Horatio


Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin nomen ''Horatius, from the Roman gens Horatia. The modern Italian form is Orazio, the modern Spanish form Horacio''. It appears to have been first used in England in 1565, in the Tudor era during which the Italian Renaissance movement had started to influence the English culture. The name Horace is another related name from the same Latin source.

History

Prominent English-language examples of the name "Horatio" include:
Horatio de Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury, an English military leader, was one of the earliest English holders of the name, born 34 years before Shakespeare invented the character Horatio in his 1599/1601 play Hamlet. He was a grandfather of Horatio Townshend, 1st Viscount Townshend, whose son Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend married Dorothy Walpole, one of the latter's daughters and a sister of Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole . The name Horatio was subsequently much used by the Walpole family and by the 1st Baron Walpole's illustrious younger cousin Admiral Horatio Nelson, his father's great-great grandson, born one year after 1st Baron Walpole's death. The 1st Baron Walpole's son, Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, 2nd Baron Walpole served as a godfather at the christening of Admiral Horatio Nelson in 1758, who for that reason, as was common, was given his name. The Admiral died without issue, but his great-nephew Horatio Nelson, 3rd Earl Nelson carried on the name.

People