Holt (surname)

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Holt is a common surname.

[edit] Etymology

Holt is a common surname and placename, of Proto-Germanic origin and meaning a small grove of trees, or copse, or "a wood". It comes into English from Anglo-Saxon (Wold) and is a near-synonym to "wood", which is also Anglo-Saxon. Those words are equivalent to the modern German words "Holz" and "Wald" respectively. It is also found in the Scandinavian languages in names or placenames, as Holt, or the more archaic Holdt and Holte in Danish, Holt in Norwegian and Icelandic, Hult or Hulte in Swedish, and even Hulti in Finnish (from Swedish). It is often used in combination with other words, such as Uhrenholdt ("ancient holt", a Danish last name taken from an estate) or Älghult ("elk holt"), a village and art glass-making factory in Småland, Sweden. In Sweden it is most common in and around Småland. Related German names include Holz, Holzman, Holzhauer, et al., and their anglicized equivalents which often insert a "t" between the "l" and the "z".

[edit] Notable people named Holt (including alternative spellings and derivations)

  • Alexander Hult, a Swedish ice hockey player in Russia's professional ice hockey league
  • Pontus Hultén, made Stockholm's Moderna Museet one of the most progressive museums of modern art in the world, helped establish Centre Pompidou in Paris and MoCA in California
  • Søren Uhrenholdt, Danish-American farmer and early conservationist in Wisconsin
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the surname Holt (surname). If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the given name(s) to that link.