There Are 7 Types of English Surnames — Which One Is Yours?

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Many of us have surnames passed down to us from ancestors in England. Last names weren’t widely used until after the Norman conquest in 1066, but as the country’s population grew, people found it necessary to be more specific when they were talking about somebody else. Thus arose descriptions like Thomas the Baker, Norman son of Richard, Henry the Whitehead, Elizabeth of the Field, and Joan of York that, ultimately, led to many of our current surnames.

There are perhaps 45,000 different English surnames, but most had their origins as one of these seven types.

Occupational

Occupational names identified people based on their job or position in society. Calling a man “Thomas Carpenter” indicated that he worked with wood for a living, while someone named Knight bore a sword. Other occupational names include Archer, Baker, Brewer, Butcher, Carter, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Dyer, Farmer, Faulkner, Fisher, Fuller, Gardener, Glover, Head, Hunt or Hunter, Judge, Mason, Page, Parker, Potter, Sawyer, Slater, Smith, Taylor, Thatcher, Turner, Weaver, Woodman, and Wright (or variations such as Cartwright and Wainwright) — and there are many more.

Enter your last name to learn its meaning and origin.

This kind of name also gave a clue about whom a servant worked for. Someone named Vickers might have been a servant to Mr. Vicker, and someone named Williams might either have served a William or been adopted by him.

From the obscure fact department: In medieval England, before the time of professional theater, craft guilds put on “mystery plays” (“mystery” meaning “miracle”), which told Bible stories and had a call-and-response style of singing. A participant’s surname — such as King, Lord, Virgin, or Death — may have reflected his or her role, which some people played for life and passed down to their eldest son.

Describing a personal characteristic

Some names, often adjectives, were based on nicknames that described a person. They may have described a person’s size (Short, Long, Little), coloring (Black, White, Green, or Red, which could have evolved into “Reed”), or another character trait (Stern, Strong, Swift). Someone named Peacock might have been considered vain.

From an English place name

A last name may have pointed to where a person was born, lived, worked, or owned land. It might be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county. Some examples: Bedford, Burton, Hamilton, Hampshire, Sutton. Writer Jack London’s stepfather may have hailed from London.

From the name of an estate

Those descended from landowners may have taken as their surname the name of their holdings, castle, manor, or estate, such as Ernle or Staunton. Windsor is a famous example — it was the surname George V adopted for the British royal family.

From a geographical feature of the landscape

Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp, Fields, Forest, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Lake, Moore, Perry, Stone, Wold, Wood, and Woodruff. Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”

Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral

Patronymic surnames (those that come from a male given name) include Benson (“the son of Ben”), Davis, Dawson, Evans, Harris, Harrison, Jackson, Jones (Welsh for John), Nicholson, Richardson, Robinson, Rogers, Simpson, Stephenson, Thompson, Watson, and Wilson.

Matronymic ones, surnames derived from a female given name, include Molson (from Moll, for Mary), Madison (from Maud), Emmott (from Emma), and Marriott (from Mary).

Scottish clan names make up one set of ancestral surnames. These include Armstrong, Cameron, Campbell, Crawford, Douglas, Forbes, Grant, Henderson, Hunter, MacDonald, and Stewart.

Signifying patronage

Some surnames honored a patron. Hickman was Hick’s man (Hick being a nickname for Richard). Kilpatrick was a follower of Patrick.

Wondering whether your family name is English? Try plugging your surname into the Ancestry Last Names Meanings and Origins widget. Type in the surname “Duffield,” and you’ll see it’s English, a “habitational name from places in Derbyshire and East Yorkshire, so named from Old English Dufe ‘dove’ + feld ‘open country.’”

There Are Four Common Types of German Surnames. Which One Is Yours?

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In German, a surname is called the “Nachname” or “Familienname.” The family name gradually started being used during the Middle Ages. Prior to that, people generally used only a given name. As the population increased, though, that population needed a way to differentiate between all those new people. Now, those surnames can help you trace your family tree on Ancestry.

The first Germans to use surnames were the nobility and wealthy land owners. After that, merchants and general townspeople started using surnames, with rural people adopting the practice last. It was two or three hundred years before it was commonplace to use last names, though most people were using them by the late Middle Ages.

Enter your last name to learn its meaning and origin.

German surnames generally started out as one of four different types.

1. Occupational. This is the most common form of German family name and can often be identified by its ending, such as -er (as in Geiger, one who played the violin), -hauer (hewer or cutter, such as Baumhauer, a tree cutter), -macher (one who makes, as in Fenstermacher — one who makes windows), and -man/-mann (as in Kaufman, one who sells, or a merchant).

