Hugh
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /hjuː/
homophone: hew
homophone: hue
homophone: Hiw
rhymes: -uː
Etymology: From the Old French aristocratic and saint's name Hughe, brought to England by Normans, from a short form of Germanic names beginning with Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“heart, mind”), such as Hubert. Cognate with Old English hyġe (“mind, spirit, intellect”). More at high, how.
Senses: examples: text: I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
text: Cold's the wind, and wet's the rain, / Saint Hugh be our good speed. / Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain, / Nor helps good hearts in need.
ref: 1600, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday:
text: "You are engaged to Mr. Harden, I suppose?" "Yes, Mr. Harden. I call him Hugh, his second name. I like the name of Hugh. The exquisite long vowel pleases me―Hugh! Hugh!".
ref: 1894, W. H. Miller, J. Mcaulauy, W. Stevens, The Leisure Hour, Richard Jones, page 651:
text: Hugh McAnally was universally known as "Wee Shug". He didn't know why people called Hugh always ended up nicknamed Shug.
ref: 1996, Ian Rankin, Let It Bleed, Thorndike Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 68:
text: What I had noticed all of my young life, from as early as five years old, was that very few people outside my family knew how to pronounce my name―or spell it. "Hue, Hug, Huge, Huh, Hugo. Everything but my name, HUGH!" - - - I grew up thinking that I was the only Hugh in the world, and all my life I'll be meeting people who will have trouble pronouncing my name.
ref: 2011, Hughie Boy Levoy, Chicago Kid, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 151:
text: "To be frank, at first I thought it was a joke," Hugh Hurwitz, who served as acting director of the BOP between May 2018 and August 2019, told the BBC.
ref: 2025 July 17, Bernd Debusmann Jr, “Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz as a prison - could it happen?”, in BBC:
glosses: A male given name from the Germanic languages.
qualifier: rare compared to given name
glosses: A surname originating as a patronymic.
Derived terms: Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome
Related terms: sense: pet forms
word: Huey
sense: pet forms
word: Hughie
word: Hugo
word: Bew
word: Bewes
word: Fitchew
word: Fitchie
word: Fitzhugh
word: Hew
word: Hewat
word: Hewes
word: Hewetson
word: Hewett
word: Hewison
word: Hewitson
word: Hewitt
word: Hewkin
word: Hewlett
word: Hews
word: Hewson
word: Hookins
word: Hooson
word: Houchen
word: Houston
word: How
word: Howat
word: Howatson
word: Howchin
word: Howe
word: Howes
word: Howett
word: Howey
word: Howie
word: Howieson
word: Howitt
word: Howkins
word: Howlett
word: Howlin
word: Howling
word: Howse
word: Howson
word: Huckin
word: Hudd
word: Huddle
word: Huddy
word: Hudson
word: Huelin
word: Huet
word: Huetson
word: Huett
word: Huggett
word: Huggins
word: Huggon
word: Hughes
word: Hughson
word: Hugo
word: Huitson
word: Huitt
word: Hukin
word: Hukins
word: Hulance
word: Hulett
word: Hulin
word: Hull
word: Hullett
word: Hulls
word: Hulson
word: Hutcheon
word: Hutcherson
word: Hutcheson
word: Hutchin
word: Hutchings
word: Hutchins
word: Hutchinson
word: Hutchison
word: Hutson
word: Huws
word: Pew
word: Pow
word: Powe
word: Pugh
word: Pughe
word: Pye
word: Shug