Origin
Hills : English: variant of Hill with genitival -s if a relationship name attested in Matilda Hilles 1327 (Somerset) where the genitival form may signify widowhood; or with plural -s if habitational attested in Johanne de Hyles 1379 (Bickerstaffe Lancashire) and Ricardo del Hyles 1379 (Great Eccleston Lancashire); or with post-medieval excrescent -s probably the most common form.
Balloch : 1: from Balloch (Dunbartons). The place-name is from Gaelic bealach ‘pass’. Balloch is where the river Leven passes from Loch Lomond through a gap in the hills. 2: see Bullick.
Bebber : German: habitational name from a place so named near the Deister hills west of Hanover.
Berger : 1: German Dutch Swedish and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic name for someone who lived in the mountains or hills (see Berg). The surname of German origin is also found in many other European countries e.g. in France (Alsace and Lorraine) Russia Poland Czechia Hungary and Croatia and Slovenia often as a translation into German of corresponding Slavic topographic names or surnames. As a Jewish name it is mainly artificial. Compare Bargar Barger Barker Barrier and Barriger.2: French: occupational name from Old French bergier ‘shepherd’ (from Late Latin berbicarius from berbex ‘ram’). It is also found in England as a surname of Huguenot origin. Compare Shepard.3: Norwegian: habitational name from any of various farms so named with the plural of Berg ‘mountain’.4: French Canadian: shortened form of German Nürnberger (see Nurnberger).
Boerger : North German (Börger):: 1: status name for a freeman of a borough especially one who was a member of its governing council (see Burger).2: in some cases a habitational name from a place called Börger near the hills of Hümmling (Lower Saxony).
Braid : 2: Scottish: habitational name from the Braid Hills near Edinburgh.1: Scottish and northern English: descriptive nickname from Older Scots and English dialect braid ‘broad’; see Broad.3: English: metonymic occupational name for a braid maker from a noun derivative of Middle English braiden in the sense ‘to plait or braid (the hair)’; compare Brader.
Brent : English: habitational name from East Brent in Somerset or South Brent in Devon both named from Old English brente ‘steep place’ referring to the steep hills on which they stand. Compare Brents.
Bult : 1: Dutch (mainly northeastern Netherlands): habitational name from any of several hills named (De) Bult from bult ‘knoll’.2: Dutch: variant of Bolt 3.3: Dutch: nickname from Middle Dutch bult(e) ‘hump hunchback’.4: English: variant of Bolt 1.
Chalkley : English (Hertfordshire and Middlesex): habitational name from an unidentified place (probably in southern England where the surname is commonest and where chalk hills abound) apparently named with Old English cealc ‘chalk’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. The source may be Chalkley Farm in Hawkesbury Gloucestershire or an unidentified place apparently in or near Hertfordshire; Chalkleys Wood in Saint Pauls Walden (Hertfordshire) seems to take its name from the surname rather than vice versa.
Chiltern : from the Chiltern Hills in Bucks and Oxon.
Cimini : Italian:: 1: patronymic or plural form of Cimino.2: possibly a habitational name for someone from Cimini Hills (Italian: Monti Cimini) in Lazio.
Clee : 1: English (West Midlands and south Wales): habitational name from any of several places called Clee particularly the Clee Hills in Shropshire or possibly Clee in Lincolnshire. The hills are probably named with Old English cleo ‘rounded ball-shaped’. In early Suffolk this was a topographic name for atte cley ‘at the clay’ but this does not seem to have survived.2: Americanized form of German Klee.
Deister : German: habitational name for someone from the Deister a range of wooded hills between the rivers Leine and Weser.
Fenster : 1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a window maker from Middle High German venster German Fenster ‘window’. Medieval windows were often just holes in the wall; indeed the English word window derives from Old Norse vindauga ‘wind eye’. Later they were filled with a frame containing thin layers of translucent horn and eventually glass normally only in small pieces leaded together. As a Jewish name in many families it is one of the surnames randomly assigned by Austrian clerks.2: German: possibly a habitational name from any of various minor places so named from being in a gap in a range of hills or a clearing in a wood; it may also have been a topographic name for someone who lived in a house remarkable for its windows.