Some other examples of family names from occupations include:

Bauer (farmer)
Becker (baker)
Fleischer or Metzger (butcher)
Klingemann (weapons smith)
Maurer (mason)
Meier (farm administrator)
Muller (miller)
Schmidt (smith)
Schneider (tailor)
Schulze (constable)
Topfer/Toepfer (potter)
Wagner (carter/cartwright)
Weber (weaver)

2. Patronymic. Often, a person was distinguished by a reference to his or her father, which eventually turned into what we now know as a last name. A man named Simon whose father was named Ahrend might have become Simon Ahrends (Simon, son of Ahrend). Johann Petersohn was Johann, son of Peter. Patronymics most often come from the northern areas of Germany.

Because some early German records were written in Latin, last names were sometimes written with the Latin ending “-i” (sometimes spelled “-y”), as in Martin Berendi, who would have been Martin, son of a man named Berend.

At first, patronymic names would change with each generation, as they were just describing one person by that person’s father’s name. This continued until laws required adopting a permanent surname that passed down hereditarily. People were sometimes reluctant to comply with these laws, and sometimes several decrees were passed. In the Schleswig-Holstein area of northern Germany, for instance, such laws were passed in 1771, 1820, and 1822.

3. Descriptive. Many German surnames are descriptive names based on a physical characteristic, such as Brun/Braun (brown hair or a swarthy complexion), Krause (curly-haired), Klein (small), Gross (big), Schwarzkopf (black headed), and Hertz (big-hearted). Older, non-Christian names are often of this type.

4. Geographical. These names derive from where a person lived or came from. They may stem from the name of a city or village or the location of someone’s home, such as Kissinger from Kissingen and Schwarzenegger from Schwarzenegg. Someone named Berger may have who lived on a mountain.

Since about 1600, only aristocratic families were allowed to use the “von” prefix in Germany. So if someone was baron of a village, his family name would be “von” and the village name. In older names, though, “von” sometimes merely indicated that a person was from an area: Lukas von Albrecht may have been Lukas from Albrecht. German immigrants to North America who used the “von” prefix almost never had used it previously in their native country.

A geographical name could also be one that derives from a landmark (Busch was named after a certain bush, or Springborn after a spring or well), or a family might have been named after an inn or farm.

Some German surnames had local dialectical characteristics. For instance, in south German, Austrian and Swiss, diminutive endings included -l, -el, -erl, -le, and -li. Some examples are Kleibel, Schauble and Nageli.

—Leslie Lang

4 Types of French Surnames: Which One Is Yours?

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Is your last name French? Did you ever wonder where it came from and how your family got it?

The most common French surnamesfor people born between 1891 and 1990 were:

Martin (patronymic; after the most popular French saint, Saint Martin of Tours)
Bernard (patronymic; from the given name, which is of Germanic origin)
Thomas (patronymic; from the medieval given name of Biblical origin, meaning twin)
Petit (a descriptive name; from the French adjective for “small” or “little”)
Robert (patronymic; from the Germanic given name meaning “renown,” “bright,” “famous”)
Richard (patronymic; from the Germanic given name meaning “powerful,” “strong”)
Durand (a descriptive name; “steadfast;” from the Old French durant, “to endure,” “last”; or someone from a place called Durand in former Szepes County in Hungary)
Dubois (A geographic name for someone living in a wood, from du + bois or “from the” + “wood”; in English, often translated as the name Wood)
Moreau (a descriptive type of name meaning “dark-skinned;” literally, “son of the Moor”)
Laurent (a geographic name; from the Roman surname Laurentius, which meant “from Laurentum,” which was an ancient Roman city)

Enter your last name to learn its meaning and origin.

In France, surnames were first used in about the 11th century to distinguish between people with the same given name, though it was centuries before their use was common.

So how did your ancestors get their French surnames? Most can be traced back to one of four types:

1. Patronymic/Matronymic

This is the most common type of French last name, and it’s simply based on a parent’s given name. Patronymic surnames were based on the father’s name and matronymic ones on the mother’s. It was common for people to distinguish between two people with the same first name by referencing their parents (usually the father). In general, the mother’s name was used only if the father was unknown.

This type of name was formed in a few different ways. French prefixes that mean “son of”—which attach, of course, to the start of a name—include de and fitz (from the Norman). To use the list of common French surnames above as an example, someone named Pierre whose father’s name was Robert might become known as Pierre de Robert or FitzRobert. Or a suffix may have been added to the parent’s name, such as -eau, -elin, -elot, -elle, or -elet, all of which indicated “little son of.”

