Holt (surname)
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Holt is a surname.
Etymology
Holt is a surname and placename, of Proto-Germanic origin and meaning a small wood or grove of trees.[1] It derives from the Old English word holt and is a near-synonym of "wold" (from Old English wald), originally denoting a forested upland. Those words are cognates of the modern German words "Holz" and "Wald" respectively.
The word is also found in Scandinavian placenames and in surnames derived from them: in Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic as Holt (or the more archaic Danish Holdt and Holte); in Swedish as Hult or Hulte; and even in Finnish as Hulti (a loanword from Swedish). It is often used in combination with other words, as in Uhrenholdt ("ancient holt", a Danish last name taken from that of an estate) or Älghult ("elk holt"), a village and the site of a small art-glass factory in Småland, Sweden. In Sweden it is most commonly found in and around Småland, including Älmhult, the location of the first IKEA store.
Another spelling of the name is "Hoult", more commonly found in the north of England than in the south, indicating that it is more likely in this case to be derived directly from Old Norse.
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)
- Axel Petersson Döderhultarn (born Axel Petersson; 1868–1925), world-famous Swedish woodcarver, from village of Döderhult, Småland
- Jacob Holdt (born 1947), Danish photojournalist who lived with and documented the lives of impoverished people, including minorities, in America
- Troels Holdt, Danish musician/composer; member of electropop group Nordstrøm; competed in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009
- Anne Holt (born 1958), Norwegian crime novelist and lawyer
- Anders Holte (1849–1937), accomplished Norwegian sea captain and navigator
- Andrew Holt (disambiguation), several people
- Arthur Holt (sportsman) (1911–1994), Hampshire cricketer and Southampton footballer
- Arthur Holt (politician) (1914–1995), English politician
- Benjamin Holt (1849–1920), American machinery inventor, whose eponymous manufacturing company merged with another firm to become Caterpillar Inc.
- Bob Holt (disambiguation), several people
- Brian Van Holt (born 1969), American actor
- Charles A. Holt, behavioral economist
- Charles C. Holt (1921–2010), professor at McCombs School of Business, Texas
- Chris Holt (ice hockey) (born 1985), goaltender
- Claire Holt (born 1988), Australian actress
- David Holt (musician) (born 1946), American musician
- Edwin Holt (1873–1946), Harvard professor of philosophy and psychology
- Elinor Holt, voice actress
- Ernest William Lyons Holt (1864–1922)
- Gary Holt (footballer) (born 1973)
- Gary Holt (musician) (born 1964)
- Gene Holt, American sculptor
- Gerald Robert Holt, former Senior Vice President of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
- Grant Holt (born 1981), English footballer
- Hamilton Holt (1872–1951), former president of Rollins College
- Harold Holt (1908–1967), Prime Minister of Australia
- Harold Holt (impresario) (1885–1953), South African-English impresario
- Hazel Holt (1928–2015), British novelist
- Helen F. Holt (1913–2015), American politician
- Henry Holt (North Dakota politician) (1887–1944), lieutenant governor
- Henry Holt (publisher), Baltimore, MD author; est. Henry Holt and Company; now Holt McDougal, part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Henry E. Holt (born 1929), astronomer
- Henry H. Holt (1831–1898), Michigan politician, lieutenant governor
- Herbert Samuel Holt (1856–1941), former president of the Royal Bank of Canada
- Homer A. Holt (1898–1975), American politician
- Jack Holt (actor) (1888–1951)
- Jack Holt (dinghy designer) (1912–1995)
- James Alan Holt (born 1982), British journalist and radio news reader
- Jeffery Holt, International acclaimed lawyer and author
- Jefferson Holt, former manager of rock band R.E.M.
