Origin
Bunston : from Bunson in Chulmleigh (Devon) which is recorded as Bonevilestone in the 13th century Boneston in 1378 and Bonston in 1503. The place-name is a post-Conquest creation from the Norman surname Bonville (which has not survived) in the genitive case with -es + Middle English toun ‘farm village’.
Eve : English (Essex) and Dutch: from the Middle English personal name Eve (from Latin Eva) of Biblical Hebrew origin (meaning ‘life’). According to the Book of Genesis this was the name of the first woman and in some cases the name may have been acquired by someone (invariably a man) who had played the part in a drama dealing with the Creation.
Freer : 1: English: sometimes from Middle English frere frier ‘brother friend comrade’ (Old French frere). During the 13th century however the word increasingly denoted ‘member of one of the mendicant religious orders’ the usual modern sense of the word friar. The first friars arrived in England in 1224. As with Abbot Monk Nunn and Prior late medieval use of Frere as a nickname was probably uncomplimentary for by the mid 14th century the once popular friars had become a byword in satirical literature for self-indulgent smooth-talking hypocrisy. Friars were not allowed to marry but some of them probably fathered children. After the Reformation former friars were free to marry and one such is said to have been the progenitor of the Friers of Melrose parish Roxburgh an instance if true of post-medieval surname creation. The name may also be occupational for someone who lived or worked at a friary (Middle English frere ‘house of friars’).2: Americanized form of French Frère (see Frere).3: German: cognate of Friedrich.
Jew : 1: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 周 see Zhou 1.2: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 趙 and 招 see Zhao 1 and 2.3: English: nickname from Middle English Jeu Old French giu ‘Jew’ applied to someone (whether Jewish or not) who was suspected of usury or who drove a hard bargain. In medieval England only Jews could legally lend money for profit but they were expelled in 1290 and were not officially allowed to return and settle until the late 17th century well after the main period of English surname creation.4: English: from the Middle English personal name Jewe also found as Julle Gelle Golle Jowe and Juwe a pet form of the male name Julian or the female name Juliane (also Gellian). See Julian and compare Gill 3 and Gillian.
Neubauer : 1: German: epithet for a settler who was new to an area from Middle High German niu(we) ‘new’ + (ge)būr(e) ‘settler resident peasant’ (see Bauer). Compare Newbauer.2: Jewish: either an adoption of the German surname (Jews were not usually agricultural workers at the time when surnames were acquired) or an artificial creation of a name from the German vocabulary word without any relationship to the actual occupation of the first Jewish bearer.
O'Dell : 1: English: habitational name from Odell a place in Bedfordshire which derives from Old English wād ‘woad’ (a plant collected for the blue dye that could be obtained from it) + hyll ‘hill’. The spelling O'Dell is not Irish but a creation by folk etymology found first among English migrants to Limerick. Compare Waddell. — Note: The population figure published by the US Census Bureau does not distinguish between the surnames O'Dell and Odell.2: Altered form of Swedish Odell as if of Irish origin.
Odle : English (London): variant of O'Dell a habitational name from Odell Bedfordshire. The placename derives from Old English wād ‘woad’ + hyll ‘hill’. The spelling O'Dell is not Irish but a creation by folk etymology found first among English migrants to Limerick.
Vajda : 1: Hungarian Slovak Rusyn (from Slovakia) Czech Slovenian Croatian and Serbian: status name from Hungarian vajda ‘leader governor’ a title of Slavic origin (from vojvoda ‘commander military leader’ later ‘duke’). The Hungarian name is especially common in Transylvania (which is since WWI entirely in Romania and the surname is hence mostly spelled Vaida) where before the creation of the independent Hungarian principality the term had denoted the highest ranking administrative and military leader. In medieval times various Romanian village leaders as well as the leaders of gypsy caravans were also called vajda; this title is still in use for gypsy leaders in Slovakia where the surname is common too. Compare Vayda and Wayda; see also Polish Wajda.2: Croatian: in some cases also a nickname from the dialect word vajda ‘benefit behalf’ of Turkish origin.3: Jewish (from Hungary): adoption of the name in 1 above either as a Hungarian calque of the formerly used German-based surname or because the Hungarian surname has some sounds in common with the original surname.
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Source : FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
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