Blake is a surname which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin. Another theory, presumably in the belief it is a Welsh patronymic in origin, for which there is no evidence, was that it is a corruption of "Ap Lake", meaning "Son of Lake".
Donaldson is a Scottish and Irish patronymic surname meaning "son of Donald". It is a simpler Anglicized variant for the name MacDonald. Notable people with the surname include:
Vaughan and Vaughn are surnames, originally Welsh, though also used as a form of the Irish surname McMahon. Vaughan derives from the Welsh word bychan, meaning "small", and so corresponds to the English name Little and the Breton cognate Bihan. The word mutates to Fychan an identifier for a younger sibling or next of kin. It can also be used as a first name Vaughan.
Carr is a common surname in northern England, deriving from the Old Norse kjarr, meaning a brushwood, thicket or copse. It may also come from the ancient Norse Kjarr translation meaning Kaiser from Caesar Kerr is a Scottish variant, often from the Norse and from the Gaelic ciar, meaning "dusky". Carr is also a common surname in Ireland, where it often derives from the nickname, gearr, meaning "short of height". In some cases it is thought to come from the Welsh word cawr, meaning giant. Alternatively, in Ireland and Scotland, it may derive from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic cearr meaning pointed spear.
McDermott or MacDermott is an Irish surname from County Roscommon and is mostly found in the west of Ireland. Some notable people with the surname are listed below.
Cooper is an English surname originating in England; see Cooper (profession). Occasionally it is an Anglicized form of the German surname Kiefer. Cooper is the 8th most common surname in Liberia and 27th most common in England.
Bell is a surname common in English speaking countries with several word-origins.
Edwards is a patronymic surname of English origin, meaning "son of Edward". Edwards is the 14th most common surname in Wales and 21st most common in England. Within the United States, it was ranked as the 49th-most common surname as surveyed in 1990, falling to 51st in 2014.
Riley is a surname of English origin, as well as an Anglicized version of an Irish surname.
The surname Burns has several origins. In some cases, it derived from the Middle English or Scots burn, and originated as a topographic name for an individual who lived by a stream. In other cases the surname is a variant form of the surname Burnhouse, which originated as a habitational name, derived from a place name made up of the word elements burn and house. In other cases the surname Burns originated as a nickname meaning "burn house". In other cases, the surname Burns is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Broin, which means "descendant of Bran". In some cases the surname Burns is an Americanized form of the Jewish surname Bernstein, which is derived from the German bernstein ("amber").
Robinson is an English language patronymic surname, originating in England. It means "son of Robin ". There are similar surname spellings such as Robison and Robeson. Robinson is the 15th-most common surname in the United Kingdom. According to the 1990 United States Census, Robinson was the twentieth most frequently encountered surname among those reported, accounting for 0.23% of the population.
Ward is a surname of either Old English or Old Gaelic origin, common in English-speaking countries.
Kelly is a surname in the English language. The name has numerous origins, most notably from the Ui Maine. In some cases it is derived from toponyms located in Ireland and Great Britain, in other cases it is derived from patronyms in the Irish language.
Austin is an English surname, an Old French language contraction of Agustin as Aostin and Austin. Agustin is the popular form of Augustin, equivalent to Augustine.
Russell, also Rosel, Rousel, Russel or Rossell. The origin of the name has historically been subject to disagreement, with two distinct origins proposed. Early genealogists traced the Russel/Russell family of Kingston Russel from Anglo-Norman landholders bearing the toponymic surname 'de Rosel' or 'du Rozel', deriving from Rosel, Calvados, Normandy. However, J. Horace Round observed that these flawed pedigrees erroneously linked toponymic-bearing men with unrelated men who instead bore the Anglo-Norman nickname rus[s]el, given men with red hair. This nickname was a diminutive of the Norman-French rus, meaning 'red', and was also an archaic name for the red fox, which in turn borrowed from Old Norse rossel, "red-haired, from Old Norse ros "red hair color" and the suffix -el. Round concluded "there is no reason to suppose that the surname Russell was territorial at all," and surname dictionaries have preferred to derive the surname from the nickname. Dictionaries also state that the English name Rufus originally meant "red haired".
Sheridan is an Irish surname. It is derived from the Gaelic Ó Sirideáin 'descendant of Sirideán', a given name meaning 'to seek'. Originating in County Longford, the O'Sheridans were eranaghs of Granard, but in the County Cavan served the O'Reillys.
Oliver is a surname derived from the personal name Oliver. The Scottish Oliver family was a sept of the Scotland Highlands' powerful Clan Fraser of Lovat. There are many different Oliver families in North America.
Houston is a surname of Scottish origin. In the mountains of Scotland's west coast and on the Hebrides islands, the ancestors of the Houston family were born. Clan Houston comes from the medieval Scottish given name Hugh. Houston is a patronymic surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. In general, patronyms were derived from either the first name of the father of the bearer, or from the names of famous religious and secular figures. By and large, surnames descending from one's father's name were the most common. The surname also came from the place called Houston, Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. In Old English, the name Houston, meant the settlement belonging to Hugh.
Quinn is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Coinn or Mac Cuinn. The latter surname means "descendant of Conn". The surname Quinn is also rendered Ó Cuinn or Mac Cuinn in Irish. The surname is borne by several unrelated families in Ireland, especially in the northern province of Ulster and also the counties of Clare, Longford, and Mayo. The most notable family of the name are that of Thomond, a Dalcassian sept, who derive their surname from Niall Ó Cuinn who was slain at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This family was formerly represented by the Earls of Dunraven. Another family is that seated in Annaly, who were related to the O'Farrell lords of Longford. Another Quinn family was seated at An Chraobh, County Tyrone and they were related to the O'Neill Kings of Tír Eoghain and for whom they acted as Hereditary Quartermasters. Other families include one seated in Antrim; one seated in Raphoe; and one called Clann Cuain, seated near Castlebar. In the seventeenth century, the surname Quinn was common in Waterford. In 1890, the surname was numerous in Dublin, Tyrone, Antrim, and Roscommon. Quinn is one of the twenty most common surnames in Ireland. It is sometimes said that the surname Quinn is borne by Catholics whilst Quin is borne by Protestants.
