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Little (surname)

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Little is a surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Middle English littel[1] and the Old English lȳtel, which means "little."[2] In some cases, the name was originally a nickname for a little man. In other cases, the name was used to distinguish the younger of two bearers of the same personal name.[1] Early records of the name include: Litle, in 972; Litle, in about 1095; and le Lytle, in 1296.[2] The surname has absorbed several non English-language surnames. For example, Little is sometimes a translation of the Irish Ó Beagáin, meaning "descendant of Beagán." Little can also be a translation of the French Petit and Lepetit, as well as other surnames in various languages with the same meaning ("little"),[1] especially the German name Klein during World War II.

Little
"lȳtle," an Old Anglo-Saxon term for little things
GenderUnisex
Language(s)English
Origin
Language(s)Old English (OE), Middle English (ME)
Word/namelȳtel (OE), littel (ME)
Meaning"little"
Other names
Variant form(s)Littell, Lytle, Lyttle

People edit

Names held by several people edit

Academics edit

Businesspeople edit

Performers edit

Politicians edit

Sportspeople edit

Writers edit

Others edit

  • Alice Little, (born 1990), Irish–American sex-worker and advocate
  • Donald Little, Canadian judge
  • Joan Little (born 1953), African-American acquitted of murder
  • Ken Little (born 1947), modernist American sculptor
  • Lewis Henry Little (1817–1862), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War
  • Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, 1925–1965), Afro-American civil rights leader and Nation of Islam minister
  • Samuel Little (1940–2020), American serial killer
  • Tony Little (born 1956), American TV fitness personality

Fictional characters edit

  • Bingo Little, in P. G. Wodehouse stories
  • Chicken Little, also known as Henny Penny or Chicken Licken
  • Stuart Little, fictional mouse in many of E. B. White's short stories, and in some films

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Learn about the family history of your surname, Ancestry.com, retrieved 22 February 2011, which cited: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4, for the surname "Little".
  2. ^ a b Reaney, Percy Hilde (1995), Wilson, Richard Middlewood (ed.), A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 281, ISBN 0-19-863146-4.
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