[Surname] Re: Doubtfire
in reply to a message by Kelly R.
it appears there are people who have/had this name in real life:
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=6&fn=&ln=doubtfire&yr=1920
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=6&fn=&ln=doubtfire&yr=1920
Replies
Yes, it seems that there were 207 people of this name in Britain in 1998, and none anywhere else. Reaney and Wilson suggest that it's a nickname, doute-fire, meaning "fear fire"; alternatively "a late corruption of DOUGHTY". They list a Robert Doughtfire living in Lincolnshire in 1509.