Origin
Ben : 1: Native American (mainly Navajo) and African American: adoption of the English personal name Ben (short form of Benjamin) as a surname.2: Italian (also Del Ben): from a dialect form of the adverb bene ‘well’. This form without the preposition is found only in Belluno province in particular in Taibon Agordino.3: Indian (Gujarat): from Gujarati ben ‘sister’ from Sanskrit bhaginī a title often attached to their personal name by Gujarati women. It is not a true surname but is sometimes used as a surname by women who do not have a surname.4: Muslim: abstracted as a surname from Arabic ben ‘son of’ from ibn ‘son’. This word was used especially during the medieval period to form patronymics that then came to function like a surname.5: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 賁 meaning ‘rush’ in Chinese: (i) said to be traced back to the personal name Xian Ben Fu (縣賁父) a carriage drive during the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu (706–662 BC). (ii) from the second element of Hu Ben (虎賁) the name of an official post in charge of guarding the king or the royal palace. (iii) from the first element of Ben Hun (賁渾) the name of a branch minority ethnic group in ancient western China.
Ferriter : 1: Irish: from Feirtéir from Middle English fereter ‘ferreter’ for someone who hunts with ferrets using them to drive rabbits from their burrows. This name has been in Ireland (County Kerry) since the 13th century. Compare Ferrett.2: Possibly an Americanized form of German Vorreiter an occupational name for someone who rides ahead Middle High German Middle Low German vorrīter from vor ‘before ahead’ + rīter ‘rider’.
Hallpike : of uncertain origin; perhaps from Hallpike a field in Bolton by Bowland (WR Yorks) apparently named with Middle English hall ‘large private residence hall’ + pike ‘pointed hill’ (Old English hall pīc) but the field-name may be derived from the surname and no medieval bearers have been found. Alternatively if the bearers Robert hirlepik' 1298 in Canterbury Cathedral Archives (Coddenham Suffolk) and Thomas Harlepyk 1368 in Suffolk Record Office (Ipswich) (Coddenham Suffolk) are relevant then the name may be from a derivative of Middle English harlen ‘to draw to drive to strike’ + pike ‘pike pickaxe’ perhaps referring to a medieval game involving pikes (compare Hurlbatt) or for someone who used a pike.
Kuzia : Polish:: 1: unflattering nickname from dialect kuza ‘old cow’.2: from kuzia an expression used to drive away horses.
Puls : 1: North German and Dutch: from Middle Low German puls pulsstock Middle Dutch puls pols a wooden pole used to stir the water and drive fish into a net hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who used this method of fishing.2: North German: habitational name from a place so named in Schleswig-Holstein.3: Dutch: from Middle Dutch pulle ‘jug pitcher vase’; a metonymic occupational name for a maker of earthenware or metal vessels.4: East German (of Slavic origin): from a Germanized short form of a Slavic personal name derived from Old Slavic bolъ meaning ‘greater better’ or ‘more’.
Scaccia : Italian:: 1: from a short form of a nickname derived from Italian scacciare ‘to drive or chase away’.2: (Sicily): from Sicilian scacciari ‘to squash to crush’ applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who crushed grapes or pressed olives or possibly as a nickname for a bully.
Sherk : 1: Americanized form of Swiss German Schürch: nickname for a person with a slow shuffling gait and an overall easy going nature from Middle High German schürgen ‘to push to shove’ (later ‘to drive to attack’). Compare Scherich Sharick Sherick Sherrick and Shirk.2: Americanized form of German Scherk: unexplained.
Siok : Polish: nickname from sio ‘shoo’ a cry to drive away animals.
Strebe : German: nickname for a person with drive or ambition from Middle High German strebe ‘one who strives’.
Treiber : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a cattle driver dealer or a coachman from an agent derivative of Middle High German trīben German treiben Yiddish traybn ‘to drive (cattle etc.)’. In some cases this name may have denoted someone who floated logs down a river.
Whipp : English (Lancashire and Yorkshire): perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English personal name Wippe (Old English Wippa of unexplained etymology but apparently attested in the Isle of Wight placename Whippingham and in an Anglo-Saxon field name Wippan hoh ‘Wippa's hill-spur’). Alternatively perhaps from Middle English whip(pe) wipp(e) ‘whip’ either as an occupational name for someone who used a whip as corporal punishment or to drive or control animals or a nickname for a lively quick-moving person or someone generally in a hurry.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
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