From Middle English bolt meaning "bolt", "bar" (Old English bolt meaning "arrow"). In part this may have originated as a nickname or byname for a short but powerfully built person, in part as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of bolts. Usain Bolt is a bearer of this surname. He is from Jamaica and he is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977.