The surname Short is of English origin. It was a nickname for a person of low stature, derived from the Middle English ‘schort’, Old English ‘sceort’, short. The word nickname is derived from “an eke-name” or added name, and since surnames originated as added names for help in identification, all surnames are, in a sense, nicknames. In England and Scotland the name was descriptive of the original bearer. The most natural way of describing a man, to distinguish him from his fellows, was to give a pen-picture of his personal appearance, and particularly so if he possesed any outstanding physical peculiarity.The bearer of the name Short is actually able to know the prominent characteristic of a remote ancestor living at the time surnames were becoming fixed. The Irish have used the name as a translation of the Gaelic name Mac an Ghirr, ‘son of the short man’. This name dates back to the eleventh century were a Ordric Short is recorded in historical archives. The name evovled through Sceort, Scort, and le Sorte, until the modern form of the name was reached. One of the first …
Coat of arms: Gules a gri…