English

Proper noun

Humphrey

1. A male given name.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part 2: Act I, Scene I:

     I never saw but Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, / Did bear him like a noble gentleman.

   • 1988 Howard Engel: A Victim Must Be Found: page 70:

     "Hump?" I asked. "Humphrey, really. But everybody callls him Hump. I know a lot of people who avoid calling him by his first name. For a long time people didn't think it was quite proper. But nowadays nobody seems to mind. What's happening to the power of words, Benny? Time was I used to blush at the words scrawled on the fences, and now I hear them - everywhere. How are writers going to write books if language is going bland on them?"

2. A patronymic surname​.

Derived terms

• Humpty Dumpty

References

1. ↑ Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges : A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press 1988.