A few days ago
scary shari

Origins of these unusual LAST NAMES?

As a reader, writer, editor and “word worm”, I’m always curious about these things. 🙂 Here’s a list of last names (in alpha-order) that I think are unusual, and which make me curious about their national origin. So, if you know what country and/or language any of these come from, please share.

ALSO, if you know what the name actually means or translates to, that would be an added bonus!

I don’t expect anyone to know all the names, but I’ll give the 10 points to whoever knows the most. 🙂 Thanks ahead of time for your help. Oh — and NONE of these names are made-up! They’re all real, even those that might not seem that way. heh

Arbuckle

Blankenship

Bloodgood

Dickbreeder

Hellwig

Hickingbotham

Livernoise

Moonves

Plew

Popplewell

Prendergast/Pendergrass

Pugh

Sprinkles

Stipe

Stonesifer

Stoops

Suntop

Turnipseed

Top 10 Answers
A few days ago
innamorta2000

Favorite Answer

Arbuckle – First found in Lanarkshire where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Arbuckle was first used as a surname in the Scottish/English Borderlands by the Strathclyde-Briton. The first Arbuckle family lived in Lanarkshire.

Blankenship – First found in Northumberland where they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Bloodgood – Is a Welsh name of old Celtic origin. The surname is from the well-known Welsh personal name Lloyd. The surname Bloodgood features the distinctive Welsh patronymic prefix ab-. The original form of the name was ab-Lloyd, but the prefix has been assimilated into the surname over the course of time and the overall spelling has sometimes been extensively altered.

Hellwig – Origin Displayed: German

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Ann Elizabeth Helwig, who arrived in Pennsylvania sometime between 1741 and 1748; August Helvig, who came to Baltimore in 1843; Cath Helvig, who came to New York, NY in 1855.

Hickingbotham – is generally believed to be derived from the

residence of its first bearers at a place called Higginbottom, in the neighborhood of Marple and Macclesfield, East Cheshire, England. It is generally agreed that the name,

itself, was first given to “the bottom, or hollow depression in the land, where Higgin or Hickin resided”, Higgin and Hickin being diminutive forms of the nickname Hick, for Richard. Some historians, however, maintain that the name is of German origin and a corruption of the name Ickenbaum, meaning “an oak tree”.

Plew – May be derived from the Old High German “Pluwil” or the Middle High German “Bliuwel” meaning a “stick” or “cudgel” perhaps suggesting a drumstick or pestle. The name may have been assigned to the bearer as a nickname for a stick-like figure or one who fought with or carried a stick. Or the name could have been given on account of an occupation, such as one who used such sticks, perhaps a miller, or one who cut and sold sticks. Alternatively, the surname Plew may be derived from the Old High German “blao” meaning “blue” and probably would have been given as a nickname for any variety of reasons. The element “blao” also appears in a number of forenames such as Blauhart and Blawo, and in place names such as Plawen and Plaue.

Popplewell – Popplewell, from OE popel, either meaning “pebbly soil” + well, or “spring beside the poplar or poplars”. -well is a suffix associated with many towns and villages of the limestone country of north Derbyshire and southwest Yorkshire signifying well or spring.

Prendergast/Pendergrass – English, Irish

The Prendergast surname belongs to the large category of Anglo-Norman habitation names, which are thought to have originally derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads in Normandy. In Ireland, the name was turned into a Gaelic form as de Priondragás

Church officials and medieval scribes often simply spelled names as they sounded. As a result, a single person’s name may have been recorded a dozen different ways during his lifetime. Spelling variations for the name Prendergast include: Prendergast, Prendegast, Pendergast, Pendegast, Prendregast, Pendergrass, Pendergrist, Pender and many more.

Pugh – Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hugh or ap Huw ‘son of Hugh’

Stipe – English: perhaps a habitational name from a minor place in Wiltshire named Stype.

Stonesifer – Is a surname born since ancient times. The first people to use this name were found in Cornwall. Their name, however, is derived from the Old English word stan, meaning stone, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a prominent stone.

Stoops – Dutch: variant of Stoop

Turnipseed – translated form of German Rübsam(en) ‘turnip seed’, a nickname for a turnip grower. Turnips were important as staple diet in winter during the Middle Ages.

Armbruster – German (also Armbrüster): occupational name for a soldier armed with a crossbow or for a maker of crossbows, from an agent derivative of armbrust ‘crossbow’

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A few days ago
meadow03
The name Blankenship is English.

The coat of arms is a red shield with a gold fesse between three gold wheatsheaves.

Spelling variations of this family name include: Blenkinsopp, Blenkinsop, Blinkinsopp, Blinkinsop, Blankensop, Blankensopp, Blinkinsops, Blenkinship, Blenkinshipp, Blenkenship, Blenkenshipp, Blenkinshop, Blenkinshopp and many more.

First found in Northumberland where they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: James Blinkinsops who settled in Boston Mass. in 1848.

The name Arbuckle is Scottish.

The coat of arms is three gold wheatsheaves on a red shield.

Spelling variations of this family name include: Arbuckle, Arnbuckle, Arbukile, Arbukill, Arbuckell, Arbuckles, Arbucles, Arbucle, Arbukle and many more.

First found in Lanarkshire where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: John Arbuckle who landed in America and settled in New Jersey in 1685; James Arbuckle settled in Augusta County Va. in 1762; Thomas Arbuckle settled in Philadelphia Pa. in 1831.

