Family name affixes are a clue for surname etymology and can sometimes determine the ethnic origin of a person. This is a partial list of affixes.
Prefixes
Arabic
Abu – (Arabic) "father of"; Al – (Arabic) "Family of" or "House of" (in conjunction with name of ancestor) Bet – (Arabic from "Beyt") "house of" Bint – (Arabic) "daughter of"; Binti, Binte (Malaysian version) El – (Arabic see Al) Ibn – (Arabic) "son of"
Armenian
Ter – (Eastern Armenian) "son/daughter of a Priest" Der – (Western Armenian) "son/daughter of a priest"; (German) "the" (masculine nominative), "of the" (feminine genitive)
Berber
Ayt/At/Ag/Id u- – (Berber) "of" At/n Ath – (Berber) "(son[s]) of" U - (Berber) "son of"/"descendent of" Ult - (Berber) "daughter of"
Dutch
de – (Dutch) "the" 's – (Dutch) "of the"; contraction of des, genitive case of the definite article de. Example: 's Gravesande. 't – (Dutch) "the"; contraction of the neuter definite article het. ter – (Dutch) "at the" van – (Dutch) "of", "from" van de, van den, van der, van 't – (Dutch) "of the", "from the"
French "of", "of the", "from"; often a sign of nobility or old bourgeois family, but also just a geographical term of the name originated of a location : d' de de La des du
German
von – (German) "of", "from"; often a sign of nobility, but also just a geographical term if the name originated from a location. zu - (German) "at"; a sign of nobility, sometimes in the combination von und zu, meaning the noble family still owns the place of naming
Hebrew
Bath, bat – (Hebrew) "daughter of" Ben, bin, ibn – (Arabic and Hebrew) "son of"
Irish
Mac, Mag – (Irish) "son of". Mac is sometimes written Mac (with superscript ac). Nic , Nig – (Irish) "daughter of", from Irish "iníon" meaning "daughter" Ó, Ua – (Irish) "grandson of", (male) "descendant of" Ní – (Irish) "granddaughter of", (female) "descendant of" Uí – (Irish) "descendants of", "wife of a descendant of". de – (Irish) "of". Irish names with this prefix are usually of Norman origin.
Italian
Del – (Italian, Spanish) "of the", preceding a masculine singular noun Degli – (Italian) "of the", preceding a masculine plural noun starting with either sp, sc, ps, z, gn, or st. Della – (Italian) "of the", preceding a feminine singular noun Di, De – (Italian) "of"
Romanian
A – (Romanian) "son of"
Welsh
Ab – (Welsh, Cornish, Breton) "son of" Ap – (Welsh) "son of" Ferch, Verch – (Welsh) "daughter of" Verch, Erch – (Welsh) "daughter of"
Other Af – (Danish, Swedish), Av (Norwegian) "of" Ālam/Olam – Persian — "world" Bar – (Aramaic) "son of" Chaudhary - (Punjabi) A title of honour from the Punjab used by several Punjabi tribes, often represented by the prefix "Ch". Da – (Italian) "from", "of"; (Portuguese) "from the" (before a feminine singular noun) Das – (Portuguese) "from the", "of the", preceding a feminine plural noun. De – (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Filipino) "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" Dele – Southern French, Filipino, and Occitan, equivalent of Du Dos – (Portuguese) "from the, of the", preceding a masculine plural noun Du – (French) "of the", preceding a masculine singular noun E – (Portuguese) "and", between surnames (Maria Eduarda de Canto e Mello) Fitz – (Irish, from Norman French) "son of", from Latin "" meaning "son" (mistakenly thought to mean illegitimate son, because of its use for certain illegitimate sons of English kings) i – (Catalan) "and", always in lowercase, used to identify both surnames (e.g. Antoni Gaudí i Cornet) ka – (Zulu) "(son/daughter) of", always in lower case and preceding the name of the father. Kil, Gil, Mal, Mul – (English, Irish, Scottish) "son of", "servant of", "devotee of", originating from the Irish "Mac Giolla", typically followed by a Saint's name (e.g. Mac Giolla Bhríde). La – (Italian, French, Spanish) "the", feminine singular Le – (Northern French) "the", masculine singular M'/Mac/Mc/Mck/Mhic/Mic – (Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic) "son". Both Mac and Mc are sometimes written Mac and Mc (with superscript ac or c). In some names, Mc is pronounced Mac. Mala – (Kurdish) "House of" Na – ณ (Thai) "at" Ngā – (Te Reo Māori) "the (plural)" Nic, Ní – (Irish, Scottish) "daughter of", from Irish "iníon" meaning "daughter" Nin – (Serbian) O/Ó/Ua/Uí – (Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic) "son of", "grandson of", "descendant of" Öz – (Turkish) "pure" Pour – (Persian) "son of" Te – (Te Reo Māori) "the (singular)" Tre – (Cornish) "settlement/ homestead farm of"
