Doves

Today I walked into Foyle's and left with a copy of the 1997 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames. Leisurely browsing through the pages, the name Culver caught my eye. I was actually looking for some intreresting English occupation names and believed that I had found one. A few seconds later, I realised that Culver was derived from the Old English word "culfre", meaning dove. The word was used as term of endearment. This sounded good and I started to think.

The German word for dove is "taube" and there are several persons named Taube in this world. If they got their name as a result of deserving endearment remains to be investigated. There are also regular Dove's in England. The name can be traced back to Old English "dufe" or Old Norse "dufa". In Scandinavia, there is a family name Dufva. It means dove but the endearment part is more uncertain here too. In England, however, the name was used as a name for someone gentle as a dove.

In Spanish, the dove is a "paloma". Seemingly, it has not stuck as a family name there although it is a popular song. In France, a dove is a "pigeon" if male and a "colombe" if female. Neither in France it is popular as a family name.

PS The picture is taken by Tim Fulbright who sold it on Shutterpoint.