Short
A nickname surname for someone of short stature, with a likely secondary use in Ireland as an English form of Gaelic names meaning “short.”
The #581 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,372 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Short comes from Middle English and Old English words meaning “short” or “small in stature.” As a surname, it was first used as a nickname for a person of below-average height. Irish sources also note that Short has sometimes been used as an English rendering of Gaelic surnames based on gearr, “short,” such as Mac Ghiarr/Mac Gearr.
History
The name is well established in England and appears in early records there, and later spread widely through Britain and beyond. In Ireland, it can represent either an English surname carried over from settlement or an anglicized form of native Gaelic names with the same sense. The surname remains common in the English-speaking world today.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older surname guides note that Irish Short can sometimes stand in for Gaelic Mac Ghiarr, showing how one English spelling could mask a native Irish origin.
From the historical record
“a rock] SHORT "1 (Eng.) Little [M.E. s(f)hort, O.'E. SHORTTj scl,e)ori\ See the note under Shorting. In Ireland, ' Short ' has sometimes been used to represent the synonymous Ir. Gearr (or McGirr). SHORTALLl (Eng.) Dweller at the SHORT SHORTELL/NoOK [O.E. sc(e)ort, short -|-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)