Large is an English surname, with variants including, but not limited to Lardge, Lurge, and Larg. Its meaning is variable, though it may derive from the Norman French adjective, large (meaning "generous" or "big" ), as it is found in the surname "le Large" in English records dating back as far as the 13th century. Harrison's work on English surnames gives the following: "LARGE (adjectival: French, Latin) BIG; GENEROUS abundant, liberal]"
He gives an early citation for the name: Austin Belz from the Hundred Rolls, a reference dating to 1273.
He also provides a quotation showing the word in its older sense of generous, full, liberal or ample in its literary context:
So large of yift and free was she (from Chaucer's Romance of the Rose I168)
Another variant surname, "de Large", appears to be continental European rather than English in origin.
Henry Brougham Guppy's survey circa 1881, based on local British directories, places Large as a surname local to North Wiltshire, and considers it to have particular prevalence among yeoman farmers.(Guppy, 1890)
According to the International Genealogical Index, the surname is also found in many other English counties; in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other English language countries; in France and Germany, and, more rarely, in the Scandinavian countries. Large is also found in Latin America countries such as Colombia where all families surnamed Large are related.
People with the name Large, or one of its variants, include:
Read more about Large: People
Famous quotes containing the word large:
“A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“In Europe art has to a large degree taken the place of religion. In America it seems rather to be science.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“If the hero is not a person, the emblem
Of him, even if Xenophon, seems
To stand taller than a person stands, has
A wider brow, large and less human
Eyes and bruted ears: the man-like body
Of a primitive.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)