Ladd

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English origin, notably borne by the American film actor Alan Ladd
2. A surname carried by a number of people, most famously the Hollywood star Alan Ladd of the mid twentieth century
3. An English family name, best known through the American screen actor Alan Ladd who starred in many classic films

Etymology: The spelling "ladd" is an older or dialect variant of "lad," and the word's first sense was not "boy" but "servant" or "attendant." Its earliest English records, from around 1300, use it for a menial worker or a young man in service, and the sense of a youth in general came later. The word's origin is uncertain. Scholars have proposed Low German or Dutch sources, but no proposed source is firmly established. The Scots diminutive "laddie," which adds the affectionate suffix "-ie," shows how the word became a familiar term for a boy or young man, often used with warmth or a touch of familiarity. The form "ladd" survives mainly in older texts and in some regional spellings, while "lad" became the standard form in English.