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Unlike body waves, surface waves (also known as long waves, or simply L waves) move along the surface of the Earth. Surface waves are to blame for most of an earthquake's carnage. They move up and down the surface of the Earth, rocking the foundations of man-made structures. Surface waves are the slowest moving of all waves, which means they arrive the last.
The term surface wave can describe waves over an ocean, even when they are approximated by Airy functions and are more properly called creeping waves. Examples are the waves at the surface of water and air (ocean surface waves), or ripples in the sand at the interface with water or air.