Look up Holt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Holt is a surname.
Holt is a surname.
Holt is a surname and placename, of Proto-Germanic origin and meaning a small wood or grove of trees. [1] It derives from the Old English word holt and is a near-synonym of "wold" (from Old English wald), originally denoting a forested upland. Those words are cognate with the modern German words "Holz" and "Wald" respectively.[ citation needed ]
The word is also found in Scandinavian placenames and in surnames derived from them: in Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic as Holt (or the more archaic Danish Holdt and Holte); in Swedish as Hult or Hulte; and even in Finnish as Hulti (a loanword from Swedish). It is often used in combination with other words, as in Uhrenholdt ("ancient holt", a Danish last name taken from that of an estate) or Älghult ("elk holt"), a village and the site of a small art-glass factory in Småland, Sweden. In Sweden it is most commonly found in and around Småland, including Älmhult, the location of the first IKEA store.[ citation needed ]
Another spelling of the name is "Hoult", more commonly found in the north of England than in the south.
Related German names include Holz , Holzman, Holzhauer, et al., and their anglicized equivalents which often insert a "t" between the "l" and the "z".[ citation needed ]