Suffixes
-a, -ya Kurdish means "of" (female) (by two surnames) -à (Catalan) feminine -ana "of or from [a locality or place]" (Català -Catalan); and also the name of a job (Manyà -ironsmith), from Latin -ānus, -āna -ac (Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Southern French) -ach (Ukrainian, Belarusian /Belarusian Latin: -ač/) -acz (Polish) -aei (Persian) (See -i) for words that end in the long vowel A -aitis (Lithuanian) "son of" -aitė (Lithuanian) signifies an unmarried female -aty Americanized form -aj (Albanian) (pronounced AY; meaning “of the") It denotes the name of the family, which mostly comes from the male founder of the family, but also from a place, as in, Lash-aj (from the village Lashaj of Kastrat, MM, Shkodër). It is likely that its ancient form, still found in MM, was an [i] in front of the last name, as in ‘Déda i Lékajve’ (Déd of Lekës). For ease of use, the [i] in front of the last name, and the ending _ve, were dropped. If the last name ends in [a], then removing the [j] would give the name of the patriarch or the place, as in, Grudaj - j = Gruda (place in MM). Otherwise, removing the whole ending [aj] yields the name of founder or place of origin, as in Lekaj - aj = Lek(ë). Since the names are found most commonly in Malsi e Madhe (North) and Labëri (South), it is likely that this linguistic feature is very old. It must have been lost as a result of foreign influences brought into Albania by the invaders. In the declension of South Slavic demonstrative adjectives/pronouns, the syllable -aj appears specifically in the nominative masculine singular form to indicate spatial relationships: Ov-aj (this one, close to the speaker) T-aj (that one, close to the listener or neutral) On-aj (that one over there, distant from both) Some statement that is supported by Alexander.
-ak (Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Croatian, Slovene, Slovak, Montenegrin, Sorbian) See -ák for its Slovak meaning. -ák (Czech, Slovak) In Slovak, -ák means "pertaining to" or merely creates a noun, and its two other versions are -iak and -ak. -al (Nepali) denotes for village of origin (for e.g.; Khanal, Dhakal, Dahal, Rijal, etc.) -an (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovene) (e.g. Ruban) -an (Romanian) -án (Spanish) -and (French) -ange (French) from Germanic -ing -ani (Sindhi) "descended from" -ano (Italian) feminine -ana "of or from [a locality]"; from Latin -ānus, -āna -ant (English; Norman) -ant (French; Old French) -ant (Hindi; Sanskrit) -anu (Romanian) -appa (Kodava) patronymic, meaning "father" -ár (Slovak) -ář (Czech) -arz (Polish) -as (French) Duras, Porras, Dumas -au (-aw) (Belarusian) / -aŭ (Belarusian Latin). -ava (Belarusian) feminine equivalent of -au -au (German) in a toponymic surname, "of or from a lower place near water" -auskas/-iauskas (Lithuanian) equivalent to Polish -owski, -ewski, Belarusian -ouski, -euski / Belarusian Latin -oŭski, -eŭski -awan (Urdu) -ba (Abkhazian) "male" -chi, -çı, -çi, cı, -ci (Azeri, Persian, چی-, Turkish) attributed to a geographic location or performing a certain job -chian (Persian, چیان-) attributed to or performing a certain job -chek, -chik, -chyk, -chuk (Ukrainian, Belarusian /Belarusian Latin: -ček, -čyk, -čuk/) diminutive -czek, -czyk, -czuk, -czak (Polish) -ček, -čík (Czech, Slovak, Slovene) -ćek, -cek (Croatian) -ckas (Lithuanian) Lithuanianized