Most patronymic names, though, did not take prefixes or suffixes. Robert’s son Pierre might just be known as Pierre Robert.

For many generations, these “surnames” did not pass down; each generation took their father’s given name as their surname until, eventually, governments decreed that a surname would be hereditary. That is when, for the most part, the same surname started passing down through each generation.

2. Occupational Surnames

It was also very common to distinguish individuals by referring to their jobs or trades. Some French occupational surnames include:

Berger — shepherd
Bisset — weaver
Boucher — butcher
Brodeur — embroiderer
Caron — cartwright
Charpentier — carpenter
Chevrolet — goat farmer
Couture — tailor
Fabron — blacksmith
Faucheux — mower
Fournier — baker
Gagne — farmer
Granger — farm bailiff
Lefebvre — craftsman (usually a blacksmith)
Marchand — merchant
Mercier — trader
Mullins — miller
Paquet — gatherer or seller of firewood
Page — servant or page
Pelletier — fur trader
Segal — grower or seller of rye

3. Descriptive Surnames

A descriptive surname is based on a quality that describes a person and sometimes developed from a nickname.

Petit — small
Legrand — the big one
Leblanc — the blonde one
Brun — someone with brown hair or a brown complexion
Donadieu or Donnadieu (“given to God”) may have been the name of a child given to a priest or monastery or because they were orphaned

4. Geographical Surnames

Geographical surnames described where a person lived or hailed from, such as:

Beaulieu — beautiful place
Beaumont — beautiful hill
Chastain — near certain chestnut trees
Comtois — from Franche-Comte, a province in eastern France
Deschamps — from the fields
Dupont — by the bridge
Desmarais — by the marsh
Dupuis — by the well
Linville — from Linivilla, now Ninville, France
Marseille — many people have the name of this major French city as their surname
Paris — from Paris
St. Martin — from St. Martin
Travers — near a bridge or ford

You can search for your family’s French name, its origin and meaning, French guillotine records, and much more at Ancestry.

—Leslie Lang

4 Types of Spanish Surnames: Which One Is Yours?

Ever wonder about Spanish surnames(“apellido” in Spanish) and how they came to be? Spanish surnames started being used in medieval times, when populations were growing and it became necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same given name.

The 10 most common Spanish surnames today cover about 20 percent of the population in Spain. Some originated from Germanic first names that were introduced in the country by the Visigoths during the 5th to 7th centuries, while others have Latin roots.

The 10 most common first surnames in Spain in 2013, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, are:

García—1,459,677 (3.51%), Pre-Roman, Basque
Fernández—914,169 (2.2%), Germanic
González—912,511 (2.19%), from Germanic
Rodríguez—906,746 (2.18%), Germanic
López—858,736 (2.07%), Latin
Martínez—822,848 (1.98%), Latin
Sánchez—805,889 (1.94%), Latin
Pérez—767,962 (1.85%), Latin
Martín—489,357 (1.18%), Latin
Gómez—482,781 (1.16%), Germanic

People in countries with Hispanic surnames generally have two surnames today, a system that dates back to the upper classes in Castile in the 16th century.

Enter your last name to learn its meaning and origin.

For the most part, people now take the first of their father’s two surnames and the first of the mother’s two surnames as their own last name. Women sometimes add their husband’s surname to the end of theirs or in place of their mother’s surname, sometimes with a “de” between the two names. Therefore, a husband and wife generally have different sets of double surnames, as do their children.

In the past, however, Hispanic naming patterns were not as consistent. Sometimes, sons took the surname of their father, while daughters took that of their mother. The Castilian double surname naming system of the 16th century didn’t become common throughout Spain until the 1800s.

When researching your pre-19th-century Spanish ancestors, therefore, remember that naming patterns then differed from naming patterns today.

Historically, Spanish surnames can typically be traced back to one of four types:

1. Patronymic & Matronymic. This type of surname started out as a way of distinguishing between two men with the same name by using a father’s first name (patronymic) or a mother’s given name (matronymic). Sometimes the parent’s name was unchanged (as in Alonso, Vicente, and Garcia), but frequently it was used with an added suffix that meant “son of.” These include -ez, -az, -is, -oz at the end of a Castilian or Spanish surname and -es, -as, -is, or -os with Portuguese names. Patronymic or matronymic names are some of the most common Hispanic surnames; some examples include Fernandez, “son of Fernando,” or Gonzales, “son of Gonzalo.”

These were not, at first, surnames that were passed down. In one generation, an individual might be Martin Perez (Martin, son of Pedro). His son would be Juan Martinez (Juan, son of Martin). Eventually, these patronymic names became fixed surnames that passed down in the family through the generations.

