Bolt
A name that can come from the word for an arrow or bolt, though in England it may also be a shortened form related to Bold/Bolda and place-names.
The #4,726 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,144 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bolt has more than one possible origin. One line of explanation connects it with Middle English bolt, meaning a bolt or arrow, which could have been a nickname or occupational label for someone who made or used such weapons. Another possibility, supported by older surname dictionaries, is that it is a shortened form related to Bold or Bolda, from Old English bold, meaning a dwelling or house, used in local surnames for someone who lived at or near such a place.
History
In English records, Bolt appears alongside forms such as le Bolt and le Bolde, which suggests both nickname and local-name uses. The name is also found in Scotland and Ireland, but the English evidence is strongest in the historical dictionaries consulted here. Because several explanations were current in older scholarship, the surname is best treated as having mixed or uncertain origin rather than a single fixed derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older lexicographers even illustrated the name with medieval bynames like Richard le Bolt, showing how ordinary words often became hereditary surnames.
From the historical record
“cent. BOLT. A-Sax. See Bold. BOLTER. A maker of bolts or blunt- headed arrows, much in use among me- die^•al fowlers. Eandle Holme, however, defines a bolt as an arrow with a round knob, with a sharp point proceeding from it. BOLTON. Towns, parishes, and places in cos. Lancaster, Cumberl., Northumb., York…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Bolt
- Usain Bolt (b. 1986)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.