Last Names

Surnames record what families did, where they lived and who their fathers were. Browse last names by origin and style, or generate one for a character.

Konovalov
From konoval, a horse healer.
US #86,153From a jobRussian
Hale
Old English halh, a nook or hollow.
US #375From a placeEnglish
Kato
Add and wisteria; Fujiwara who served in Kaga province.
US #7,132Japanese
Doucet
From doux, sweet or gentle.
US #5,549NicknameFrench
Alcántara
From Arabic al-qantara, the bridge.
US #2,579From a placeSpanish
Saitta
Sicilian for arrow, from Latin sagitta.
US #27,817NicknameItalian
Bogoyavlensky
From Bogoyavlenie, the Epiphany.
Russian
Bonheur
French for happiness or good fortune.
US #70,545French
Banerjee
Anglicized Bandyopadhyay, teacher from the village of Bandoghat.
US #7,277From a jobIndian
Caballero
Knight or horseman, from caballo, horse.
US #1,193From a jobSpanish
Ibarra
Basque ibar, a valley or riverside plain.
US #521From a placeSpanish
Ó Floinn
Irish-language form of Flynn.
From a parentIrish

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Last names generators

Last name generatorReal surnames from 24 cultures, each with its meaning, origin and kind.

All 18 last names lists, A to Z

The 1,000 most common last names in the US, with counts from the Census.

Last names by origin

A sample from each culture in our database. Use the generator above, or search, to filter by culture and gender.