Some other names of this sort include:

Dominguez—son of Domingo
Hernandez—son of Hernando
Lopez—son of Lope
Ramirez—son of Ramiro
Ruiz—son of Ruy or Roy
Suarez—son of Suero
Velazquez—son of Velasco
Velez—son of Vela

2. Geographic. This type of Hispanic last name tells you something about where the first person to take the name came from, or where their homestead was. Someone named Aguilar may have originally lived near an eagle’s nest; the name refers to a “haunt for eagles.” Other common geographic surnames of this type include Medina and Oyarzun (both place names), Navarro (“from Navarre”), Serrano (meaning “highlander”), and still other geographic surnames refer to features of the landscape where a family lived, such as Vega (“meadow”), Mendoza (“cold mountain”), Morales (“blackberry groves”), Torres (“towers”), and Iglesias (“churches”). Some include the suffix “de” to indicate “of” or “from” a place, such as Del Olmo (“from the elm tree”) and Davila (from “d’Avila,” meaning “from the town of Avila”).

3. Occupational. Sometimes a surname that denoted a person’s job or trade was tacked on to a person’s given name. Felipe Vicario, for instance, was Felipe the vicar. Some other common occupational surnames:

Alcaldo—mayor
Barbero—barber
Cabrero—goatherder
Cantor—singer
Cavallero—horseman, knight
Corredor—runner
Herrera/Herrero—ironworker, smith
Hidalgo—nobelman
Marin—from the Latin “Marinus,” meaning sailor
Marques—marquis
Molinero—miller
Romero—pilgrim
Torrero—bullkeeper, fighter
Zapatero—shoemaker

4. Descriptive. This type of surname was based on a quality or physical feature of the person.

Bravo—brave
Cano—grey
Cola—tall
Cortes—courteous
Delgado—thin
Garza (heron)—long legged
Grand—large
Moreno—brown haired, tan
Orejon—big ear
Rubio—blonde

—Leslie Lang

Top 1000 Surnames

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Japanese Surnames

Modern Japanese names (日本人の氏名 nihonjin no shimei) usually consist of a family name (surname), followed by a given name. This order is common in Asian countries, while middle names are not generally used. Japanese names are usually written in Chinese characters (漢字 kanji) in Japanese pronunciation. Japanese family names are extremely varied: according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan. Common family names in Japan include Satō (佐藤), Suzuki (鈴木) and Takahashi (高橋) (please refer to the table below).

Surnames occur with varying frequency in different regions; for example, the names Chinen (知念), Higa (比嘉), and Shimabukuro (島袋) are common in Okinawa but not in other parts of Japan; this is mainly due to differences between the language and culture of Yamato people and Okinawans. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the rural landscape; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means “stone river,” Yamamoto (山本) means “the base of the mountain,” and Inoue (井上) means “above the well.”

Until the Meiji Period, common Japanese people did not have a family name. Only the nobles, samurai and some merchants and artisans did. At the time, the vast majority of the population were peasants. The new Meiji government made it compulsory for everyone to choose a surname, using only authorised kanji. Up to the Tokugawa period common people would refer to themselves as being from a particular region, or from a particular branch of business. The names taken by Japanese people in the Meiji period were either those already in use among the upper classes, or they were created by local priests or even simply made up. This perhaps explains why there seem to be around 100,000 Japanese family names currently in existence.

Common particles in Japanese surnames

Japanese English

ao 青 blue, green

-bashi, -hashi 橋 bridge

-da, -ta 田 rice paddy

-do, tsuchi 土 earth

fuji 藤 wisteria

fuku 福 good fortune; wealthy

furu 古 old

-gawa, -kawa 川 river

-guchi, -kuchi 口 mouth, entrance

hama 浜 beach

hana 花 flower

-hara, -wara, -bara 原 field; plain

hayashi 林 grove, woods

hiro 広 broad

-daira, -taira 平 flat; smooth

i(i) 井 well

ike 池 pond

ishi 石 stone

iwa 岩 rock

kami 神 god, deity

kami, ue 上 upper, top

ki 木 tree

kita 北 north

(k)o 小 little

kuro 黒 black

matsu 松 pine

miya 宮 shrine

mori 森 forest

moto 本 base; origin

mura 村 village

naka 中 middle

nishi 西 west

numa 沼 swamp, lake

-no 野 field; plain

oo 大 large; great

oka 岡 hill

saka 坂 slope

saki 崎 small peninsula, cape

sawa, zawa 沢 marsh; swamp

shiba 芝 lawn

shima 島 island

shita 下 lower; below; base

sugi 杉 cedar tree

suzu 鈴 bell

taka 高 high

take 竹 bamboo

tani 谷 valley

-to(u) 藤 wisteria

toku 徳 virtue

wa 和 peace; harmony

yama 山 mountain

A full Japanese name consists of a surname and a given name. Western publications will often reverse that order, making it difficult to be sure which name is which. Sometimes the surname will be written in all capitals. Japanese people do not have middle names.

