There are lots of last names like "Small", "Short", and "Little" but none like "Tall" or "Big"

I wonder why Edit: interesting, this seems to be mainly an English phenomenon, a lot of examples but they are all from other languages. The exception being Biggs, although I've never met a Biggs.

50 points · 36 comments · view on lemmy.world

36 Comments

NegentropicBoy@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 72d (3 replies)

Interesting observation!

Gross, Langemann, Legrande?

Armstrong also.

TwoTiredMice@feddit.dk · 2 pts · 71d

Fun fact, in Danish, we call the middle finger langemand.

LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 71d (1 reply)

Yeah I did think of Armstrong, although that's not quite rhe same thing. Still a pretty sweet last name though I feel like you kinda have to be some kind of craftsman with a name like that.

helix@feddit.org · 2 pts · 67d

Or a wrestler

teft@piefed.social · 21 pts · 72d (3 replies)

The last name Grant comes from French and means grand or big or giant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_(surname)

Agent641@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 71d

As we know, Ariana Grande is 6'8" and has biceps like a regular man's thighs.

MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io · 1 pts · 72d
helix@feddit.org · 1 pts · 67d

So Hugh Grant is just a large large person?

lettruthout@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 72d (1 reply)

Yeah, but there is “Grossman”. In German “gross” or “groß” means big.

poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 pts · 71d

Also Dick, as in Philip K. Dick. In German Dick = thick = fat

ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 72d (1 reply)

Long?

leadore@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 72d

Yes, Long meant tall in Old English and Old French.

schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de · 10 pts · 71d (1 reply)

Maybe not in English? Plenty of people are named Groß in the German speaking world.

ValiantDust@feddit.org · 7 pts · 71d

Yeah, I don't think Groß (big) and Lang (long) are any less common than Klein (small) and Kurz (short)

finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 71d (1 reply)

Nonsense. There's the famous John Bigbooté.

db2@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 71d

No matter where you go, there you are.

lonefighter@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 71d

Biggs is a surname

FanciestPants@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 71d

Ariana

DrunkenPirate@feddit.org · 6 pts · 71d

In my German region are many family names called „Lange“ „Langer“ „Langes“ which means tall guy.

halfeatenpotato@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 71d

Last name Grande in spanish is "large"

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 71d (1 reply)

Long, Large, Biggs, Tall are all English surnames

LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 70d

True, I did think of Long, although the etymology of that one isn't always clear. For Irish people apparently "Long" is derived from the Gaelic word for seafarer.

arctanthrope@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 72d

the surname Homan is sometimes derived from old German "hoh mann" which is literally "tall man" (hoh is related to high)

Dicska@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 71d

'Nagy' (which is one syllable, and 'gy' means something like a voiced, wet 'd', like the mid section of your tongue against the roof of your mouth) is one of the most common Hungarian surnames. It means 'big'. I have never heard of (the equivalent of) 'Tall', but 'Long' exists.

paraplu@piefed.social · 3 pts · 71d

The 10th most common surname in the Netherlands is de Groot, which means the Big.

Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 71d

Tangentially related... nicknames for tall. I have always like "stretch". And of course calling a big man tiny is just great.

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 3 pts · 71d

"Mr. Big"

Mesophar@pawb.social · 2 pts · 71d

I had a teacher with the surname "Sizemore"

TwoTiredMice@feddit.dk · 2 pts · 71d

Høj (meaning tall) is a fairly common last name in Danmark.

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 70d

The exception being Biggs, although I've never met a Biggs.

1000004112

altphoto@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 70d

What about Fred Bigass?

executivechimp@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 71d

There is the occasional Wide or Large.

orenj@leminal.space · 1 pts · 71d

You must've not played many Final Fantasy's. Or watched a Star War.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 1 pts · 71d (1 reply)

I knew a guy with the last name of long.

MangoCats@feddit.it · 1 pts · 71d

Mr. Biggs would like a word, too.

Chewbaccabra@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 71d

Cel-Mare in Romania aka "the big one".

Apologies if mistranslated. I'm not Romanian but I work with a lot of em and one of them has that last name as well as a candy bar there.