English surnames
352 in our database
- Blackwood: English and Scottish place name meaning dark wood
- Lancaster: from the Roman fort on the River Lune
- Hughes: son of Hugh
- Prescott: Old English for the priest's cottage
- Hopkins: son of Hopkin, a pet form of Robert
- Hogarth: occupational name for a hog herd
- Holt: Old English for a small wood or thicket
- Lister: a dyer of cloth
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Irish surnames
180 in our database
- O'Carroll: Ó Cearbhaill, descendant of Cearbhall
- Breathnach: Irish-language form of Walsh, meaning Welshman
- Daly: Ó Dálaigh, from dáil, assembly
- Devereux: Norman, from Évreux in Normandy
- Ní Bhriain: Irish-language form used by women, from Ó Briain
- Ó Murchú: Irish-language form of Murphy
- Finnegan: Ó Fionnagáin, from fionn, fair
- O'Hara: Ó hEaghra, descendant of Eaghra, a lord in County Sligo
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Scottish surnames
168 in our database
- MacDonald: son of Domhnall, world ruler
- Moncrieff: Gaelic monadh craoibhe, hill of the tree
- Hope: Old English hop, a small enclosed valley
- Baxter: a baker; the ending often marked a woman's trade
- Logan: Gaelic lagan, a little hollow
- Gordon: from lands in Berwickshire
- Knox: Scottish, from Gaelic cnoc, a round hill
- MacLachlan: son of Lachlan, a name drawn from Lochlann, Norway
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Welsh surnames
51 in our database
- Pembroke: Welsh pen bro, land's end; a county and earldom
- Pritchard: from ap Richard, son of Richard
- Cadwalader: from Cadwaladr, battle leader
- Jenkins: son of Jenkin, a pet form of John
- Bevan: from ab Evan, son of Evan
- Davis: son of David
- Gethin: from cethin, dark or swarthy
- Harris: son of Harry, a medieval form of Henry
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French surnames
78 in our database
- Robin: from a pet form of Robert
- Lefebvre: occupational name for a smith, from Latin faber
- Beauchamp: beautiful field
- Laframboise: French for the raspberry; a soldier's nickname
- Lafleur: the flower; a favorite soldier's nickname
- Duval: of the valley
- Desrosiers: of the rose bushes
- Larue: for a family living on the street
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German surnames
96 in our database
- Haas: hare, a nickname for a timid or swift person
- Wolf: from the personal name Wolf, or a nickname meaning wolf
- Richter: judge or village magistrate
- Rosenberg: German and Swedish for rose mountain
- Schwarz: for someone with black hair or a dark complexion
- Beck: baker; the southern form of Becker
- Müller: occupational name for a miller
- Gerber: occupational name for a tanner
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Italian surnames
175 in our database
- Ferrara: for someone from the city of Ferrara
- Brambilla: from a valley near Bergamo
- Di Benedetto: son of Benedetto, blessed
- Molinari: millers, the people who ran the mill
- Fiorentino: Italian for someone from Florence
- Caruso: from carusu, a shorn-headed boy or young lad
- Pisano: for someone from Pisa
- Montenegro: Spanish and Italian for black mountain
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Spanish surnames
288 in our database
- Figueroa: place of fig trees, from Galician figueira, fig tree
- Molina: mill, or one of many Spanish towns named for one
- Escudero: squire or shield-bearer, from escudo, shield
- Urkiza: birch grove, from urki, birch
- Durán: from the medieval name Durand, enduring
- Fernández: son of Fernando, from Germanic words for journey and daring
- Vidal: from a medieval first name, Latin vitalis, full of life
- Cárdenas: from a town in La Rioja
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Portuguese surnames
65 in our database
- Rodrigues: son of Rodrigo
- Batista: baptist, for Saint John the Baptist
- Freitas: broken, for someone on stony ground
- Pires: son of Pedro
- Castro: old hill fort, from Latin castrum
- Soares: son of Soeiro
- Marques: son of Marcos
- Medeiros: from places named for haystacks
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Dutch surnames
172 in our database
- Jansen: son of Jan, the Dutch form of John
- Vroom: pious or devout
- Yancy: American form of Jansen, son of Jan
- Hoogland: Dutch for high land
- De Bruijn: the brown-haired one
- De Wit: the white or fair-haired one
- Andringa: farm belonging to Andries
- Bos: dweller in or by a wood
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Scandinavian surnames
58 in our database
- Berglund: Swedish ornamental name meaning mountain grove
- Rosenberg: German and Swedish for rose mountain
- Christensen: son of Christen
- Pedersen: son of Peder
- Haraldsen: son of Harald, army ruler
- Larsson: son of Lars
- Leifsson: son of Leif, heir
- Magnusson: son of Magnus
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Russian surnames
151 in our database
- Sapozhnikov: from sapozhnik, a boot maker
- Plotnikov: from plotnik, a carpenter
- Berezin: from bereza, a birch tree
- Filippov: son of Filipp, Greek for lover of horses
- Medvedev: from medved, bear, literally honey eater
- Makarov: son of Makar, from Greek makarios, blessed
- Volkonsky: princely family named for the Volkona River
- Malinin: from malina, the raspberry
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Polish surnames
129 in our database
- Dudek: Polish for hoopoe, a crested bird
- Pawlak: son of Paweł, Paul
- Sikora: Polish for titmouse, a small bird
- Tomaszewski: from places named after Tomasz, Thomas
- Wiśniewski: from places named after wiśnia, cherry
- Jeleń: Polish for deer or stag
- Michalski: from places named after Michał, Michael
- Zieliński: from places named after zielony, green
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Greek surnames
58 in our database
- Ioannidis: son of Ioannis; an -idis name, common among Pontic Greeks
- Petrakos: little Petros; an -akos name of Laconia and Mani
- Christodoulou: servant of Christ
- Petrakis: little Petros, a father's name; a Cretan -akis name
- Markakis: little Markos, a father's name; a Cretan -akis name
- Psaras: occupational name for a fisherman
- Antoniou: son of Antonios
- Manolakis: little Manolis, a father's name; a Cretan -akis name
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Hebrew surnames
30 in our database
- Weiss: white, for someone with fair hair
- Cohen: from kohen, priest, for a descendant of Aaron
- Segal: acronym of segan leviyah, assistant Levite
- Rabinowitz: son of the rabbi
- Ben-David: son of David
- Schwartz: black, for someone with dark hair
- Halevi: the Levite, of the tribe of Levi
- Gabay: synagogue official, from gabbai
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Arabic surnames
94 in our database
- Badawi: Bedouin, a desert dweller
- Atallah: gift of God
- Hegazy: from the Hejaz in western Arabia
- Mansour: victorious, aided by God
- Kamel: perfect, complete
- Mostafa: the chosen one, a title of the Prophet Muhammad
- Tahhan: occupational name for a miller
- El-Naggar: the carpenter
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Turkish surnames
33 in our database
- Karaca: means roe deer in Turkish
- Güneş: means sun in Turkish
- Kurt: means wolf in Turkish
- Çiftçi: means farmer in Turkish
- Bozkurt: the grey wolf of Turkic legend
- Koç: means ram in Turkish
- Öztürk: pure or genuine Turk
- Erdem: means virtue in Turkish
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Persian surnames
33 in our database
- Ahmadi: of Ahmad, most praiseworthy
- Mohammadi: of Mohammad, a follower or descendant of the Prophet
- Rezaei: of Reza, after the eighth Shia Imam
- Tehrani: for someone from Tehran
- Hosseini: descendant of Imam Hussein
- Mirzaei: from mirza, prince or learned gentleman
- Daneshvar: learned or scholarly
- Ansari: descendant of the Ansar, the helpers of the Prophet in Medina
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Indian surnames
45 in our database
- Gupta: protected or guarded, from Sanskrit
- Kulkarni: village accountant, a Marathi title
- Chaudhary: title for a landholder or village headman
- Das: servant, especially a servant of God
- Bhattacharya: learned teacher, from bhatta, scholar, and acharya, teacher
- Shah: means king in Persian
- Siddiqui: descendant of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the truthful
- Jain: follower of Jainism, from jina, conqueror
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Japanese surnames
198 in our database
- Momoi: peach well
- Busujima: written 毒島, poison island; also read Dokushima
- Yanagi: willow
- Hoshino: written 星野, meaning star field
- Tanaka: middle of the rice field
- Hanamura: written 花村, flower village
- Takayama: tall mountain
- Akiyama: autumn mountain
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Chinese surnames
139 in our database
- Xiao: 萧, mugwort
- Ren: 任, duty, office
- Dongguo: 东郭, east outer city wall
- Lam: 林, forest; Cantonese spelling of Lin
- Gongsun: 公孙, grandson of a duke
- Ye: 叶, leaf
- Huang: 黄, yellow
- Yeo: 杨, poplar; Hokkien spelling of Yang
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Korean surnames
35 in our database
- Kim: character meaning gold
- Hong: 洪, flood, vast waters
- Seo: slowly or calmly
- Oh: from the ancient Chinese state of Wu
- Lee: 李, plum tree; the usual English spelling of Li
- Hwang: character meaning yellow
- Choi: lofty or towering
- Sung: to accomplish or become
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African surnames
161 in our database
- Shehu: elder or sheikh (Hausa)
- Omondi: born at dawn (Luo)
- Adewale: the crown has come home (Yoruba)
- Mpofu: eland (Zulu and Ndebele)
- Adeleke: the crown has triumphed (Yoruba)
- Bakari: the Swahili name for the constellation Boötes
- Annan: fourth-born child (Akan)
- Abioye: born into royalty (Yoruba)
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Hawaiian surnames
74 in our database
- ʻĀkau: north, or the right-hand side
- Hanohano: glorious, honored and distinguished
- Kepano: Hawaiian form of Stephen
- Kahalewai: the water house, from hale, house, and wai, fresh water
- Kalaukoa: the koa leaf
- Kimokeo: Hawaiian form of Timothy
- Koanui: great warrior
- Kaimana: means diamond in Hawaiian
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Last Names: common questions

