Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A male given name.
  • proper noun A patronymic surname.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun Norse chieftain who became the first duke of Normandy (860-931)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse Hrólfr, and from its Old French equivalent, cognates of Rudolph. Brought to England by the Normans, survived in surnames and was revived in the 19th century, partly due to its modern Scandinavian cognate.

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Examples

  • Caen, and a butcher called Rolf, to whom the King, mocking all chivalry, gave the gilt spurs before he started.

    The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay Maurice Hewlett 1892

  • Uncle Rolf is always up early, but he can't bear to have breakfast early.

    Queechy 1854

  • Call Rolf and warn him that Harcourt took a shuttle to the airport.

    Dark Warrior Untamed Alexis Morgan 2010

  • Call Rolf and warn him that Harcourt took a shuttle to the airport.

    Dark Warrior Untamed Alexis Morgan 2010

  • The state used the land to create a nature conservancy, known as the Rolf and Alexandra Kauka Wildlife Management Area.

    A Georgia Plantation 2009

  • Ignoring the smart of yesterday's wound, he snatched the sword Rolf held out to him, and started forward.

    The Thrall of Leif the Lucky 1893

  • And I was like, 'Oh, I had art with some guy called Rolf Harris' and she was like, 'Oh my God!'

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011

  • A greater chieftain of the Northmen than Hastings was soon to follow his example, and found Normandy in France; but before Rolf, that is, Rollo, came and gave the name of his race to a French province, the piratical.

    A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 1 1830

  • Sintram's cries called Rolf and other attendants into the hall; and only by great labour did their united efforts awake the lord of the castle.

    Sintram and His Companions Friedrich Heinrich Karl Freiherr de La Motte-Fouqu�� 1810

  • Except that there is no one from Dusseldorf called Rolf to cheer us up.

    The Guardian World News Larry Elliott, Charlie Brooker, Stuart Jeffries, G 2009

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