Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker, and is used as a British family name.
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:
David or Dave Allen may refer to:
Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may be used a feminine form. Of Norman French origin, originally Malleville, which translates to "bad town," it likely made its way into usage in Scotland as a result of the Norman conquest of England. It came into use as a given name as early as the 19th century, in English-speaking populations.
Watkins is an English and Welsh surname derived as a patronymic from Watkin, in turn a diminutive of the name Watt, a popular Middle English given name itself derived as a pet form of the name Walter.
Bailey is an English or Scottish surname. It is first recorded in Northumberland, where it was said to have been changed from Balliol due to the unpopularity of Scottish king John Balliol. There appears to be no historical evidence for this, and Bain concludes that the earliest form was Baillie or Bailli . The origin of the name is most likely from Anglo-Norman bailli, the equivalent of bailiff; bailie remains a regional Scottish variant of the term bailiff. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Norman name may have been locational, derived from Bailleul-En-Vimeu in Normandy.
Tait is a Scottish surname which means 'pleasure' or 'delight'. The origins of the name can be traced back as far as 1100.
Bell is a surname common in English speaking countries with several word-origins.
Powell is a Welsh surname. It is a patronymic form of the Welsh name Hywel, with the prefix ap meaning "son of", together forming ap Hywel, or "son of Hywel". It is an uncommon name among those of Welsh ancestry. It originates in a dynasty of kings in Wales, and Brittany in the 9th and 10th century, and three Welsh royal houses of that time onwards. The House of Tudor, one of the Royal houses of England, also descended from them.
Lyons is a surname with several origins. It is the name of an eminent Anglo-Norman family that is descended from Ingelram de Lyons, Lord of Lyons, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest, and from his relation, Nicholas de Lyons, who emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080 and was granted lands at Warkworth, Northamptonshire by William of Normandy. The family originated in the district of the Forest of Lyons, north of the town of Lyons-la-Forêt, in Norman Vexin, where their seat was the Castle of Lyons. The original surname was 'de Lyons' : subsequently, the 'de' was removed from the name, and some branches removed the 's' from the end of the word, producing 'Lyon'.
Johnston is in most cases a habitational surname derived from several places in Scotland. Historically, the surname has been most common throughout Scotland and Ireland.
Kerr is a Scottish surname. See Clan Kerr for the Scottish origins.
Munro is a Scottish surname. In both languages, it means "man from the River Roe" in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The surname is common in Ross-shire and other areas of northern Scotland; it also spread to Canada via emigration. Variant spellings of the same name include Monro, Monroe, Munroe, Munrow and Manrow.
Gibson is a Scottish surname. It can be a sept of Clan Campbell, Clan Buchanan or Clan MacMillan. In Ireland, Gibson may be an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic Ó Gibealláin.
Baker is a common surname of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) origin and Scotland where Gaelic was anglicized. From England the surname has spread to neighbouring countries such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and also to the English speaking areas of the Americas and Oceania where it is also common. The gaelic form of Baker in Scotland and Ireland is Mac a' Bhacstair. Some people with the surname have used DNA to trace their origins to Celtic countries and specifically to the Baxter sept of the Clan MacMillan in Scotland. It is an occupational name, which originated before the 8th century CE, from the name of the trade, baker. From the Middle English bakere and Old English bæcere, a derivation of bacan, meaning "to dry by heat". The bearer of this name may not only have been a baker of bread. The name was also used for others involved with baking in some way, including the owner of a communal oven in humbler communities. The female form of the name is Baxter, which is seen more in Scotland. The German form of the name is Bäcker.
Marshall is an occupation name whose origin is from the Frankish mare ("horse") + skalkoz ("servant"). It is most commonly found as a surname, but may also be used as a given name. It is also an old Scottish surname meaning 'Love of Horses'. It is also an anglicization of the German and Ashkenazic Jewish surname 'Marschall' meaning 'keeper of horses' in German.
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".
Burnett is a Scottish surname. It is derived from a nickname from the Old French burnete, brunette, which is a diminutive of brun meaning "brown", "dark brown". Another proposed origin of the name is from burnete, a high quality wool cloth originally dyed to a dark brown colour.
Holloway is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Waddell is a surname. Notable people with the name include:
