Littles
A nickname-based surname from the word for someone small, or from a house or family distinguished by that description.
The #9,998 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 95,765 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Littles is the pluralized form of Middle English little, meaning “small” or “young.” As a surname, it would originally have been a descriptive nickname for a small person, or for a family identified by that trait. In some cases, surnames of this type may also have arisen from a “Little” house-name or family group, with the final -s marking plurality or belonging.
History
Early surname writers treated Little and related forms as straightforward descriptive names, and Littles fits the same pattern. The plural form is less common than Little, but it appears in historical records, especially in Scotland and northern England, where closely related forms such as Liddell and Little are also well attested. Because surnames could shift in spelling over time, Littles may sometimes reflect a variant spelling or branch of a larger Little family.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century writers liked to joke that some “Littles” turned out to be very tall, since surnames based on nicknames often became ironic over generations.
From the historical record
“is with our ' Longmans ' and * Shortmans,' our * Biggs' and ' Littles,' and the endless others we shall speedily mention. Still these represent a better class of sur- names. As time wore on, and the nation became more refined, there was an attempt made, successful in many instances, to throw off the more…”
— English Surnames: their sources and significations