Note: This is not my original work! There is an excellent site, put together by Larry Hoefling and others. It contains many surnames. Be sure to visit them and see if your names are listed!


Beck/Beckman/Bachman : German Place Name...There were many names for the 'one who dwells by the stream' and in Germany they included Beck/Beckman/Bachman.
Best is an English and French occupational name for the man who took care of the animals (the beasts, Old French beste ) or as an unflattering nickname for the man who had a beastly temperament or appearance. Beste is a variation. When of German origin, Best is a place name for the man who lived by the river Beste, or who hailed from any of the several villages called Besten. When of Beatles origin, it designates the drummer before Ringo, Pete Best .
Brown : is one of the more common surnames, as you might expect. Among the light-skinned English anyone with a darker complexion, brown hair, tendancy toward brown clothing, etc. were often described that way, and it stuck as a surname. There are a number of derivatives in many countries.
Condon is an Irish patronymic name, Anglicized from the Gaelic given name Condun , which was itself changed to Gaelic from Anglo Norman "de Caunteton" a place reference to Caunton in Nottinghamshire derived from the Old English given name Calunod (where d is the old English character thorne) comprised of calu = bald + nod (again, the thorne character) = daring. Congden is a variation.
Davidson is a patronymic form of the Welsh, Scottish, English, French, Portuguese, Jewish, and Czechoslovakian name David , from Hebrew David = beloved. Variations are Daud, Doud (English); Davitt, Devitt, Daid, Dade, Taaffe (Irish); Dewi, Dafydd, Daffey, Taffie, Taffee (Welsh); Davy (French); Davidai, Davida, Davidy, Davidman, Dawidman (Jewish). Other patronymic forms are Davids, Davidge, Davage, Davies, Davis, Davys, Davson, Davidson, Davisson, Davison (English, Scottish); McDavitt, McDevitt, McCavitt, McKevitt, McDade, McDaid, McCaet (Irish); McDavid (Scottish); Davidescue (Rumanian); Davidsen (Low German); Davids (Dutch); Davidsen (Danish); Davidsson (Swedish). There are also several dozen Jewish patronymic forms.
Earhart is an Americanized version of Erhart and Erhardt, the German patronymic name from the elements era = honor + hard = brave. The name has also been known to be adopted by Ashkenazic Jews. Erard is the French version. This definition was originally missing over the Bermuda Triangle, but someone name Amelia kindly returned it.
Fox : Although in some cases Fox refers to the nature of its originator -- as in sly as a fox, most animal names were derived from the pictures that decorated the signs at the medieval roadside inns. Literacy was an issue, most could distinguish the pictures, and the family at the sign of the Fox often took that as a surname.
Fulton: /English/Scottish Place name, In Scotland, Fulton was the 'fowl enclosure'
John is one of the most popular of the medieval names, and took several forms even in medieval times. John derived from Hebrew Yochanan (God has favoured me with a son). I have listed many versions of the name on the website, but certainly not all. Jahncke (Jähncke) is a diminutive form of the German (of Slavic origin) cognate of John, including Jann, Jahn (Low German). Other diminutive forms include Johnikin, Johnigan, Jonikin, Jonigan (English/Irish); Jeannet, Jeanet, Joannet, Jouandet, Jeandet, Jantet, Jentet, Jouanneton, Jeannin, Jouannin, Jouanny, Jany, Janny, Jeandin, Jentin, Jeannenet, Jeannot, Jouanot, Jeandon, Janton, Jenton, Jeannel, Jeandel, Jantel, Jeanneau, Jeandeau, Jenteau, Jeannequin, Jannequin, Johanchon , (French); Giovannelli, Gianelli, Giovannilli, Gianiello, Gianilli, Cianelli, Iannelli, Ianello, Ianniello, Iannilli, Zannelli, Zuanelli, Zuenilli, Vannelli, Nanelli, Giovannetti, Ninotti, Zanetello, Zanettini, Nannini, Notti, Noto (Italian); Jähnel, Jähne, Jäne, Jähndel, Jähnel (German); Juanico (Spain); Johnke, Jönke, Jenne, Jennemann (Low German); Jansema (Frisian); Jähncke, Jäncke, Jänke, Jahnisch, Janisch, Jansch, Jannuscheck, Janoschek, Jenicke, Jentzsch, Jentsch, Genicke, Genike, Gentzsch, Gentsch, Wahnncke, Wanka, Wanjek, Wandtke, Nuschke, Nuscha (German of Slav origin).
Kern/Kerns/Curn : Many German names are taken from the short, or pet form of a given name. Kern (of which Curn may be a derivative) is taken from Gernwin (spear, friend) when it isn't the man who emigrated from Kern, the German town. It's a German Patronymic name when not from the town, and a German Place name in that case.
Knapp : As an English place name, Knapp was the man who lived at the top of the hill.
Leonard : Almost all given names that were around during Medieval times have continued through the ages as surnames. Leonard is one such name, the meaning of which is "lion, bold."
