Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Snyder

German

From German Schneider, meaning "tailor" or "cutter."

Carlson

Norwegian

Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Carlsen, equivalent to Carl + -son.

Larson

Origin

Originally from a Middle English pet form of Lawrence + -son. In the United States, a common anglicization of the Swedish Larsson and Danish and Norwegian Larsen.

Olson

Norwegian

An Americanized form of Swedish Olsson or Danish/Norwegian Olsen, meaning "son of Olaf."

Ortiz

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Ortiz.

Kerr

Middle English

* As an English and Scottish topographic surname for someone who lived by a patch of wet ground overgrown with brushwood, from Middle English kerr (“brushwood”), possibly related to Irish Gaelic ceàrr (“left-handed”) and/or Old Norse kjarr. * As an Irish surname, variant of Carr. * As a German surname, Americanized from Kehr. * As a Scottish Gaelic surname, from mac gille chéir (“son of the dusky laid”), from ciar (“black”).

Rowe

Middle English

* As an English surname, from Middle English Rowe, from the noun row. Compare Rew and Rawe. * Also as an English surname, variant of Rolfe, Rough, Ralph, Rowson.

Byrne

Irish

An anglicized form of Irish Ó Broin, "descendant of Bran," from bran ("raven").

Barrett

Old English

From the Irish surname converged from several origins, including Barόid, Bairéid, Middle English Baraud (“quarrelsome”) from Old English, and Norman Baraud, from Old French barat (“trickery, deception”).

Yates

Origin

From the Old English surname, from yate, obsolete form of gate.

Doyle

Irish

From the Irish surname Doyle, itself from Ó Dubhghaill, though the slang insult sense arose independently as playground/informal usage.

Lowe

German

* As an English and Scottish surname, spelling variant of Low. * As a German surname, spelling variant of Löwe, Loewe. * As a Jewish surname/Yiddish surname, from German Löwe (“lion”). * Also as a Jewish surname, Germanized from Levy. * As a French-derived surname, from Old French lou (“wolf”). * As a Norse-derived surname, from Old Norse lágr (“low”) (as in "short"). * As a native English-derived surname, from Old English hlāw (“hill”) (a burial ground in this case). * Also a petname (clipping) of Laurence/Lawrence.

Burns

Irish

As a Scottish surname, from places containing burn ("stream"); as an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Broin.

gatsby

Origin · 1925

Named after the title character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel "The Great Gatsby", though the exact reason for the name is disputed.

Borges

Portuguese

Borrowed from Portuguese and Catalan Borges.

Gangnam

Korean

From Korean, literally meaning "south of the river".

skelter

Origin

Related to the phrase "helter-skelter," meaning in disorderly haste.

Orwell

Middle English

From Middle English Orewelle.

Ebert

German

Chiefly Upper and Middle German variant of German Eberhard.

Rs

English

By initialism from English or other languages.

Schrute

Origin

Compare German dialectal Schrute (“turkey”).

Mifflin

Origin

An English surname of unexplained origin.

Burgos

Origin

Uncertain, possibly borrowed from Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 (baurgs, “walled city”).

Halford

Old English

From Old English healh ("nook") + ford.