Dawes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name, most famously borne by Charles Gates Dawes, the American banker who shared the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize
2. A surname carried by several people, best known through Charles Gates Dawes, an American financier and former vice president
3. The family name of Charles Gates Dawes, an American banker and politician who won the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize

Etymology: "Dawes" is a surname, a patronymic formed from "Dawe," a diminutive of "David." In English naming practice, the "-s" ending added to a personal name meant "son of," so "Dawes" originally meant something like "David's son" or "the son of little David." The same pattern gave us surnames such as Williams, Roberts and Jones, which all began as a father's given name with an added "s." "Dawe" itself was a pet form of "David," the Hebrew name meaning "beloved." Diminutive forms of biblical names were common among English families, so a son of a man called "Dawe" might come to be known by the family name "Dawes" instead of by his father's first name. Over generations, the "son of" sense faded and the name simply became a hereditary surname.