Guerra : 1: Spanish Portuguese and Italian: nickname for a belligerent person or for a soldier from guerra ‘war’.2: Italian: from a short form of various medieval compound personal names containing the element guerra ‘war’ for example Vinciguerra.3: Basque: Castilianized form of Gerra a topographic name for someone who lived in a break or depression in a range of hills from Basque gerri ‘waist’.
Hawes : English (southern):: 1: of Norman origin from Anglo-Norman French and Middle English Haueis Hawis from an Old French form of the ancient Germanic female personal name Hadewidis (from had- ‘war’ + wid- with a range of possible original meanings).2: variant of Haw with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.3: habitational name from Hawes (North Yorkshire). The placename may derive from Middle English hals hauls ‘neck of land between hills mountain pass’.
Hils : German:: 1: topographic name for someone who lived near a stand or grove of holly from a dialect form of German hülse ‘holly’ (Ilex aquifolium). This is also the name of a range of wooded hills near Hildesheim. Compare Hulst.2: from a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name with hild ‘fight battle’ as the first element. This surname is also found in France (Alsace).
Horsley : English (Northeastern England): habitational name from any of various places called with Old English hors ‘horse’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’ such as Horsley (Derbyshire Gloucestershire) Long Horsley (Northumberland) and Horseley Hills Farm in Wolverley (Worcestershire) probably referring to a place where horses were put out to pasture.
Hulls : variant of Hull with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.from one of several minor places referred to as hills or called Hills.from Hulse in Witton (Cheshire) which appears as le Hules in 1359; see Hulse.
Labreche : French (Labrèche): topographic name for someone who lived by a gap in the hills or a breach in a wall from Old French bresche ‘breach gap’ with fused feminine definite article la; or a habitational name from La Brèche the name of several places in various parts of France named with this word. The surname Labrèche is very rare in France.
Lickey : 1: English: probably a topographic name for someone living in the Lickey Hills southwest of Birmingham.2: Perhaps an altered form of Scottish Leckie.
Owram : 1: from Ulrome (ER Yorks) probably the usual origin of the WR Yorks surname. The place is recorded as Ulfram and Ulreham in 1086 Olram in 1150–70 and Ulrome als. Owram in 1604. The place-name probably derives from the Old English personal name Wulfhere + hām ‘village homestead’. 2: variant of Orme. 3: from Northowram (WR Yorks) which is recorded as Ulfrun in 1086 and Ouerum in 1307 or Southowram (WR Yorks) which is recorded as Oure in 1086 and Ourum in 1303. The place-names derive from Old English *ufer (a variant of ofer) ‘hill slope’ in the dative plural *uferum (oferum) ‘(at the) hills slopes’. Northowram and Southowram refer to two ridges separated by Shibden Brook; Northowram is north of Shibden Brook and Southowram is south of it.
Peak : 1: English: habitational name from any of several places in different parts of England named in Old English with pēac ‘hill knoll peak’ including Peak (Hill) in Sidmouth (Devon) East and West Peek in Luffincot (Devon) a minor locality in Chiddingly (Sussex) once called Peke (now Peke's House) and the Peak District an area of rugged hills in northwest Derbyshire and adjacent counties.2: English: possibly a nickname from the Middle English word in 1 above denoting a stout thick-set man.3: English: shortened form of Peacock.4: Possibly also Irish: shortened form of McPeak.
Poggio : Italian: habitational name from any of numerous places called Poggio from poggio ‘low hill knoll’ or a topographic name for someone who lived in an area characterized by low hills.
Quantock : from the Quantock Hills (Somerset) recorded as Cantoche in 1086 and Cantok(') from 1274–1327. The place-name may derive from British *Cantāco- from the root *gantho- ‘corner angle bend’ probably meaning ‘full of windings abounding in corners or bends’.
Scarth : 1: English: habitational name from Scarth Wood in Whorlton (North Yorkshire) named with northern Middle English scarth(e) ‘cleft gap mountain pass’ (Old Norse skarth) with reference to a long narrow pass through the Cleveland Hills.2: Scottish and Irish: habitational name from Scarth in Firth (Orkney); the origin of the placename is as in 1 above. The Orkney family settled in Scarth in Firth in the 15th century taking their name from the place. They originally came from Norway and one of their ancestors was Alvar Haraldsson (1340–1412) secretary to King Haakon VI of Norway.
