Fitzwalter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname borne by a medieval English noble family, including a baron who led the rebel barons against King John
2. The name of a medieval English baronial house, whose best-known member opposed King John during the crisis of 1215
3. A historic English aristocratic surname, associated with a baron who helped lead the rebellion against King John

Etymology: Robert FitzWalter was a leading baron who opposed King John in the crisis that produced Magna Carta, and his family name has stayed attached to the barony ever since. The name itself is a patronymic: "fitz" comes from Anglo-Norman "fitz", meaning "son of", which descends from Latin "filius". The second element is "Walter", a personal name of Germanic origin, so the whole means "son of Walter". Such names were common among Norman families in England, where "fitz" turned a father's given name into a family surname. Here, the surname passed to the barony and then to the noble line that held it, which is why "FitzWalter" now refers to a family rather than to any one man.