Someone on the Straight Dope message board inquires about the surnames which begin with "Mal-", like Malfara and Malatesta. He was told that the "mal" indicates that somewhere along the line, there was an orphan whose name was imposed by nuns because that means "bad."

I'm thinking that some people might have acquired a name that way, but that most are more ordinary descriptions of some ancestor or an association with that ancestor. Opinions?

And what about "Buon-" names, such as in Buonfiglio.

My family's names include Herzberg, which means Heart Mountain and McDonald, which means son of Donald. Other family names, regarding which I don't know the meanings, include Martin and Ingersol. Is "Ingersol" something like son of Inger?

What about your family names?