of his talents and skills. However, Perdix was saved by the goddess Athena, who turned him into a partridge.

Pinterest Origin: Cornish Meaning: Restarick comes from a place, a farm in St. Dennis, Cornwall, made up from Cornish elements ros (hill, spur, heath) and dowrak (watery), meaning "watery heath" or "heath by the water" referring to the geographical location of the farm. Variants : Restowrack  Rostourec  Resdourek 

Pinterest Origin: Old Norse, Yiddish, Welsh Meaning: Guild is a surname that possibly came about as a nickname for someone who played an important role in a medieval guild, which comes from Old Norse gildi (payment, guild), though it could also possibly be the Scottish form of another surname, Gould, a variant of Gold meaning"gold" from Yiddish. Guild could also be the Anglicized form of Welsh surname Gwyllt meaning "wild".

Pinterest Origin: Germanic Meaning: Walraven was originally a given name turned surname which is made up of Germanic elements wal  (battlefield, slaughter) and hraban (raven). Variants : Wallraven  Walreuen Van Walraven