Holt (surname)

Holt is a common surname.

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".

Notable people named Holt (including alternative spellings and derivations)

* Jacob Holdt, a Danish photojournalist who lived with and documented the lives of impoverished people in America
* Anne Holt, Norwegian crime novelist and lawyer
* Arthur Holt (1914 – 1995), English politician
* Arthur Holt (cricketer) (1911 – 1994), Hampshire cricketer and Southampton footballer
* Alan Holt, trencherman
* Benjamin Holt, machinery inventor, whose eponymous manufacturing company merged with another firm to become Caterpillar Inc.
* Bob Holt
* Brian Van Holt
* Charles A. Holt
* Charles C. Holt
* Chris Holt, ice hockey goaltender
* Claire Holt, Australian actress
* David Holt
* Dorothy Holt Wife of the author Wayne Holt
* Edwin Holt
* Ernest William Lyons Holt
* Eugene J. (Reddy) Holt, Boxer
* Gary Holt, Scottish footballer
* Gary Holt, musician
* Genevieve Holt, doctor
* Grant Holt
* Hamilton Holt, former president of Rollins College
* Harold Holt, former Prime Minister of Australia
* Hazel Holt
*Henry Holt (North Dakota politician), lieutenant governor
*Henry Holt (publisher) and author from Baltimore, Maryland
*Henry E. Holt, astronomer
*Henry H. Holt, Michigan politician, lieutenant governor
* Herbert Samuel Holt, a former president of the Royal Bank of Canada
* Homer A. Holt
* Isaac "Red" Holt, Rhythm and blues performing artist with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and Young-Holt Unlimited
* Jack Holt, American actor and his offspring, Tim Holt and Jennifer Holt
* Jack Holt, dinghy designer
* Jefferson Holt
* Jennifer Holt
* Jim Holt
*Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice of England 1689-1710
* John Holt (1721-1784) - the publisher and a Colonial Mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia.
* John Caldwell Holt, author and founding father of the homeschooling movement
* John Holt, singer
* John Langford-Holt
* Joseph Holt
* Joseph Holt, rebel
* Kåre Holt
* Kristin Holt, television personality
* Lester Holt
* Marjorie Holt
* Melvin Holt
* Michael Holt, author
* Michael Holt, a fictional character in the DC Universe
* Michael Holt, musician
* Michael Holt, snooker player
* Nicholas Holt, musician/songwriter
* Orrin Holt
* Peter Holt
* Pierce Holt
* Randy Holt
* Ric Holt, Canadian computer scientist
* Rush D. Holt Jr., a U.S. Representative from New Jersey
* Rush D. Holt Sr., a U.S. Senator from West Virginia
* S. B. Holt, American college basketball coach
* Ryan V. Holt, American Adult Film Actor, poet.
* Sandrine Holt
* Seth Holt
* Simeon ten Holt
* Simma Holt
* Simon Holt
* Steve Holt
* Terrence Holt, American football player; younger brother of Torry Holt
* Thaddeus Holt, lawyer and historian
* Thomas Michael Holt, textile manufacturer, whose eponymous company eventually became part of Burlington Industries
* Tim Holt, statistician
* Tom Holt
* Torry Holt, American football player; older brother of Terrence Holt
* Victoria Holt, pseudonym of Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert, British author
* Wayne Holt, Author, Educator
* William Holt
*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