Japanese given names are composed of one or more kanji (though a few are written in hiragana), meaning there are thousands of possible names. Many kanji are pronounced the same way, with the result that a single name might be spelled differently by different people. Further complicating the situation is the fact that an individual kanji can have several different readings (pronunciations). For example, 海 meaning "ocean" can be read umi or kai depending on context and other factors. Some kanji have nanori, which are readings which occur only in names.

What this means is that in practice it is not possible to determine how a person's name is pronounced based on the spelling, nor is it possible to determine the spelling based on the pronunciation. Sometimes written names include furigana, which are small hiragana characters above the name indicating the pronunciation.

In the past, boys were sometimes given names indicating the order in which they were born, for example Ichiro "first son" and Jiro "second son". In girls' names, a common final Kanji was 子 ko meaning "child" (for example Akiko and Yoshiko), though this trend has faded in the last few decades.

A[edit]

B[edit]

C[edit]

D[edit]

E[edit]

F[edit]

G[edit]

H[edit]

I[edit]

J[edit]

Jūji
Junpei

K[edit]

M[edit]

N[edit]

O[edit]

R[edit]

S[edit]

T[edit]

U[edit]

W

Y

Z

· Abe

· Adachi

· Akagi

· Akamine

· Aki

· Akiyama

· Amano

· Amari

· Amaya

· Ando

· Anno

· Anzai

· Aoki

· Aoyama

· Arai

· Arakaki

· Arakawa

· Araki

· Arata

· Araya

· Arima

· Arita

· Asa

· Asai

· Asano

· Asato

· Ashikaga

· Azuma

· Baba

· Ban

· Bando

· Chiba

· Chinen

· Chino

· Date

· Doi

· Domen

· Eguchi

· Endo

· Enomoto

· Eto

· Fujii

· Fujikawa

· Fujimori

· Fujimoto

· Fujimura

· Fujino

· Fujioka

· Fujita

· Fujiwara

· Fukuda

· Fukuhara

· Fukui

· Fukumoto

· Fukunaga

· Fukushima

· Funai

· Furukawa

· Furuta

· Furutani

· Furuya

· Fuse

· Gima

· Go

· Goda

· Goto

· Goya

· Hada

· Haga

· Hagiwara

· Hamada

· Hamamoto

· Hamasaki

· Handa

· Hano

· Hara

· Harada

· Hase

· Hasegawa

· Hashimoto

· Hata

· Hatanaka

· Hattori

· Hayakawa

· Hayashi

· Hayashida

· Higa

· Higashi

· Higuchi

· Hino

· Hirabayashi

· Hirai

· Hirano

· Hiraoka

· Hirata

· Hirayama

· Hironaka

· Hirose

· Hirota

· Hoga

· Hokama

· Honda

· Hora

· Hori

· Horie

· Horiuchi

· Hoshino

· Ichikawa

· Ida

· Ide

· Igarashi

· Ige

· Iha

· Iida

· Ike

· Ikeda

· Ikehara

· Imada

· Imai

· Imamura

· Inaba

· Inouye

· Isa

· Iseri

· Ishibashi

· Ishida

· Ishihara

· Ishii

· Ishikawa

· Ishimoto

· Isobe

· Ito

· Itoh

· Iwai

· Iwamoto

· Iwasaki

· Iwata

· Izumi

· Jin

· Jo

· Juba

· Kaba

· Kagawa

· Kai

· Kajiwara

· Kamei

· Kamiya

· Kanai

· Kanda

· Kaneko

· Kanemoto

· Kaneshiro

· Kanno

· Kano

· Kasai

· Kase

· Kataoka

· Katayama

· Kato

· Kawabata

· Kawaguchi

· Kawahara

· Kawai

· Kawakami

· Kawamoto

· Kawamura

· Kawano

· Kawasaki

· Kawashima

· Kawata

· Kaya

· Kibe

· Kida

· Kido

· Kikuchi

· Kimoto

· Kimura

· Kinoshita

· Kishi

· Kishimoto

· Kita

· Kitagawa

