Little

Family name origins & meanings

• English : nickname for a small man, or distinguishing epithet for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, from Middle English littel, Old English l̄tel, originally a diminutive of l̄t (see Light 3).
• Irish : translation of Gaelic Ó Beagáin ‘descendant of Beagán’ (see Begin).
• Translation of French Petit and Lepetit; also used as an English form of names such as Jean-Petit ‘little John’.
• Translation of any of various other European name meaning ‘little’.