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Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard from a Germanic source similar to Old High German *Hugihard "heart-brave", or *Hoh-ward, literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probably in some cases a confusion with the Old Norse cognate Haward (Hávarðr), which means "high guard", and as a surname also with the unrelated Hayward. In some rare cases it is from the Old English eowu hierde "ewe herd". In Anglo-Norman the French digram -ou- was often rendered as -ow- such as tour → tower, flour → flower, etc.. A diminutive is "Howie" and its shortened form is "Ward". Between 1900 and 1960, Howard has ranked in the U.S. Top 200; between 1960 and 1990, it ranked in the U.S. Top 400; between 1990 and 2004, it ranked in the U.S. Top 600. People with the given name Howard or its variants include:
Turner is a common surname originating from Normandy, France, arriving in England after the Norman conquest with the earliest known records dated in the 12th century. It is the 28th-most common surname in the United Kingdom.
Blake is a surname which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin. Another theory, presumably in the belief it is a Welsh patronymic in origin, for which there is no evidence, was that it is a corruption of "Ap Lake", meaning "Son of Lake".
Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish Ó Dubhghaill, meaning "descendant of Dubhghall". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname D'Oyley with agglutination of the French article de. It means 'from Ouilly', the name of a knight who originated from one of the places named Ouilly in Normandy, such as Ouilly-le-Tesson, Ouilly-le-Vicomte, etc. The relationship with the family D'Oyly is unknown.
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name Dòmhnall. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *Dumno-ualos. The final -d in Donald is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the Gaelic pronunciation by English speakers, and partly associated with the spelling of similar-sounding Germanic names, such as Ronald. A short form of Donald is Don. Pet forms of Donald include Donnie and Donny. The feminine given name Donella is derived from Donald.
Blair is a Scots-English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin.
Gerald is a masculine given name derived from the Germanic languages prefix ger- ("spear") and suffix -wald ("rule"). Gerald is a Norman French variant of the Germanic name. An Old English equivalent name was Garweald, the likely original name of Gerald of Mayo, a British Roman Catholic monk who established a monastery in Mayo, Ireland in 670. Nearly two centuries later, Gerald of Aurillac, a French count, took a vow of celibacy and later became known as the Roman Catholic patron saint of bachelors. The name was in regular use during the Middle Ages but declined after 1300 in England. It remained a common name in Ireland, where it was a common name among the powerful FitzGerald dynasty. The name was revived in the Anglosphere in the 19th century by writers of historical novels along with other names that had been popular in the medieval era. British novelist Ann Hatton published a novel called Gerald Fitzgerald in 1831. Author Dorothea Grubb published her novel Gerald Fitzgerald in 1845, and Irish author Charles Lever published his novel, also entitled Gerald Fitzgerald, in 1859. The name had strong associations with Ireland in English-speaking countries. In the United States, it increased in use for boys after 1910 and peaked in use in 1939, when it was the 19th most popular name given to American boys. Jerry is the usual short form of the name. Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish language Gearalt. Gerald is less common as a surname. The name is also found in French as Gérald. Geraldine is the feminine equivalent.
Jack is a given name, a diminutive of John or Jackson; alternatively, it may be derived from Jacques, the French form of James or Jacob. Since the late 20th century, Jack has become one of the most common names for boys in many English-speaking countries. Jack is also used to a lesser extent as a female given name, often as a shortened version of Jacqueline.
Brett is an Irish and English surname that was given to the Celtic peoples of Brittany who arrived during the Norman invasion of England and Norman invasion of Ireland respectively.
Paul is a common Latin masculine given name in countries and ethnicities with a Christian heritage and, beyond Europe, in Christian religious communities throughout the world. Paul – or its variations – can be a given name or surname.
Miles or Myles is a Norman French masculine given name. It might have been a changed diminutive of the name Michael that was influenced by miles, the Latin word for a soldier, because of associations with Archangel Michael, the Roman Catholic patron saint of the military. Myles is a variant spelling in English. Milo, the variant of the name used most often during the medieval era, might also have been influenced by the Slavic ending word element -mil, meaning gracious. In Ireland, the name was used as an English substitute for Irish language names such as Maolra, or Maolmhuire, both meaning devoted to Mary, Maolmhorda, meaning servant of the great, and Maolruanaí, meaning servant of the champion. Development of the name might also have been influenced by the Persian name Mylas, meaning brave. The original name of Miles, an Orthodox Christian saint, was Mylas. The name has been in regular use in the Anglosphere since the 1500s. It was popularized in England by Myles Coverdale, who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English in 1535. In the United States, the name became well-known due to Myles Standish, a soldier who arrived on Plymouth Rock on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims in 1620. American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a popular 1858 poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish, in which the fictionalized Standish is rejected by Priscilla Mullins, who chooses John Alden as her husband instead. Miles and Myles were both more commonly used in the United States than in the United Kingdom by the 1800s due to usage by Irish immigrants to the United States and the influence of Miles Standish. There was an increase in usage from the mid- to late 20th century associated with jazz instrumentalist Miles Davis and with the popularity of fictional characters such as Star Trek character Miles O'Brien, Myles Mitchell, a character on the 1990s American television series Moesha, Miles Edgeworth, a character from the Ace Attorney video game franchise, and fictional Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales.
