Family Name Affixes - Prefixes

Prefixes

• A- (Romanian) "son of"
• Ab- (Welsh, Breton) "son of"
• Antune- (Portuguese) "Anthony"
• Ap- (Welsh) "son of"
• Abu- (Arabic) "father of"
• Al- (Arabic for "the" in names, e.g. al-Shehri)
• Alm- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "elm"
• Alt- (German) "old"

• Bab- (Polish, Ukrainian, Slovakian, Czech) "woman" especially "old woman"
• Bäck- (Swedish) "brook"
• Bar- (Hebrew) "son of"
• Bath, bat- (Hebrew) "daughter of"
• Beau- (French) "beautiful", step-(son, father), alternative spelling for Bau-
• Beck- (Swedish) "brook" (archaic spelling)
• Ben- (Arabic and Hebrew,) "son of"
• Berg- (German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "mountain", "hill"
• Bet- (Arabic from "Beyt") "house of"
• Bin- (Arabic) "son of"
• Bint- (Arabic) "daughter of"
• Birch- (English) "birch tree"
• Björk- (Swedish), bjørk- (Norwegian, Danish) "birch tree"
• Björn- (Swedish), bjørn- (Danish, Norwegian) "bear"
• Bjur- (Swedish) "beaver" (poetic / dialectal)

• Da- (Italian) "from, of"; (Portuguese) "from the". Here the is a feminine singular object.
• Dahl-, Dal- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "valley"
• De- (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese) "of"; indicates region of origin, often a sign of nobility; in Spanish-speaking countries a married woman will sometimes append her name with "de XXXX" where "XXXX" is her husband's last name; (Dutch) "the"
• Degli- (Italian) "of the". Here the is a masculine plural object starting with either 'sp', 'sc', 'ps', 'z', 'gn' or 'st'.
• Dele-, Del- Northern French and Occitan, equivalent of Du-
• Della- (Italian) "of the". Here the is a feminine singular object.
• Der- (Western Armenian) "son/daughter of a priest"; (German) "the" (masculine nominative), "of the" (feminine genitive)
• Di- (Italian, Spanish) "son of"
• Dj- (Slovakian)
• Dos- (Portuguese) "from the, of the". Here the is a masculine plurar object.
• Du- (French) "of the". Here, 'the' is a masculine object, as 'de la' would be feminine and 'des' would be plural.

• E- (Portuguese) "and", used before last surname (Maria Eduarda de Canto e Mello)
• Ek- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "oak"
• El- (Arabic for "the" in names and also in Spanish) "the"
• Escob- (Spanish) "broom"
• Esch- (Dutch, German) "ash"
• Fleisch- (German) "meat"
• Fitz- (Irish, from Norman French) "son of", from Latin "filius", "son" (mistakenly thought to mean illegitimate son based on its use for certain illegitimate sons of English kings)
• Fors- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "rapids"

• Gott- (German) "God"
• Griff- (Welsh, English) "griffin"

• Haj- or Hadj- or Hajj- (Arabic: حاج‎) "pilgrim to Mecca"
• Haug- (Norwegian) "hill" or "mound"
• Holm- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "island"

• Ibn (Arabic) another form of "bin" in names, e.g. ibn Sina

• Kauf- (German) "trade" or "barter"
• Kil- (English, Irish, Scottish) "son of" "servant of" or "devotee of"
• Koop- (Dutch) "trade" or "barter"
• Kvarn- (Swedish) "mill"

• La- (Italian, Southern French, Spanish) for "the", feminine
• Le- (Northern French) for "the", masculine
• Lind- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "linden"
• Lönn- (Swedish), Lønn- (Danish, Norwegian) "maple"
• Lund- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "grove"

• Mac- (Irish, Scottish) "son of"
• Mc- (Irish) assumed to be an abbreviation of Mac, but often claimed to be particular to Irish language. Sometimes spelt Mc (with a superscript 'c').
• Mir- (Persian, Azeri, short form of the Arabic word Amir امیر) "commander", "prince"
• Na-　ณ (Thai) "at"
• Naka-　中 (Japanese) "middle"
• Neder- (Swedish) "lower", "under"
• Nic-, Ni- (Irish, Scottish) "daughter of"
• Nin- (Serbian)
• Nord-, Norr- (German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "north"
• Ny- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "new"

• O'- (Irish) "grandson of", "descendant of"
• Öfver- (Swedish) "upper", "over" (archaic spelling)
• Ost- (German), öst-, öster- (Swedish), øst- (Danish, Norwegian) "east"
• Över- (Swedish) "upper", "over"
• Öz - (Turkish) "pure"

• Papa- (Greek) "son/daughter of a Priest"
• Pour- (Persian) "son of"

• Quarn- (Swedish) "mill" (archaic spelling)

• Skog-, Skoog- (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) "forest"
• Sten- (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) "stone"
• Stor- (Swedish) "large"
• Ström- (Swedish), Strøm- (Danish, Norwegian) "stream"
• Söder- (Swedish) "south"

• Ter- (Dutch) "at the"
• Ter- (Eastern Armenian) "son/daughter of a Priest"
• Tre- (Cornish) "farm of"
• Türk- (Turkish) "Turkish"
• Van- (Dutch) "of"
• Väst-, Väster- (Swedish) "west"
• Vest- (Danish, Norwegian) "west"
• Von- (German) "of"; a sign of nobility.