Schlossberg : Jewish (Ashkenazic):: 1: artificial name composed of German Schloss ‘castle’ + Berg ‘mountain hill’.2: habitational name from any of various places in Germany so named because they were the sites of castles (see Schloss 2) on hills (see Berg).
Serrano : 1: Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived by a mountain ridge or chain of hills from an adjectival derivative of serra (see Serra). This surname is also found in the Philippines Portugal and Brazil.2: Italian (in Calabria Serranò): habitational name for someone from any of various places called Serra (see Serra). The surname Serrano may also be of Spanish origin.
Serrato : 1: Spanish: variant of Cerrato or a habitational name from Serrato in Málaga.2: Catalan (Serrató): topographic name for someone who lived by low hills from a diminutive of serrat ‘mountain range’.3: Italian (southern): probably a topographic name related to Serra and Serrata.
Sheard : English (Yorkshire): from Middle English shard sherd shord ‘cleft gap notch’ (Old English sceard). The surname may be topographic for someone who lived by a gap (perhaps in a hedge or fence or in a range of hills) or habitational from a place so named such as Shard End in Castle Bromwich (Warwickshire) the lost Shert Hall in Disley Stanley (Cheshire) and possibly also Shard near Hambleton (Lancashire).
Sneddon : Scottish: habitational name from the lands of Sneddon in Paisley (Renfrewshire) from Snawdon in Garvald and Barra (East Lothian) or perhaps from Snawdon near Thirlestane in Lauderdale (Berwickshire). Whichever placename is involved in the surname is ultimately from Old English snāw ‘snow’ + dūn ‘hill’ like the famous Snowdon in Wales. Those in Scotland may be independent coinings and literal descriptions of hills on which snow tended to lie long but Snowdoun or Snawdoun also belong to a group of Arthurian names popular in Scotland in the later Middle Ages and may have been applied as such in the names mentioned and also in the case of the lost Snadown by St. Andrews (Fife). Stirling was regarded as standing on the boundary of the ancient Scottish and British kingdoms with strong associations with King Arthur making it possible for King David II to claim to the chronicler Jean Froissart in 1365 that Stirling Castle was the Snowdon of King Arthur. It may be that the placename(s) supplying the surname allude to this potent mythology.
Snowden : English: habitational name from any of the many minor places called from hills where the snow lay long (Old English snāw ‘snow’ + dūn ‘hill’). In Yorkshire the name is either from High and Low Snowden in Askwith (Yorkshire) or Snowden Hill in Hunshelf while in Devon the name is probably from Snowdon in Buckfastleigh or Snowdon in Rattery. The precise sources of the name in other counties have not been identified. Snow End in Anstey (Hertfordshire) recorded as Snowdon in 1362 is a possibility but it is not known if it gave rise to a surname. Compare Sneddon.
Stauffer : South German:: 1: occupational name for a maker or seller of beakers or mugs from an agent derivative of Middle High German stouf ‘beaker stoup’.2: habitational name for someone from any of various minor places called with this word for example Stauf Staufen; the reference is to hills thought to resemble a beaker in shape. Compare Stouffer.
Steigerwald : German: topographic name from any of the ranges of wooded hills in Franconia so named from a derivative of Old High German stīc ‘steep path or track’ + wald ‘forest’.
Trundle : 1: English (Essex and Norfolk): from Middle English trendel trindel ‘circle sphere' (Old English trendel) used topographically to denote a range of circular features notably prehistoric stone circles earthwork enclosures and rounded hills. The surname may be topographic for someone who lived beside such a feature or toponymic from a place so named such as Trendell's Wood in Stokenchurch (Buckinghamshire) The Trundle a hillfort on Saint Roche's Hill in Singleton (Sussex) and Trull (Somerset). Perhaps also nicknames from Middle English trendel trindel ‘circle sphere' (Old English trendel) used to denote a wheel or spindle for someone who made or used such items; or from a derivative of Middle English trendlen ‘to roll bounce revolve’ (Old English trendlian).2: Possibly an altered form of South German Tröndle a variant of Trendle a nickname for a tearful person from Träne ‘tear’ + the diminutive suffix (d)-l.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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