Little
Encyclopedia
Little is a surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. The name is ultimately derived from the Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 littel, and the Old English lȳtel, which mean "little". In some cases the name was originally a nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

 for a little man. In other cases, the name was used to distinguish the younger of two bearers of the same personal name
Personal name
A personal name is the proper name identifying an individual person, and today usually comprises a given name bestowed at birth or at a young age plus a surname. It is nearly universal for a human to have a name; except in rare cases, for example feral children growing up in isolation, or infants...

. Early records of the name include: Litle, in 972; Litle, in about 1095; and le Lytle, in 1296. The surname has absorbed several non English-language surnames. For example, Little is sometimes a translation of the Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 Ó Beagáin, meaning "descendant of Beagán". Little can also be a translation of the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 Petit and Lepetit, as well as other surnames in various languages with the same meaning ("little"), especially the German name Klein during WWII.

People with the surname

  • Andrew Little (footballer)
    Andrew Little (footballer)
    Andrew Little is a Northern Irish footballer who plays for Scottish Premier League club Rangers. He is also a Northern Ireland international....

    , Northern Irish footballer currently playing for Rangers.
  • Angela Little
    Angela Little
    Angela Michelle Little is an American model and actress. Little was selected as Playboys Playmate of the Month for August 1998, and she has appeared in several Playboy videos and special editions, working steadily for Playboy for more than five years following her centerfold appearance.Little was...

    , American actress and model
  • Bentley Little
    Bentley Little
    Bentley Little is an American author of horror novels.-Personal history:Little's first novel, The Revelation, was published with St...

    , American author
  • Bingo Little
    Bingo Little
    Richard P. "Bingo" Little is a recurring fictional character from the Drones and the Jeeves stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club.-Overview:...

  • Booker Little
    Booker Little
    Booker Little, Jr was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.-Biography:Despite his premature death from kidney failure at the age of 23, Little made an important contribution to jazz. Stylistically, his sound is rooted in the playing of Clifford Brown, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished...

    , American jazz trumpeter
  • Brian Little (disambiguation)
  • Bryan Little (disambiguation)
    Bryan Little (disambiguation)
    Bryan Little may refer to:*Bryan Little, ice hockey player*Bryan Little , Major League Baseball infielder*Bryan Little , Scottish-born football player-See also:*Brian Little...

  • Carlo Little
    Carlo Little
    Carlo Little was a rock and roll drummer, based in the London nightclub scene in the 1960s. He played in an early version of The Rolling Stones...

  • Cleavon Little
    Cleavon Little
    Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...

  • David Little (disambiguation)
  • Donald Little
    Donald Little
    Donald Mark Little, of Brandon, was appointed a judge of the Family Division of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba on February 12, 1998. He replaced Madam Justice C. Davidson, who had died....

    , a Manitoba judge
  • Floyd Little
    Floyd Little
    Floyd Douglas Little is a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, and was a three-time American football All-American running back at Syracuse University. In 1967 he was the 6th selection of the first common AFL-NFL draft...

  • Frances Little
    Frances Little
    Frances Little was the pseudonym of American author Fannie Caldwell. Caldwell and her husband, businessman J.D. Macaulay, made their home on Fourth Street in Louisville, Kentucky. Her debut book The Lady of the Decoration was published in New York City in 1906 and would be her most successful work...

  • Frank Little (priest), Australian archbishop
  • Frank Little (unionist), U.S. trade unionist
  • George Little (disambiguation)
  • Gerry P. Little
    Gerry P. Little
    Gerry P. Little Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders. Little was appointed to the Board of Chosen Freeholders in December 2003 following the death of Freeholder James J...

  • Grady Little
    Grady Little
    William Grady Little is a former manager in Major League Baseball. He managed the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 to 2007...

  • Henry F. W. Little
    Henry F. W. Little
    Henry F. W. Little was a Sergeant in the 7th New Hampshire Infantry, Union Army, and a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in the American Civil War....

    , American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient
  • James Little
    James Little
    James Little was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Little studied at Queen's College and Assembly College in Belfast before being ordained as a Presbyterian clergyman in 1900...

  • Jason Little (cartoonist)
    Jason Little (cartoonist)
    Jason Palmer Little is an American cartoonist.He grew up in Binghamton, New York, studied photography at Oberlin College, and now lives in Brooklyn with writer Myla Goldberg and their two daughters....

  • Jason Little (rugby player)
    Jason Little (rugby player)
    Jason Little was born 26 August 1970 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He won 75 caps with one as captain playing at centre for the Australian rugby union side between 1989 and 2000. He also won caps on the wing later in his career...

  • Jean Little
    Jean Little
    Jean Little is a Canadian author born on January 2, 1932. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little has been partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and is...

  • Joan Little
    Joan Little
    Joan Little is an African American woman whose trial for the 1974 murder of a white prison guard at Beaufort County Jail in Washington, North Carolina, became a cause célèbre of the civil rights, feminist, and anti-death penalty movements. Little was the first woman in United States history to be...