Where do last names come from?

Most surnames began as descriptions: a job (Smith), a place (Ford), a father's name (Johnson) or a nickname (Brown). They became hereditary over the last thousand years.

How do I make up a last name for a character?

Use the last name generator and pick a culture that fits the character's background, or combine a place word and an ending such as -ford, -ton or -wood.

What are the most common last names?

Smith, Johnson and Williams lead in the United States; Wang, Li and Zhang are the most common in the world. Our lists show common and rare surnames by origin.

What makes a last name sound cool?

Two syllables, a strong consonant and a clear image help: Blackwood, Sterling, Hayes. Read it with the first name to check the rhythm.

Last Names

Last names generators

Most popular last names lists

All 18 last names lists, A to Z

Last names by origin

English surnames

Irish surnames

Scottish surnames

Welsh surnames

French surnames

German surnames

Italian surnames

Spanish surnames

Portuguese surnames

Dutch surnames

Scandinavian surnames

Russian surnames

Polish surnames

Greek surnames

Hebrew surnames

Arabic surnames

Turkish surnames

Persian surnames

Indian surnames

Japanese surnames

Chinese surnames

Korean surnames

African surnames

Hawaiian surnames

Last Names: common questions

Where do last names come from?

How do I make up a last name for a character?

What are the most common last names?

What makes a last name sound cool?

Every other kind of name