Ball
Usually a nickname or short form tied to Baldwin, though in some cases it may also reflect the common word for a ball.
The #508 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,674 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Ball is often explained as a short form of the medieval given name Baldwin, with Ball used as a pet form in some older naming traditions. In broader Germanic contexts, the same root is connected with words meaning "bold" or "brave," which helped make Baldwin a popular personal name. Some early writers also treated Ball as a nickname surname, and a few references note a West of England use of "ball" for "laid" or "allied with roundness," but the Baldwin explanation is the standard one.
History
The name is well established in medieval English records and later spread widely across England, especially in the west according to some older sources. It also appears in Scotland and as a basis for related surnames such as Bawcock and Bawsock in historical surname studies. Because Ball is short and common as both a name element and an everyday word, older etymologists sometimes disagreed about whether a particular family line was nickname-based or derived from Baldwin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An old proverb cited by 19th-century writers says, "as bad as Ball's bull," showing the surname had already become part of folk speech.
From the historical record
“Itin. de la Normandie. BALL. A nickname of Baldwin. A West of England provincialism for laid. "As BAD AS Ball's bull — wholiad so little ear for mtisick tliat he kicked the fiddler over the Ijridge !" — An eastern-couiities proverb. (HaUiw.) BALLANTYNE. This Scottish name has undergone remarkalile changes. " Sir…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Ball
- Lucille Ball (1911–1989)
- Hugo Ball (1886–1927)
- Alice Ball (1892–1916)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.