Surnames starting with U

A Muslim surname and honorific element meaning “of the faith” or “of the religion,” originally from Arabic.

A Basque surname built from words meaning “river” and “ford,” likely referring to someone who lived by a river crossing.

A Basque surname from a place name meaning “island” or a raised spot by water.

A short German surname usually traced to a shortened form of Ulrich or other old Germanic names beginning with Uhl-/Udal-/Odal-.

A Spanish surname most often linked to a place-name, probably referring to someone from Ulloa in Galicia.

A German surname from a personal name meaning “prosperity power” or “heritage power.”

A surname of Germanic origin, often meaning “famous wolf” or sometimes “owl-famous,” and also used for people from Ulm or similar places.

A Germanic surname from an old personal name meaning roughly “prosperity-rich” or “powerful ruler.”

A surname found especially in parts of the Spanish-speaking world, likely formed as a regional or family-name variant rather than from a common English occupational meaning.

A surname most likely of Hispanic origin, possibly a regional or family-name form that entered use through Spanish-language naming traditions.

A topographic surname for someone who lived beneath or at the foot of a hill.

A topographic surname for someone who lived under or beside a wood.

A surname with a few possible origins, most likely from Germanic or East/Southeast Asian naming traditions rather than a single source.

A surname that can mean either “Hungarian” or “the younger,” depending on its local origins.

A German surname meaning “restless,” “uneasy,” or “troubled.”

A locational surname from Upchurch in Kent, originally meaning someone who came from the “upper” or “high” church place.

An English surname that likely comes from a place-name built from an upland “shaw,” or small wood.

A habitational surname meaning “from the upper or higher farmstead,” taken from several English places named Upton.

A surname from the Latin word for “city-dweller” or “civil, courteous,” often first used as a given name before becoming hereditary.

A surname and given name from Latin Urbanus, meaning “of the city” or “courteous, refined.”

A Polish surname meaning “of Urban,” originally marking someone as the son or descendant of a man named Urban.

A Basque surname likely referring to a place-name, especially one built from a word for a town or settlement.

A Spanish surname most likely taken from a place-name, especially the town of Ureña in Valladolid, Spain.

A Basque surname meaning someone from a riverside crossing or ford, built from place-name elements.

A surname ultimately taken from the biblical name Uriah, often reflecting a descendant’s or ancestor’s given name.

A Basque surname most likely taken from a place name, used by families from northern Spain and later carried widely to the Americas.

A Scottish place-name surname, most famously linked to the old lands of Urquhart in the north of Scotland.

A Basque surname from a place name meaning “far away” or “the distant one.”

An occupational surname for a doorkeeper or court attendant.

A surname most likely from a place-name or older personal name, with English and possibly Irish roots.

A locational surname from a Yorkshire place-name, probably meaning “Utta’s clearing” or “Utta’s meadow.”

A surname likely tied to the name Otter, though older sources also speculated about Germanic and occupational roots.

A short surname found in East and Southeast Asian communities, most often associated with Chinese or Hokkien-style family-name forms.