· Kitamura

· Kiyabu

· Kobashigawa

· Kobayashi

· Kobe

· Koda

· Kodama

· Koga

· Koike

· Koizumi

· Kojima

· Komatsu

· Kon

· Konda

· Kondo

· Konishi

· Konno

· Kono

· Konya

· Koyama

· Koyanagi

· Kuba

· Kubo

· Kubota

· Kudo

· Kumagai

· Kuno

· Kuramoto

· Kurata

· Kure

· Kurihara

· Kuroda

· Kurokawa

· Kuse

· Kusumoto

· Kuwahara

· Machi

· Machida

· Mae

· Maeda

· Maekawa

· Maita

· Maki

· Makino

· Mano

· Maruyama

· Masaki

· Mase

· Masuda

· Matsubara

· Matsuda

· Matsui

· Matsumoto

· Matsumura

· Matsunaga

· Matsuno

· Matsuo

· Matsuoka

· Matsushima

· Matsushita

· Matsuura

· Matsuyama

· Matsuzaki

· Mayeda

· Mihara

· Mikami

· Miki

· Minami

· Minamoto

· Mino

· Mita

· Miura

· Miya

· Miyagawa

· Miyahara

· Miyahira

· Miyake

· Miyamoto

· Miyasaki

· Miyasato

· Miyashiro

· Miyashita

· Miyata

· Miyazaki

· Miyoshi

· Mizuno

· Mochizuki

· Mori

· Morikawa

· Morimoto

· Morine

· Morino

· Morioka

· Morishige

· Morishita

· Morita

· Moriyama

· Mukai

· Mura

· Murai

· Murakami

· Muramoto

· Muranaka

· Murano

· Muraoka

· Murata

· Murayama

· Muto

· Nagai

· Nagamine

· Nagano

· Nagao

· Nagasawa

· Nagata

· Naito

· Nakada

· Nakagawa

· Nakahara
· Nakai

· Nakajima

· Nakama

· Nakamoto

· Nakamura

· Nakanishi

· Nakano

· Nakao

· Nakashima

· Nakasone

· Nakata

· Nakatani

· Nakatomi

· Nakayama

· Nakazawa

· Namba

· Nii

· Nishi

· Nishida

· Nishihara

· Nishikawa

· Nishimoto

· Nishimura

· Nishioka

· Nishiyama

· Nitta

· Niwa

· No

· Noda

· Noguchi

· Nomura

· Nonaka

· Noya

· Oba

· Obara

· Obi

· Oda

· Oe

· Ogasawara

· Ogata

· Ogawa

· Ogino

· Ogura

· Oh

· Ohara

· Ohashi

· Ohta

· Oishi

· Oka

· Okabe

· Okada

· Okamoto

· Okamura

· Okane

· Okano

· Okawa

· Okazaki

· Oki

· Okimoto

· Okino

· Okita

· Okubo

· Okuda

· Okuma

· Okumura

· Okura

· Omori

· Omura

· Onaga

· Onishi

· Ono

· Orio

· Osada

· Osaki

· Ose

· Oshima

· Oshiro

· Oshita

· Ota

· Otake

· Otani

· Otsuka

· Ouchi

· Oyama

· Oye

· Ozaki

· Ozawa

· Sada

· Sadow

· Saeki

· Saiki

· Saito

· Sakaguchi

· Sakai

· Sakamoto

· Sakata

· Sako

· Sakuma

· Sakurai

· Sama

· Sanda

· Sando

· Sano

· Sasaki

· Sato

· Satow

· Sawa

· Sawada

· Sawaya

· Sazama

· Seki

· Sekiguchi

· Seno

· Seo

· Sera

· Seta

· Seto

· Shiba

· Shibata

· Shibuya

· Shima

· Shimabukuro

· Shimada

· Shimamoto

· Shimizu

· Shimoda

· Shimomura

· Shinohara

· Shinsato

· Shintani

· Shirai

· Shiraishi

· Shiraki

· Shiro

· Shiroma

· Shishido

· Shoda

· Shoji

· Soda

· Soga

· Soma

· Sone

· Sonoda

· Suda

· Sugai

· Sugawara

· Sugihara

· Sugimoto

· Sugita

· Sugiyama

· Suko

· Sumida

· Sunada

· Suto

· Suzuki

· Tabata

· Tachibana

· Tada

· Tagawa

· Taguchi

· Tahara

· Taira

· Tajima

· Takagi

· Takahashi

· Takai

· Takaki

· Takamoto

· Takano

· Takara

· Takashima

· Takata

· Takayama

· Takeda

· Takei

· Takemoto

· Takenaka

· Takeshita

· Taketa

· Takeuchi

· Tamaki

· Tamanaha

· Tamashiro

· Tamura

· Tanabe

· Tanaka

· Tani

· Tanigawa

· Taniguchi

· Tanimoto