version of the Polish and Belarusian -cki -cki (Polish, Belarusian, Croatian, Serbian, Sorbian) variant of -ski -cka (Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Sorbian) Feminine equivalent of -cki -ckis (Latvian) Latvianized version of the Polish and Belarusian -cki -cký (Czech, Slovak) -cká (Czech, Slovak) Feminine equivalent of -cký -čki (Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian) -cock, -cox (English) "little" -dan, -den, -don, -dön (Kyrghyz) "from (whom)", when the ancestor 's name ends in a soft consonant also vowel (e.g. Asanbaydan, Marlenden, Ormondon, Bayköldön) -datter (Danish, Norwegian) "daughter (of)" -din (Swedish) -dokht (Persian) "daughter (of)" -dotter (Norwegian, Swedish) "daughter (of)" -dóttir (Icelandic) "daughter (of)" (patronymic suffix (sometimes matronymic) (by law) of not a family name but part of the Icelandic last name where (usually) the father's name is always slightly modified and then dóttir added) -dze (Georgian) "son of" -dzki (Polish) variant of -ski, -cki -é (Catalan) -ê, -yê (Kurdish) means "of" (male) (by two surnames) -eanu (Romanian) -eau, -eault (French) diminutive suffix (Latin -ellu-) -ec (Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovene, Polish, Sorbian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), (French spelling for Breton -e.g.) -avec (Belarusian) -ech (French) -ee (See -i) -eff (Russian, Bulgarian) obsolete, copied from German transliteration of -ev -eiro (Portuguese, Galician) -eix (French), diminutive -ek (Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian) diminutive -ell (English spelling for French -el, diminutive) -el (Northern French and Occitan, French -eau) -ema (Suffix of Frisian origin, given by Napoleon Bonaparte who used suffixes like these to keep a record of people's origins within the Netherlands) -ems (Dutch) -ėnas (Lithuanian) "son of" -enko (Ukrainian), -enka/-anka (Belarusian) "son of" -chenko (Ukrainian), -chenka/-chanka (Belarusian /Belarusian Latin: -čenka, -čanka/) -ens (Dutch) -ent (French) -enya (Belarusian /Belarusian Latin: -enia/) (e.g. Gerasimenya) -er (Dutch, English, French, German, Turkish "male") -ero (Spanish) -ers (Dutch) -es (Greek, Portuguese) "son of" in Portuguese -ese (Italian) plural -esi "of or from [a locality]"; from Latin -ēnsis -escu (Romanian) "son of" -ești (Romanian) possessive plural, also used in place names -et (French) (diminutive suffix Latin -ettu- or former -el) -ets (Ukrainian, Belarusian) -eu (-ew) (Belarusian /Belarusian Latin: -eŭ/) equivalent to Russian -ev -ev (Russian (all Eastern Slavic languages), Bulgarian, Macedonian) possessive -eva (Russian (all Eastern Slavic languages), Bulgarian, Macedonian) Feminine equivalent of -ev -evski (Macedonian, Bulgarian) possessive -evska (Macedonian, Bulgarian) Feminine equivalent of -evski -ez (Spanish, North Picard) including Spanish-speaking countries "son of"; in Picard, old spelling for -et -ëz (Albanian) for feminine; a word refer to something smaller, either literally or figuratively as in a form of endearment -fia, -fi, -fy, -ffy (Hungarian) "descendant of" (literally "son of") -fleth, -felth, -fleet (Northern German) current, body of water -gaard, -gård (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) farm -gil, (Turkish, "family") (e.g. Korkmazgil) -i (Hungarian) "of", "from" indicates region of origin, sign of nobility (e.g. "Szentiványi", "Rákóczi"). Like German Von. -i (Arabic, Persian, Hebrew) "descendant of", "attributed to" (e.g. "Baghdadi", "Abbasi") or, (Iranian) "from" (e.g. "Barzani" from Barzan, or Tabrizi from Tabriz.) -ia (Abkhaz, Mingrelian) -ian(ts), -yan(ts), -jian, -gian, -ents, -ants, -unts, -uni (Armenian, Persian) "son/daughter of" -iak (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish) "descendant of". In Slovak, -iak is a version of -ák/-ak and means "pertaining to" or merely creates a noun. -ic(k) (French), misspelling for Breton -ig, diminutive