Calvin Smith

(male) From the French surname, used as a given name among Nonconformists in honour of the French Protestant theologian Jean Calvin (1509–64). The surname meant originally ‘little bald one’, from a diminutive of calve, a Norman and Picard form of French chauve ‘bald’. (The theologian was born in Noyon, Picardy.) Today the name possibly owes its popularity as much to the New York fashion designer Calvin Klein as to the theologian.

English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metalworking was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).