· Tanji

· Tano

· Tao

· Tashiro

· Tengan

· Terada

· Teramoto

· Teruya

· Teshima

· Tobe

· Toda

· Tokuda

· Tokunaga

· Toma

· Tominaga

· Tomita

· Tone

· Toyama

· Toyoda

· Tsuchida

· Tsuchiya

· Tsuda

· Tsuji

· Tsukamoto

· Tsutsui

· Tsutsumi

· Uchida

· Uchiyama

· Ueda

· Uehara

· Uemura

· Ueno

· Umeda

· Umemoto

· Uno

· Usui

· Uyeda

· Uyehara

· Uyemura

· Uyeno

· Wada

· Wakabayashi

· Watanabe

· Yagi

· Yamada

· Yamagata

· Yamaguchi

· Yamakawa

· Yamamoto

· Yamamura

· Yamanaka

· Yamane

· Yamaoka

· Yamasaki

· Yamashiro

· Yamashita

· Yamauchi

· Yamazaki

· Yanagi

· Yano

· Yasuda

· Yasui

· Yasutake

· Yogi

· Yokota

· Yokoyama

· Yonamine

· Yoneda

· Yoshida

· Yoshihara

· Yoshikawa

· Yoshimoto

· Yoshimura

· Yoshinaga

· Yoshino

· Yoshioka

http://tekeli.li/onomastikon/Orient/Japan/Surnames.html

Korean Names

The full Korean name consists of a surname and a given name. This order does not always hold true in western publications. Also, western transcriptions will usually break up the given name and either write the syllables separately or hyphenate them. For example the spelling Kim Dae Jung or Kim Dae-jung is much more frequent than Kim Daejung.

Traditional Korean given names are similar to Chinese given names in that they are usually composed of two Hanja (Chinese characters, though the characters are pronounced differently in Korean). Some modern parents however give names composed of pure Korean elements.

Koreans have maximum of 500 last names out of which four names (CHOI, KIM, LEE & PARK) alone is used by 50% of population.

*Ahn

*Baik
*Bang
*Byon

*Cha
*Chang
*Chi
*Chin
*Cho
*Choe
*Choi
*Chong
*Chou
*Chu
*Chun
*Chung
*Chweh

*Gil
*Gu
*Gwang

*Ha
*Han
*Ho
*Hong
*Hung
*Hwang
*Hyun

*Jang
*Jeon
*Jeong
*Jo
*Jon
*Jong
*Jung

*Kang
*Kim
*Ko
*Koo
*Ku
*Kwak
*Kwang

*Lee
*Li
*Lim

*Ma
*Mo
*Moon

*Nam
*Ngai
*Noh

*Oh

*Pae
*Pak
*Park

*Ra
*Rhee
*Rheem
*Ri
*Rim
*Ron
*Ryom
*Ryoo
*Ryu

*San
*Seo
*Seok
*Shim
*Shin
*Shon
*Si
*Sin
*So
*Son
*Song
*Sook
*Suh
*Suk
*Sun
*Sung

*Tsai

*Wang
*Woo

*Yang
*Yeo
*Yeon
*Yi
*Yim
*Yoo
*Yoon
*You
*Youj
*Youn
*Yu
*Yun

Chinese Names

A modern Chinese name consists of a surname (xìng 姓) and a given name (míng 名 or míngzì 名字), usually presented in that order. When transcribed into western writing, the characters of the given name are often written separately. Thus Mao Zedong is often given as Mao Ze Dong.

Traditionally, Chinese could assume additional names at other times in their life. These include the zì 字 (called a courtesy or style name), acquired upon reaching maturity, and the hào 號 (called an art name), a self-selected nickname.

Chinese given names usually consist of two syllables (though it is increasingly common to only use one). Those syllables can be any of the thousands of Chinese characters so the combinations are almost limitless. In practice some characters are chosen more often than others, such as Mei "beautiful" for girls. Sometimes the first character of the given name is shared by all members of a generation in a family (siblings, cousins, etc) - see generation name.