Alfred is a masculine given name of English origin, a modern descendant of the Anglo-Saxon name Ælfræd, formed from the Germanic words ælf, meaning "elf", and ræd, meaning "counsel". Its feminine form originating from Romance languages is Alfreda, and diminutives of Alfred include Al, Alf, Alfy, Alfie, Fred, and Freddy. After the 11th-century Norman Conquest, many variants of the name emerged, most of which were not carried to the modern day. Today, Alfred is still in regular usage in a number of different regions, especially Great Britain, Africa, Scandinavia, and North America. It is one of the few Old English names that came into common use in Europe. Its name day is the 3rd of January both in Norway and Sweden.
Barry is both a given name and an Irish and West African surname. The given name can be an Anglicised form of some Irish personal names or shortened form of Barrington or Finbarr, while the surname has numerous etymological origins, and is derived from both place names and personal names.
Moody is an English surname. It ranks in the top 200 most common surnames in English speaking nations. The earliest known example dates from the 12th century in a Devonshire early English charter where the name Alwine 'Modig' is mentioned. Recent census research suggests that the surname has been most consistently populous in Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire and also in areas of northeast England. There is also a high incidence of the similar-sounding surname 'Moodie' in Scotland, in particular Orkney, although this variant, ending "ie", has possible Norse/Celtic origins. The surname Moody was also carried to areas of Ireland settled by the early English. Although the most intensive areas of occurrence match areas of dense Anglo-Saxon habitation after 1066, it is difficult to determine if the name is Anglo-Saxon or Nordic/Viking in origin, since all Germanic countries used the word 'Modig' or 'Mutig' to indicate someone who was bold, impetuous or brave. Surnames were increasingly given through the early Middle Ages to assist taxation and an increasing incidence of the name can be followed in such documents as the Hundred Rolls, early English charters and general medieval assizes associated with such actions as baronial struggles, Crusades or Angevin campaigns in France. In the Netherlands, there is a family name 'Mudde' derived from a Scottish immigrant Robert Moodie.
Pierce is an English, Welsh, and Irish surname. The name is a cognate of French Pierre ('Peter'). Notable people with that surname include:
Colin is an English-language masculine given name. It has two distinct origins:
- A diminutive form of "Colle", itself an Old French short form of the name Nicolas (Nicholas). This name, but not the anglicized Gaelic name, is also found in the spelling Collin. This name is formed by the Old French diminutive -in also found in Robin.
- An anglicisation of the Irish given name Coileán or the Scottish Gaelic name Cailean, which both come from the Old Irish word cuilén "pup, cub". The Scottish Gaelic name is recorded in the spelling Colin from as early as the 14th century. MacCailean was a patronymic used by Clan Campbell, after Cailean Mór.
Norman is both a surname and a given name. The surname has multiple origins including English, Irish, Scottish, German, French, Norwegian, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Jewish American. The given name Norman is mostly of English origin, though in some cases it can be an Anglicised form of a Scottish Gaelic personal name.
Russell, also Rosel, Rousel, Roussel, Russel or Rossell. The origin of the name has historically been subject to disagreement, with two distinct origins proposed. Early genealogists traced the Russel/Russell family of Kingston Russel from Anglo-Norman landholders bearing the toponymic surname 'de Rosel' or 'du Rozel', deriving from Rosel, Calvados, Normandy. However, J. Horace Round observed that these flawed pedigrees erroneously linked toponymic-bearing men with unrelated men who instead bore the Anglo-Norman nickname rus[s]el, given to men with red hair. This nickname was a diminutive of the Norman-French rus, meaning 'red', and was also an archaic name for the red fox, which in turn borrowed from Old Norse rossel, "red-haired", from Old Norse ros "red hair color" and the suffix -el. Round concluded "there is no reason to suppose that the surname Russell was territorial at all," and surname dictionaries have preferred to derive the surname from the nickname. Dictionaries also state that the English name Rufus originally meant "red haired".
Maxwell is a Scottish surname, a habitational name derived from a location near Melrose, in Roxburghshire, Scotland. This name was first recorded in 1144, as Mackeswell, meaning "Mack's spring ". The surname Maxwell is also common in Ulster, where it has, in some cases, been adopted as alternate form of the Irish surname Miskell. The surname Maxwell is represented in Scottish Gaelic as MacSuail.
Briggs is a Northern English surname found mainly in West Yorkshire and derives from the Old Norse word bryggja meaning "bridge", and could also be related to the British Brigantes which once settled Yorkshire in the ancient Brythonic kingdom of Brigantia. Notable people with the surname include:
References
- ↑ Cottle, Basil (1967), "Russell", Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, Baltimore: Penguin Books
- ↑ Evans, Cleveland Kent (7 April 2024). "Evans: Russell is a surname that became a common first name". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
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