Spanish and Hungarian (Román); Catalan French (mainly Occitan) English Dutch German Romanian Polish Czech Slovak Ukrainian Rusyn Belorussian and Croatian: from the Latin personal name Romanus which originally meant ‘Roman’. This name was borne by several Christian saints including a 7th-century bishop of Rouen and was a baptismal name of the Russian prince Boris who is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church.

In North America this surname is also an altered form of the standard French form Romain and a shortened form of Slavic patronymics like Polish Romanowicz. Compare Romano.

Americanized form of German Romann: variant of 1 above or from the ancient Germanic personal name Hrodman (see Rodeman).

English: habitational name or nickname from Middle English Romain ‘Roman’ (Old French romain(e) roman) applied to someone from Rome or Italy in general or to someone who had a connection with Rome perhaps having been there on a pilgrimage.

See Rome Romer.