Michael: English and German form of a common biblical name (meaning “who is like God?”) borne by one of the archangels, who is also regarded as a saint of the Catholic Church (cf. Gabriel and Raphael). In the Middle Ages, Michael was regarded as captain of the heavenly host (see Revelation 12: 7–9), symbol of the Church Militant, and patron of soldiers. He was often depicted bearing a flaming sword. Because of its sanctified warlike connotations, Michael was a popular name among early Christian military leaders, and was borne by eight Byzantine emperors, as well as by the founder (1596–1645) of the Romanov dynasty in Russia. The name is also borne by a Persian prince and ally of Belshazzar mentioned in the Book of Daniel. See also Michal. Cognates: Irish Gaelic: Mícheál. Scottish Gaelic: Micheal. Welsh: Meical, Mihangel. French: Michel. Italian: Michele. Spanish, Portuguese: Miguel. Catalan: Miquel. Basque: Mikel. Romanian: Mihai. Swedish: Mikael. Danish, Norwegian: Mikkel, Mikael. Polish: Michal. Czech: Mich(a)el. Russian: Mikhail. Ukrainian: Mikhailo. Finnish: Mikko. Hungarian: Mihály.
Crissmann: Either a variant spelling of English Crisman or possibly a respelling of German Christmann or Kressmann, a variant of Kress.
Kress: from a much altered pet form of the personal name Erasmus, a Latinized form of Greek erasmos ‘loved’ (see Rasmus).
from a much altered pet form of the personal name Christian.
from Middle High German kresse ‘gudgeon’, hence probably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish in some way or a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman.
unflattering nickname for a greedy person, from Old High German krassig, gratag ‘greedy’
Huang: Chinese: from an ancient territory called Huang. Perhaps the most famous and revered of the ancient Chinese emperors is Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), considered father of the Chinese people. He is also known as ‘the Yellow Emperor’, since Huang also means ‘yellow’. Surprisingly, though, Huang Di is not credited with being a direct source of the surname. A descendant of his was granted the fief of the territory of Huang, which later served as the surname for certain descendants of the ruling family.