Quarles

English

Alternative forms

• (surname): Qualls

Etymology

From Old English hwerflas, plural form of hwerfel (“circle”), perhaps referred to an ancient circle of stones.

Proper noun

Quarles (countable and uncountable, plural Quarleses)

1. A hamlet in Holkham parish, North Norfolk district, Norfolk, England (OS grid ref TF883387).
2. An unincorporated community in Henry County, Missouri, United States.
3. A habitational surname from Old English.
   • 1843 October 16, Henry David Thoreau, “To Mrs. Emerson”, in F[ranklin] B[enjamin] Sanborn, editor, The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Familiar Letters, volume VI (Familiar Letters), Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin and Company, published 1906, →OCLC, page 112:

     I have been reading lately what of [Francis] Quarles's poetry I could get. He was a contemporary of [George] Herbert, and a kindred spirit.

4. A pseudonym of Edgar Allan Poe.

Derived terms

• Quarlesian

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Quarles is the 3631^st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 9780 individuals. Quarles is most common among Black/African American (51.21%) and White (42.8%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Quarles”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• L square