Poinsett
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names:
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Poinsett
Frequency: (195)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Altered spelling of French Poinset, from a derivative of Old French poinson ‘pointed instrument’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of any pointed instrument.
FOREBEARS: The poinsettia takes its name from an American diplomat, Joel Poinsett (1779-1851), who was a keen amateur botanist and who brought the flower back from Mexico, where he was the U.S. ambassador. He was born in Charleston, SC, and was descended from a Huguenot, Peter Poinset, who was born near La Rochelle, France, and settled in Charleston c.1700.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
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Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
Sumter
(city, South Carolina)
Joel Roberts Poinsett
(American statesman & politician)
The South Financial Group, Inc.
(Public Company)
» More