- Jennifer Holt (1920–1997), American actress
- Jim Holt (Arkansas politician) (born 1965)
- JoBea Way Holt (born 1954), planetary scientist
- John Holt (disambiguation), various people, one of whom helped establish Holt Renfrew, the Canadian department store
- Joseph Holt (1807–1894), American judge
- Joseph Holt (rebel) (1756–1826), United Irish general
- Knut Holte (born 1967), retired Norwegian footballer
- Kolbjørn Holthe, Norwegian violinist; current artistic leader of the Tromsø Symphony Orchestra
- Amoene van Haersolte (née Van Holthe tot Echten), Dutch noblewoman and author; winner of first P. C. Hooft Award
- Ole Kristian Holthe, Norwegian, former director of Peace Research Institute Oslo
- Kåre Holt (1916–1997), Norwegian author
- Kristin Holt, television personality
- Lester Holt (born 1959), American news journalist
- Luther Emmett Holt (1855–1924), pediatrician
- Marjorie Holt (born 1920), United States representative from Maryland
- Michael Holt (author) (born 1929)
- Michael Holt (musician) (born 1968)
- Michael Holt (snooker player) (born 1978)
- Mike Holt (1931–2008), South African boxer of the 1950s and '60s (birth name Antione Michael Holthausen)
- Mister Terrific (Michael Holt), fictional character in the DC Universe
- Nancy Holt (1938–2014), American artist
- Olivia Holt (born 1997), American actress
- Orrin Holt (1792–1855), United States representative from Connecticut
- Patti LaBelle (born Patricia Louise Holte, born 1944), American singer and actress
- Peter Holt (born 1948), American businessman
- Pierce Holt (born 1962), American football player
- Randy Holt (born 1953), Canadian ice hockey player
- Ric Holt, Canadian computer scientist
- Robert Holt (1913–1985), American academic author
- Rod Holt (born 1934), American computer engineer (Apple II)
- Rush D. Holt, Jr., a U.S. Representative from New Jersey
- Rush D. Holt, Sr., a U.S. Senator from West Virginia
- Sam B. Holt (1902–?), American college basketball coach
- Sandrine Holt (born 1972), model and actress
- Seth Holt (1923–1971), British film director and producer
- Simeon ten Holt (1923–2012), Dutch composer
- Simma Holt (1922–2015), Canadian journalist and politician
- Simon Holt (born 1958), British composer
- Steve Holt (disambiguation), several people
- Søren Uhrenholdt, Danish immigrant to the US, and early conservationist; Uhrenholdt Memorial State Forest, in Wisconsin named after him
- Terrence Holt (born 1980), American football player; younger brother of Torry Holt
- Terrence Holt (writer), American writer
- Thomas Michael Holt (1831–1896), textile manufacturer, whose eponymous company eventually became part of Burlington Industries
- Tim Holt (1919–1973), American actor
- Tim Holt (statistician) (born 1943)
- Tom Holt (born 1961), British novelist
- Tor Håkon Holte (born 1958), Norwegian Olympic cross country skier; gold at the 1985 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
- Torry Holt (born 1976), American football player; older brother of Terrence Holt
- Victor Holt (1908–1988), American basketball player
- Victoria Holt, pseudonym of Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert, British author
- William Holt (disambiguation), several people
- Bertil Hult, Swedish; founded international education company EF Education First; Hult International Business School is named for him
- Johan Hultin (born 1925), noted Swedish-American pathologist
- Karl Hult, Swedish biochemist and researcher. Professor emeritus at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
- Karl-Erik Hult (1936–2010), Swedish footballer and manager
- Kurt Hultin, Swedish architect; helped design Kronprinsen (The Crown Prince) in 1964, Sweden's first high-rise, in the city of Malmö
- Nils Hult, commissioner who helped create the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, in Eugene, Oregon
- Ragnar Hult (1857–1899), important Finnish botanist and plant geographer
- John Langford-Holt (1916–1993), British Member of Parliament
- Laura Pendergest-Holt (born 1973), former chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group who plead guilty for her role in a US$7 billion Ponzi scheme
- Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier; won gold medal in sprint, 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
- Tess Uriza Holthe, Filipino-American writer of US bestselling novel When the Elephants Dance (2002), and The Five-Forty-Five To Cannes
Places with name Holt (or derivative forms)
- Diepholz town and capital of the district of Diepholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany
- Döderhult, parish in Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden; Misterhult is a nearby parish
- Oskarshamn City, was earlier called Döderhultsvik (orig. Duderhultevik), after the nearby bay, which is still called Döderhultsvik (vik=bay)
- Holt is a village in east Dorset, England, two miles north of Wimborne Minster.
- Holte, northern suburb of Metropolitan Copenhagen, Rudersdal municipality, Denmark; it has a town-hall designed by Arne Jacobsen
- Holt Fleet, village in the Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England
- Holt, market town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England
- Holt is a medieval market town in Wrexham Borough, Wales; site of medieval Holt Castle
- Hultsfred, seat of Hultsfred Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden;
- (The Hultsfred Festival a world-re-known popular music festival in Hultsfred; started 1986, it was cancelled in 2010 for financial reasons)
- Hult, a village in Eksjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden, with around 473 inhabitants
- Reykholt, Iceland (reyk=smoke); home of Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) historian, politician, poet; recorded of Old Norse culture
- Råshult village, Kronoberg County, Småland, Sweden; birthplace of Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), father of modern taxonomy (1707)
- Stenbrohult, the parrish in which Råshult is located
- Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, town in the district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Skálholt (Old Icelandic: Skálaholt) important historical site in southeast Iceland. From 1056 - 1785, one of Iceland's two episcopal sees
- Älmhult Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden; birthplace of Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA founder); the first IKEA was built in Älmhult