English

Proper noun

Hugh

1. A male given name.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II: Scene 2:

     I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself.

   • 1600 Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday:

     Cold's the wind, and wet's the rain, / Saint Hugh be our good speed. / Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain, / Nor helps good hearts in need.

   • 1894 W. H. Miller, J. Mcaulauy, W. Stevens, The Leisure Hour, Richard Jones (1894), page 651:

     "You are engaged to Mr. Harden, I suppose?" "Yes, Mr. Harden. I call him Hugh, his second name. I like the name of Hugh. The exquisite long vowel pleases me―Hugh! Hugh!".

   • 1996 Ian Rankin, Let It Bleed, Thorndike Press (2000), ISBN 0786226773, page 68:

     Hugh McAnally was universally known as "Wee Shug". He didn't know why people called Hugh always ended up nicknamed Shug.

   • 2011 Hughie Boy Levoy, Chicago Kid, Xlibris Corporation, ISBN 1462853404, page 151:

     What I had noticed all of my young life, from as early as five years old, was that very few people outside my family knew how to pronounce my name―or spell it. "Hue, Hug, Huge, Huh, Hugo. Everything but my name, HUGH!" - - - I grew up thinking that I was the only Hugh in the world, and all my life I'll be meeting people who will have trouble pronouncing my name.

2. (rare compared to given name) A patronymic surname​.

Usage notes

• Has been used as a transliteration of Aodh, and of other Gaelic names, in Scotland and Ireland.
• Popular given name in medieval England, partly due to the fame of Saint Hugh, bishop of Lincoln. In quiet use today, more common in the U.K. and Ireland than in the U.S.A.

Related terms

• pet forms: Huey, Hughie
• variant: Hugo

See also

• Shug

Translations