Joshua Hyde

(male) Meaning ‘God is salvation’ in Hebrew; it is borne in the Bible by the Israelite leader who took command of the Children of Israel after the death of Moses and led them, after many battles, to take possession of the Promised Land. The name, long favoured by Jews and Nonconformist Christians, enjoyed a great surge in popularity in the 1990s. Well-known bearers of the name include the American pianist and conductor Joshua Rifkin (b. 1944) and the American-born violinist Joshua Bell (b. 1967).

1. English: topographic name for someone living on (and farming) a hide of land, Old English hī(gi)d. This was a variable measure of land, differing from place to place and time to time, and seems from the etymology to have been originally fixed as the amount necessary to support one (extended) family (Old English hīgan, hīwan ‘household’). In some cases the surname is habitational, from any of the many minor places named with this word, as for example Hyde in Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire, and Hampshire. The surname has long been established in Ireland.