  • John Little (disambiguation)
    John Little (disambiguation)
    -Persons:*John Little , professor and chair of management science at the MIT Sloan School of Management*John Little , American basketball player currently with BG Göttingen*John Little , U.S...

  • John N. Little
    John N. Little
    John N. Little is the president and co-founder of MathWorks and a co-author of early versions of the company's MATLAB product.He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council...

  • Joseph James Little (1841–1913), U.S. representative from New York, American printer and publisher
  • Ken Little
    Ken Little
    Ken Dawson Little is a modernist San Antonio-based sculptor who was born in Canyon, Texas in 1947. After graduating from Texas Tech University in 1970 with a BFA in painting, he received an MFA from the University of Utah in 1972. There, his interest in painting waned in favor of ceramics. In...

     (born 1947), a modernist American sculptor
  • Lawson Little
    Lawson Little
    William Lawson Little, Jr. was an American professional golfer who also had a distinguished amateur career....

  • Little Jack Little
    Little Jack Little
    Jack Little , sometimes credited Little Jack Little, was a British-born American composer, singer, pianist , actor and songwriter whose songs were featured in several movies...

  • Malcolm Little, later changed to Malcolm X
  • Mark Little (Australian actor)
    Mark Little (Australian actor)
    Mark Little , is an Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, born in Brisbane, Queensland.-Career:Little appeared in a string of Australian films and TV series during the 1980s. He also performed his own comedy/performance in Melbourne's burgeoning comedy clubs throughout the eighties...

  • Mark Little (Irish journalist)
    Mark Little (Irish journalist)
    Mark Little is an Irish journalist, television presenter, author and "social media visionary". He presented Prime Time for RTÉ until December 2009. He took a year of leave of absence from RTÉ to pursue a project centred around digital media and global journalism...

  • Neil Little
    Neil Little
    Neil Little is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers organization nearly his entire professional career, helping backstop the Philadelphia Phantoms to two Calder Cup championships and playing in two career National Hockey League games...

  • Nicky Little
    Nicky Little
    Nicky Tyrone Little in Tokoroa, New Zealand, is a rugby union footballer. He plays at fly-half. He is a nephew of All Blacks centre Walter Little, but represents Fiji at international level.-Career:...

    , Fijian rugby union player
  • Ralf Little
    Ralf Little
    Ralf Alistair J. B. Little is an English actor, writer and semi-professional footballer, working mainly in television comedy. He is best known for playing Antony Royle in The Royle Family and Jonny Keogh in the first six series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.-Early life and work...

  • Rich Little
    Rich Little
    Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has long been known throughout the world as a top impersonator of famous people, resulting in his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices"....

  • Robert A. Little
    Robert A. Little
    Robert Alexander Little DSO & Bar, DSC & Bar is officially regarded as the most successful Australian flying ace of World War I, with a total of forty-seven aerial victories. Born in Victoria, he travelled to England in 1915 and learnt to fly at his own expense before joining the Royal Naval Air...

  • Ross Little
    Ross Little
    Ross Little is an English television actor and badminton player. As well as being an actor for the BBC on the highly successful television show Born and Bred, he played badminton at international level for the England team between the age groups of U13-U17, and for his school Bury Grammar...

    , English actor
  • Stephen Little
    Stephen Little
    Stephen Little is an American Asian art scholar, museum administrator and artist.Dr. Little's father was a linguist and cultural attaché for the government of the United States. Stephen was raised in Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, and Turkey, not living in the United States until age 11. He...

    , American Asian art scholar, museum administrator and artist
  • Steve Little (disambiguation)
  • Stuart Little
    Stuart Little
    Stuart Little is a 1945 children's novel by E. B. White, his first book for children, and is widely recognized as a classic in children's literature. Stuart Little was illustrated by the subsequently award-winning artist Garth Williams, also his first work for children...

    , a fictional mouse in many of E. B. White's short stories, and in some films
  • Syd Little
    Syd Little
    Syd Little is an English comedian and straight man in the double act Little and Large, with Eddie Large....

    , English comedian
  • Tasmin Little
    Tasmin Little
    Tasmin Little is an English violinist.She studied under Pauline Scott at the Yehudi Menuhin School and later at the Guildhall School of Music, coming to prominence as a string section finalist in the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition...

    , English violinist
  • Thomas Little
    Thomas Little
    Thomas Little was a United States set decorator on more than 450 Hollywood movies between 1932 and 1953. He won a total of 6 Oscars for art direction and received 21 nominations in the same category...

    , set decorator
  • Tony Little
    Tony Little
    Tony Little is an American television fitness personality and businessman, best known for his fitness infomercial products....

  • Walter Little (politician), Canadian politician
  • William Little (Pittsburgh mayor)
    William Little (Pittsburgh mayor)
    William Little , served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1839 to 1840.-Early life:William Little was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1809...

    , politician in Pittsburgh
  • William John Little, the doctor who identified cerebral palsy in children
  • Zarah Little
    Zarah Little
    Zarah Little is an American actress and voice actress. She has done voicework for New Generation Pictures and FUNimation Entertainment.-Anime:* Angel Tales - Tsubasa the Parakeet* Boys Be.....

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