Power

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• Irish (Leinster and Munster) and English (of Norman origin) : habitational name for someone from Pois, a place in Picardy (said to have been named with Old French pois ‘fish’ because of its well-stocked river), from Old French Pohier ‘native of Pois’.
• English : nickname for a poor man, or ironically for a miser, from Middle English, Old French povre, poure ‘poor’ (Latin pauper). Woulfe gives this also as the meaning of the Norman Irish name, which in early records is found as le Poer, believing it to be a nickname for someone who has taken a vow of poverty.