Marti, Marty are cognate forms of the name Martin found in Provencal. Martin is found as an English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Czech, Flemish, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian Patronymic surname -- derived from the ancient Latin given name Martinus, derived from Mars/Martis , the Roman god of fertility and war. A fourth-century saint had the name, and those early saints made for a lot of namesakes. Variations are Marten, Martyn, Martine, Lamartine, Martijn among others.
Miller : English Occupational Name for the man who operated the mill from the Middle English term mille. Moore is an English Place name for the man who lived on a moor, in a fen, or any of the various settlements with this name -- derived from their location near the moor or fen. It comes from the Old English mor . Occasionally, Moore is a nickname for the person with swarthy complexion, from Old French more = Moor/Negro, and sometimes Moore is derived from the Gaelic O'Mordha (descendant of Mordha , a name that meant 'great' or 'proud' in Gaelic) and Anglicized to Moore. Lastly, Moore can be a Scottish or Welsh Nickname for the big man, from Welsh mawr = big, great.
Oster is a Swedish name for "one from the East." Oster with an umlaut over the -O- is the German word for Easter. See Weiss below, which means white, put them together and you get Osterwise which means white Easter.
Redman is polygenetic, derived independantly from surnames Read and Roth . When arriving from the former it originates from the Old English read = red and designated the man with the red hair or ruddy complexion. The softening of the -E- sound in OE read to modern English red is not well-explained. Variations of Read are Reade, Reed, Redd, Reid, Redman, Readman, Ride, Ryde, and Ryder . Roth is the German Nickname and Jewish Assumed Ornamental Name for the person with red hair, derived from German rot = red. Variants are Rothe, Rother , and the Jewish variations are Roter, Roiter, Royter , among others. The Normans brought the French given name Robert to England at the time of the Conquest. It means 'fame, bright' and was derived from the Old German Hrodebert. Rob, Hob, and Dob were pet forms of the name, and from Rob a number of surnames were derived -- including the English Patronymic name Robinson. Other versions are Robart (English), Robart, Robard, Rebert, Rospars (French), Ropartz (Brittany), Flobert, Flaubert (also French from a variation), Robbert, Rubbert, Ropert, Ruppert (Low German). Cognates include Roubert, Roubeix (Provencal), Roberti, Roberto, Ruberti, Ruberto, Ruperto, Luberti, Luberto Luparti, Luparto (Italian), Roberto (Portuguese), Rupprecht, Rupprecht, Rauprich (German), and Robberecht (Flemish).
Shaffer is a variation of Schaffer , the German occupational name for a steward or baliff, from German schaffen = go manage, run. Schaffner, Scheffner, Schaffer, Schofer are other variants.
Simpson : English Patronymic from the popular given name Simon (gracious hearing) from which evolved many surnames, including the two most popular versions: Simmons and Simpson .
Stafford : is an English Place name that was adopted by the man who lived near a river or creek at a crossing point -- which was called a ford. The particular crossing point was a 'stony ford, or ford by a landing place.' Weeks is a patronymic form of the name Week, which is an English place name that described the man who lived in an outlying village or settlement, removed from the main town or village of the area -- from Old English wic = outlying settlement, farm. In that sense, Week is a variation of the surname Wick, which has the same meaning. Occasionally, Week is a nickname that described the man in poor shape, from Middle English wayke = weak, feeble. Variations are Weake (the more commonly found version), Week, Weekes, Wheeker.
Whitt is a variation of the Scottish, English, and Irish nickname White, which described the man with white hair, or a pale complexion. There was also a Middle Ages given name Whita, which bore the same meaning (pale complexion), and the name is sometimes a patronymic identifier from that given name . Whyte, Whitte, Witte, Witt are other variations. Cognate forms exist such as Weiss, Weisse, Weisser, Weissert, Wyss (German); Weissmann (Switzerland); Witte, Witt (Low German); DeWitt, DeWitte, DeWit (Flemish, Dutch); Wajs, Wajsowski (Polish). There are also a number of compound surnames among the Jewish (Ashkenazic) names that use Weis or Weiss as the first element of an ornamental surname. Normally, the name Wood described the man who lived in or near a wood, but it sometimes was used as an occupational name for the woodcutter. It is derived from the Middle English word wode = wood, from Old English wudu = wood. Variations are Woode, Woods, Wooder, Wooding, Woodings, Wooddin, Woodin, Attwood, Bywood . Cognate forms are idde, Wehde, Wede, Wehe, Weh, Wedemann, Wehmann (Low German); Wedin, Vedin (Swedish). Wedberg is a Swedish compound ornamental name that is literally translated as "wood hill."
Wyatt : the word wido was Old German for 'wood' and was brought to England with the Normans as the given name Guy. Diminutive forms include Wyatt which was adopted as a Patronymic surname.
Zimmerman is the German form of the occupational name Carpenter, derived from Middle High German zimbermann , formed from zimber, zimmer = timber, wood + mann = man. Zimmerer, Zimmer, Zimerman, Cimerman, Cymerman Cymmermann, Cimermann, Timmerman, Timmermann are variations. Copyright 1996-98. Broken Arrow Publishing
Note: This is not my original work! There is an excellent site, put together by Larry Hoefling and others. It contains many surnames. Be sure to visit them and see if your names are listed!