The 100 most common Chinese family names

1. 李 Lǐ

2. 王 Wáng

3. 张 Zhāng

4. 刘 Liú

5. 陈 Chén

6. 杨 Yáng

7. 赵 Zhào

8. 黄 Huáng

9. 周 Zhōu

10. 吴 Wú

11. 徐 Xú

12. 孙 Sūn

13. 胡 Hú

14. 朱 Zhū

15. 高 Gāo

16. 林 Lín

17. 何 Hé

18. 郭 Guō

19. 马 Mǎ

20. 罗 Luó

21. 梁 Liáng

22. 宋 Sòng

23. 郑 Zhèng

24. 谢 Xiè

25. 韩 Hán

26. 唐 Táng

27. 冯 Féng

28. 于 Yú

29. 董 Dǒng

30. 萧 Xiāo

31. 程 Chéng

32. 曹 Cáo

33. 袁 Yuán

34. 邓 Dèng

35. 许 Xǔ

36. 傅 Fù

37. 沈 Shěn

38. 曾 Zēng

39. 彭 Péng

40. 吕 Lǚ

41. 苏 Sū

42. 卢 Lú

43. 蒋 Jiǎng

44. 蔡 Cài

45. 贾 Jiǎ

46. 丁 Dīng

47. 魏 Wèi

48. 薛 Xuē

49. 叶 Yè

50. 阎 Yán

51. 余 Yú

52. 潘 Pān

53. 杜 Dù

54. 戴 Dài

55. 夏 Xià

56. 钟 Zhōng

57. 汪 Wāng

58. 田 Tián

59. 任 Rén

60. 姜 Jiāng

61. 范 Fàn

62. 方 Fāng

63. 石 Shí

64. 姚 Yáo

65. 谭 Tán

66. 盛 Shèng

67. 邹 Zōu

68. 熊 Xióng

69. 金 Jīn

70. 陆 Lù

71. 郝 Hǎo

72. 孔 Kǒng

73. 白 Bái

74. 崔 Cuī

75. 康 Kāng

76. 毛 Máo

77. 邱 Qiū

78. 秦 Qín

79. 江 Jiāng

80. 史 Shǐ

81. 顾 Gù

82. 侯 Hóu

83. 邵 Shào

84. 孟 Mèng

85. 龙 Lóng

86. 万 Wàn

87. 段 Duàn

88. 章 Zhāng

89. 钱 Qián

90. 汤 Tāng

91. 尹 Yǐn

92. 黎 Lí

93. 易 Yì

94. 常 Cháng

95. 武 Wǔ

96. 乔 Qiáo

97. 贺 Hè

98. 赖 Lài

99. 龚 Gōng

100. 文 Wén

Indian Names

Indian or Hindu names are used in India. The complete name usually consists of a given name and zero, one, or multiple secondary names. The secondary name could be a surname, a patronym, the caste, the occupation, or the village. The order of these names varies within India.

In southern India, Tamil names traditionally include the family's place of origin, the father's name, and given names, sometimes punctuated with the caste name (now less common). Often in writing, the place of origin and/or the patronym are initialized. For example, Aiyalam Parameswaran Balachandran has a given name ofBalachandran, his father's name was Parameswaran, and his family is from the village of Aiyalam. His name may be written A. P. Balachandran. Kannada names andMalayalam names are similar to Tamil names. Telugu names are usually one or more surnames followed by one or more given names. Southern Indians may sometimes write the given names before the surnames, especially on legal documents.

In much of the north (for example among Assamese, Bengali and Punjabi speakers), the full name typically consists of one or two given names followed by a surname. In writing, the two given names may be combined, for example Satish chandra. Gujarati and Marathi names might be given name, father's name, surname. When a woman marries, the father's name is replaced by that of her husband.

Most Sikh men have a surname of Singh (meaning "lion"), while most women have a surname of Kaur (meaning "princess"). This was instituted by the guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), who wished to diminish the power of the caste system. In some cases Singh or Kaur is the middle name, and it is followed by a family name.

Given names

Hindu given names often originate from Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-European language of India. The sacred texts of Hinduism are an important source, providing, for example, Krishna, Ajit, Shiva and Indra for males, and Lakshmi and Sita for females. Sanskrit vocabulary words are also used as names, such as Gita "song" and Anand"happiness".

Muslim given names can derive from Arabic or Persian. For centuries northern India had Muslim rulers. See Arabic names and Iranian names for more information.

Sikh given names tend to derive from Sanskrit, though in most cases they are distinct from Hindu names.

Surnames

Surnames usually originate from the local language. Typically they derive from either a profession or the family's place of origin. Some surnames indicate the caste.

On this site

List of Indian names and meanings
List of Hinduism names and meanings

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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Surname

Top 1000 Surnames

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Korean Names

Chinese Names

The 100 most common Chinese family names

Indian Names

Given names

Surnames

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