Type Surname (from given name)
Usage English (Canadian)
Meaning & History
This unusual and interesting name is of Italian, Latin origin, and derives from one of the earliest Roman names, "Horatius". The name is thought to mean something connected with "hora", the Latin for "hour", but the original meaning has been lost. The personal name is best known from Horatius Cocles, who held the bridge over the Tiber against the Etruscan army, as told by Macaulay in "lays of Ancient Rome", and from the great Latin poet "Horace", whose name was Quintus Horatius Flaccus.