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4 years ago
?
Prendergast Family Crest
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5 years ago
Anonymous
Surname Meaning – SINK Dutch, from Middle Dutch sinke, Middle High German zinke ‘trumpet’, ‘horn’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a musician. Statistically the highest immigration was between 1851 and 1856 and was from Germany In the 1920 census there were over 20 thousand families listed in the US. Since you didn’t ask about specific information I didn’t do any additional reseach.
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A few days ago
`
ARBUCKLE- a Scottish habitational name from Arbuckle in the parish of Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

ARMBRUSTER =German (also Armbrüster): occupational name for a soldier armed with a crossbow or for a maker of crossbows, from an agent derivative of armbrust ‘crossbow’

BLANKENSHIP -Northern English: variant of the English surname Blenkinsop, a habitational name from a place called Blenkinsopp in Northumberland.

HIGGINBOTHAM?

English (Lancashire and Yorkshire): habitational name from a place in Lancashire now known as Oakenbottom. The history of the place name is somewhat confused, but it is probably composed of the Old English elements ?cen or acen ‘oaken’ + botme ‘broad valley’. During the Middle Ages this name became successively Eakenbottom and Ickenbottom, the first element becoming associated with the dialect word hicken or higgen ‘mountain ash’ or the personal name Higgin.

LIVERNOIS?

French: ethnic or habitational name, from the adjectival form of an undetermined place name.

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A few days ago
U Betcha
In my usual style I will only answer the unanswered:

– Dickbreeder is probably an Americanized spelling of DickBrader which means “fat cook” in German.

– Livernoise could be a form of Lever Ness which would come from Leofhere Nash from Old English, which would mean “beloved army of Nash”, Nash being a location in England.

– Moonves could have originally been Moun West, Old English for “Monk West”, meaning a monk who lives to the west.

– Suntop could be Jewish for “son of the potmaker”, but that’s probably a stretch, the “son” portion seems to have it’s origins in the Germanic languages if this is the case. It’s more likely to be from SonneTopp which is German and would mean “Sun at the crown of the head”, probably because they had golden hair like sunshine (or maybe they just liked to wear a crest of the sun on their hat).

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A few days ago
rainbowreggie
Well, they definately all sound as if they have european origin. I would take a stab at the fact that they all have an anglo-germanic root as well. They are definitely not asian, hispanic, pacific islander, native american, native alaskan, or middle eastern. Now that you know what they probably are not, your search for origin can be significantly shorter.
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A few days ago
Ladywriter
Arbuckle – Scottish: habitational name from Arbuckle (earlier Arnbuckle) in the parish of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, named in Gaelic as earrann buachaille ‘herdsman’s portion (of land)’.

Blankenship – Northern English: variant of the English surname Blenkinsop, a habitational name from a place called Blenkinsopp in Northumberland.

This name was brought to America in about 1686 by Ralph Blankinship (1662–1714), who probably came from Cumberland, England.

Bloodgood – Americanized form of Dutch Bloetgoet, unexplained.

Franz or François Bloetgoet, alias Francis Bloodgood (1635–76) came in 1658 from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Flushing, Long Island, NY.

Dickbreeder – ?

Hellwig – Dutch: variant of Helwig. German and Dutch: from the medieval personal name Heilwig, Helwig (female and male), composed of the Germanic elements heil ‘luck’ + wīg ‘war’.

Hickingbotham – derived from the

residence of its first bearers at a place called Higginbottom, in the neighborhood of Marple and Macclesfield, East Cheshire, England

Livernoise – ?

Moonves – ?

Plew – Perhaps a variant of German Plewe, a habitational name from a place so named in Brandenburg.

Popplewell – English (West Yorkshire): habitational name from any of several places so named in West Yorkshire, for example in the parish of Cleckheaton. The second element is Old English well(a) ‘spring’, ‘stream’; the first may be popel ‘pebble’, or a word meaning ‘bubbling spring’.

Prendergast/Pendergrass – Irish: of Welsh origin and uncertain etymology. It is said by its bearers to have been the name of Flemish settlers in Normandy, who took their name from a lost place, Brontegeest, near Ghent in Flanders.

Pugh – Welsh: Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hugh or ap Huw ‘son of Hugh

Sprinkles – Possibly an Americanized form of Dutch Sprenkels, a variant of Sprinkel. Dutch: nickname for an athletic, lively person, from Middle Dutch sprinkel ‘grasshopper’.

Stipe – English: perhaps a habitational name from a minor place in Wiltshire named Stype

Stonesifer – Americanized form of German Steinseifer, a topographic name composed of Middle High German stein ‘stone’, ‘rock’ + sīfe ‘swampy creek’. In Germany the surname occurs chiefly in the Siegen area.

Stoops – Dutch: variant of Stoop. Dutch and North German: from Middle Dutch stoop, Middle Low German stōp ‘pitcher’, ‘stone bottle’, hence a nickname for a heavy drinker, or a metonymic occupational name for a wine seller or innkeeper.

English: of uncertain origin, perhaps from Middle English stulpe, stolpe ‘post’ or ‘boundary marker’ (Old Norse stolpi), or from Middle English stoppe ‘bucket’ (Old English stoppa), hence a topographic name for someone who lived either by a boundary post or in a deep hollow. Alternatively, it could be a habitational name from a place so named, most probably Stop in Fonthill Giffard in Wiltshire, named with Old English stoppa ‘bucket’.

Suntop – ?

Turnipseed – translated form of German Rübsam(en) ‘turnip seed’, a nickname for a turnip grower. Turnips were important as staple diet in winter during the Middle Ages.

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A few days ago
Eve
Mushyn
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A few days ago
Lucky
sounds like they moslty came from Harry Potter to me.
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