Witch Last Names

Five real last names per press with a witchy ring: herbs and hedgerow trees, hearth and craft, seasons and weather.

Witch Last Names

  1. WaxmanEnglish occupational surname for a seller of wax, from wax + man. Below the census top 5,000.
  2. QuillA feather pen. Name: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cuill (“descendant of Coll”), a byname from coll (“hazel tree”). Below the census top 5,000.
  3. FurzeAnother word for gorse, a spiny yellow-flowered shrub. Below the census top 5,000.
  4. FlaxmanBelow the census top 5,000.
  5. BroomeCensus top 5,000.

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How it works

These witch last names are real: 96 surnames from the US census file that sound like a storybook witch. They are words for garden herbs and hedgerow trees, for the hearth and its crafts, and for seasons and weather.

Read the full guide

Witchy last names in three kinds

The dropdown, Kind, keeps the 39 names of the garden and the hedgerow (Sage, Rowan, Yarrow, Hazelwood), the 38 of hearth and craft (Kettle, Broome, Spell, Wand) or the 19 of seasons, sky and weather (Wynter, Yule, Snowdon). Most cards say in plain words what the English word is.

Real names, plain origins

Every name is in the Census Bureau's 2020 file of last names. Under More filters, Census band sorts them by how common they are. 21 cards also quote where the surname comes from: Sage was a nickname for a wise person, and Quill goes back to an Irish word for a hazel tree.

Tips
  • Hazelrigg, Wickwire and Threadgill are all below the census top 5,000.
  • Thorne, Hawthorne and Moon are real surnames too; they stand on the creepy last names page of this site.

Questions and answers

What is a good last name for a witch?

This list offers real surnames that are plant, hearth and weather words: Sage, Rowan, Yarrow, Kettle, Broome, Wynter and Yule. Which one is good is a matter of taste; the page only says the names are real.

Are these witch last names real?

Yes. Every one is in the US Census Bureau's 2020 file of last names reported 100 or more times and has a surname entry in an open dictionary. None is invented, and a name says nothing about anyone who carries it.

Do these last names have witchy origins?

No. The dictionary gives ordinary origins: Sage was a nickname for a wise person, Wick an Old English word for a dairy farm, Cloud an old word for a rock and Waxman a seller of wax.

Is there a last name that means witch?

None on this list. These names only sound the part in English: they are words for herbs, trees, hearth tools and weather. A card prints an origin only where a dictionary gives one.

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All 96 last names

Garden and hedgerow 39

  • Alder A tree of wet ground. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Alders Trees of wet ground. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Ashwood The wood of the ash tree. Name: From Old English æsċ (“ash tree”) + wudu (“wood”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Chesnut Below the census top 5,000.
  • Clover A meadow plant with leaves in threes. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Cress A peppery salad plant. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Elder A hedgerow tree with dark berries. Census top 5,000.
  • Elms Tall shade trees. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Fern A woodland plant with feathery fronds. Name: From fern; in the case of the surname, it was given to someone who lived in a place where there was an abundance of these plants. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Flaxman Below the census top 5,000.
  • Furze Another word for gorse, a spiny yellow-flowered shrub. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Gorst Topographic surname for someone who lived in an area full of gorse bushes, from Old English gorst (“gorse”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Greentree Below the census top 5,000.
  • Haw The red berry of the hawthorn. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Hawes Census top 5,000.
  • Hazel A hedgerow tree that bears nuts. Census top 5,000.
  • Hazelrigg Habitational surname from places so called in Cumbria, Lancashire and Northumberland, from Old Norse hasl (“hazel”) + hryggr (“ridge”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Hazelwood A wood of hazel trees. Name: From hazel + wood. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Hazlett Below the census top 5,000.
  • Heathcote Below the census top 5,000.
  • Heather A moorland shrub with purple flowers. Name: The surname is habitational, also meaning someone living on a heath. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Heatherly From Old English hǣþer (“heather”) + lēah (“meadow”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Hedges Rows of bushes around a field. Census top 5,000.
  • Holyoak Below the census top 5,000.
  • Ivy A climbing evergreen. Census top 5,000.
  • Mallow A wayside plant with pink flowers. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Moss The soft green growth on damp stones and bark. Census top 1,000.
  • Mosse Below the census top 5,000.
  • Roundtree Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rowan A tree with red berries. Name: Anglicized from the Irish saints' name Ruadhán (“little red one”), or as a surname from Ó Ruadháin (“descendant of Ruadhán”). Census top 5,000.
  • Rowand Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rowntree Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rue A bitter garden herb. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rushworth Below the census top 5,000.
  • Sage A gray-green kitchen herb. Name: As an English and French surname, from sage, a nickname for a wise person. Census top 5,000.
  • Savory A kitchen herb. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Tansey Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wortman Below the census top 5,000.
  • Yarrow A wayside herb with flat white flower heads. Name: English and Scottish surname derived from the river, though likely influenced by the noun yarrow. Below the census top 5,000.

