Gwinett

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia, named after a famous colonial figure ; Button Gwinnett, a planter who signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776
2. A county in the U.S. state of Georgia, around the Atlanta metropolitan area ; Button Gwinnett, a colonial planter and political figure who signed the Declaration of Independence
3. Gwinnett County, a populous Georgia county northeast of Atlanta ; Button Gwinnett, an eighteenth-century Georgian who put his name to the Declaration of Independence

Etymology: Button Gwinnett, a merchant who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, is the reason this name appears on maps. He was born in England and settled in Georgia, where he rose to political prominence before his life ended in a duel with a rival, Lachlan McIntosh. He died of his wounds a few days later. Georgia later named a county after him, and the surname now belongs to that place as much as to the man. His signature is among the rarest on the Declaration because he signed so few documents in his short career, so surviving examples of his handwriting are highly prized by collectors.