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About familial surnames:
Packard
descendant of Bacard (combat; strong).English: from Middle English pa(c)k ‘pack’, ‘bundle’ + the Anglo-Norman French pejorative suffix -ard, hence a derogatory occupational name for a peddler.
English: pejorative derivative of the Middle English personal name Pack.
English: from a Norman personal name, Pachard, Baghard, composed of the Germanic elements pac, bag ‘fight’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.
Probably an Americanized spelling of German Packert, Päckert, from Germanic personal names formed with a word meaning ‘battle’ or ‘to fight’; or a variant of Packer 2 (with excrescent -t).
McCullen
- the son of Cullen (handsome, fair). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cuilinn, a patronymic from a personal name derived from cuileann ‘holly’.
Walker
(25 of 100 most common U.S. last names)
one who cleaned and thickened cloth, a fuller; one who came from Walker (marsh by the Roman wall). English (especially Yorkshire) and Scottish: occupational name for a fuller, Middle English walkere, Old English wealcere, an agent derivative of wealcan ‘to walk, tread’. This was the regular term for the occupation during the Middle Ages in western and northern England. Compare Fuller and Tucker. As a Scottish surname it has also been used as a translation of Gaelic Mac an Fhucadair ‘son of the fuller’.
Stokley
one who came from Stokeley (tree trunk, woods). English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Devon, County Durham, and Staffordshire, called Stockleigh or Stockley, from Old English stocc ‘tree trunk’ + leah ‘clearing’.
Jennings- descendant of Jen, a pet form of John (gracious gift of Jehovah). English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Janyn, Jenyn, a pet form of John.
German: patronymic from a pet form of the personal name Johannes (see John).
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Young
(28 of 100 most common U.S. last names)
one who was younger than another of whom he was associated with the same Christian name; a younger son. English, Scottish, and northern Irish: distinguishing name (Middle English yunge, yonge ‘young’), for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, usually distinguishing a younger brother or a son. In Middle English this name is often found with the Anglo-Norman French definite article, for example Robert le Yunge.
Americanization of a cognate, equivalent, or like-sounding surname in some other language, notably German Jung and Junk, Dutch (De) Jong(h) and Jong, and French Lejeune and LaJeunesse.
assimilated form of French Dion or Guyon.
Chinese: see Yang.
Rowland
son of Roland (fame, land). English: from Rol(l)ant, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements hrod ‘renown’ + land ‘land’, ‘territory’ (or + -nand ‘bold’, assimilated to -lant ‘land’). This was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as a result of the fame of Charlemagne’s warrior of this name, who was killed at Roncesvalles in ad 778.
English: habitational name from places in Derbyshire and Sussex, so named from Old Norse rá ‘roebuck’ + lundr ‘wood’, ‘grove’.
Variant of German and French Roland.
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Smith
(1 of 100 most common U.S. last names)
one who worked with metal; a smith.
English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smitan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).
Cook
(56 of 100 most common U.S. last names)
one who prepared food; a cook. English: occupational name for a cook, a seller of cooked meats, or a keeper of an eating house, from Old English coc (Latin coquus). There has been some confusion with Cocke.
Irish and Scottish: usually identical in origin with the English name, but in some cases a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cúg ‘son of Hugo’ (see McCook).
In North America Cook has absorbed examples of cognate and semantically equivalent names from other languages, such as German and Jewish Koch.
Erroneous translation of French Lécuyer (see Lecuyer).
Perham
English: habitational name from any of various places (for example those in Suffolk and Sussex now called Parham), originally named with the Old English elements peru ‘pear’ + ham ‘homestead’.
Bryant
(95 of 100 most common U.S. last names)
descendant of Bryant (strong). English (of Norman origin): habitational name (de Brionne) from either of two places called Brionne in northern France (in Eure and Creuse).
Irish and English: from the Celtic personal name Brian (see O’Brien). Breton bearers of this name were among the Normans who invaded England in 1066, and they went on to invade and settle in Ireland in the 12th century, where the name mingled with the native Irish name Brian. This native Irish name had also been borrowed by Vikings, who introduced it independently into northwestern England before the Norman Conquest.