Hearth and craft 38

  • Brew To make by steeping or boiling. Name: As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Brugha (“descendant of the farmer”), from brughaire (“farmer”), from brugh (“land”) + -aire. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Broom A brush for sweeping, and a yellow-flowered shrub. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Broome Census top 5,000.
  • Candler Below the census top 5,000.
  • Carder One who combs wool for spinning. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Cowles Below the census top 5,000.
  • Crock An earthenware pot. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Feather Below the census top 5,000.
  • Inkster Below the census top 5,000.
  • Kettle A pot for boiling water. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Kitchin Below the census top 5,000.
  • Lamp Below the census top 5,000.
  • Mantel The shelf over a fireplace. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Mantle A loose cloak. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Penman One who writes. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Quill A feather pen. Name: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cuill (“descendant of Coll”), a byname from coll (“hazel tree”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Quillen Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rhymer One who makes rhymes. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Riddle A puzzle in words. Census top 5,000.
  • Rimer As an English surname, from a medieval form of rhymer (“one who rhymes”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Rymer Below the census top 5,000.
  • Seamster One who sews. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Spell Words said as a charm. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Spelman Below the census top 5,000.
  • Spindle The rod that thread is spun on. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Stave A staff, or a verse of a song. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Staves Staffs, or verses of a song. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Thatcher One who roofs with straw. Census top 5,000.
  • Threadgill Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wand A slender rod. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wands Slender rods. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wax What candles are made of. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Waxman English occupational surname for a seller of wax, from wax + man. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wick The thread at the heart of a candle. Name: From Old English wīc (“dairy farm”). Census top 5,000.
  • Wicks The threads at the heart of candles. Census top 5,000.
  • Wickwire Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wiser More wise. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Yarnall Below the census top 5,000.

Seasons, sky and weather 19

  • Breeze A light wind. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Cloud As an English surname, from Old English clūd (“rock”). Census top 5,000.
  • Dew Drops of water on the morning grass. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Dews Below the census top 5,000.
  • Eve The evening, or the day before a feast. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Snowden Census top 5,000.
  • Snowdon From Old English snāw (“snow”) + dūn (“hill”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Star Below the census top 5,000.
  • Stormer Below the census top 5,000.
  • Stormes Below the census top 5,000.
  • Weatherall Below the census top 5,000.
  • Weatherby Below the census top 5,000.
  • Weatherford From weather + ford. Census top 5,000.
  • Weatherwax Below the census top 5,000.
  • Winterburn Below the census top 5,000.
  • Winterton From the Old English personal name Winter or Wintra + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). Below the census top 5,000.
  • Wynter An old spelling of winter. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Yuill Variant of Yule. Below the census top 5,000.
  • Yule The midwinter feast. Name: From Middle English yol, youle, from Old English ġeōl (“Christmas, Yule”), either cognate with or from Old Norse jól. Below the census top 5,000.
How this list was compiled

A chosen list, by a written rule, built on 2 October 2026. A surname is listed when three things hold. One: it is spelled as an English word for a garden herb or a hedgerow tree, a thing of the hearth or of a home craft, or a season, the sky or the weather, or as that word with a doubled or added letter or a plural s (Broome, Wynter, Wicks), or holds such a word (Hazelrigg, Weatherford, Holyoak) or a respelling of one (Tansey, Kitchin); which words count, and which of the three kinds a name sits in, is our own choice. Two: the name is in the US Census Bureau's file of last names reported 100 or more times in the 2020 Census (https://www2.census.gov/topics/genealogy/2020surnames/Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic.xlsx, linked from https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2020_names.html, 156,621 names); its rank there gives the card's band and no rank or count is printed. Three: the spelling has an English entry with a surname sense on English Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org, CC BY-SA 4.0, read 2026-10-02). Names that stand on this site's lists of danger words and of sinister-sounding names (Thorne, Hawthorne, Moon, Storm, Frost and others) are left to those pages, and names that would lift another list of the site over its limit of 40 shared names in 100 were left out, the most common first (42 names). 50 cards say in our own plain words what the English word is; 21 cards quote where the surname comes from, from the etymology or the surname line of its Wiktionary entry, cut at a clause; 36 carry the census band alone. The list was read for slang as well as for meanings. 'Witchy' is how a name sounds in English: no name here means witch, and nothing here says anything about a person or a family who carries a name. The plan's fourth kind, names from the Salem court papers of 1692, was not built: a record of real trials was judged wrong for a list of character names on a site children use. An origin is what a dictionary records for the surname in general, not for any one family. Counted on 2 October 2026: 38 of 96 names (39.6 in 100) also stand in another list of this site. Licence: The census file is a work of the US federal government and in the public domain (17 U.S.C. 105). The origins draw on English Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The choice of names, the three kinds and the wording of 'the word' are our own work.