Talbot
A Norman surname made famous by a powerful English family and also used for a dog breed name.
The #2,342 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,840 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Talbot is generally treated as an old Norman personal name that became a hereditary surname. The name is recorded in medieval forms such as Talebot, Talebotus, and Talbott, and was borne by early Norman settlers in England. Its deeper meaning is uncertain; some older writers linked it with Norman-French words for a kind of dark or black coloring, but that explanation is not secure.
History
The Talbots were an important Anglo-Norman family, with medieval links to the Marches of Wales and later to Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire. The name appears in early English records and is associated with the nobility and landholding classes. Talbot also became the name of a type of hound, likely through the surname or a famous bearer of it.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Chaucer names a dog Talbot in The Canterbury Tales, helping fix the word in English literary memory.
From the historical record
“TALBOT TALBOTT TALBUT TALBUTTJ Talebotus Talebot.— Pine-Rolls, A.D. 1284. Ta/Jo/ occurs in the listof "Compagnons de, Guillaume ^ la CpnquSte de I'Angle- terre en MLXVI" graven over the main doorway (inside) of the old church at”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Talbot
- John Michael Talbot (b. 1954)
- Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.