Ball (surname)
Ball is an English surname that has multiple potential origins, as do quite a few other short surnames:
- one origin suggests that Ball is a shortened form, a "favorite contraction", of the given name Baldwin, dating "from Norman times"
- another purported origin is related to living near a "knoll or rounded hill"
- the surname may also descend from the Old Norse personal name "Balle"
- it could be a toponymic surname, related to Ball, Cornwall, England
List of people with the surname
Arts and music
see Writing and education below for writers- Alan Ball
- Angeline Ball, actor
- Ashleigh Ball , Canadian voice actor and musician
- Christopher Ball, British composer
- David Ball , English electronic musician, member of Soft Cell, The Grid
- David Ball , American country singer
- Dave Ball , guitarist formerly of Procol Harum, Bedlam, Long John Baldry, etc.
- Dave "Taif" Ball, British bass guitarist with metal bands Killing Joke and Voodoocult
- Ed Ball , English singer-songwriter, musician and businessman
- Estil C. Ball, American folk musician
- John Ball , American Christian musician
- Kenny Ball, English jazz musician
- Kirsnick Ball, American rapper known professionally as Takeoff
- Lucille Ball, American comedian and actor
- Marcia Ball, American blues singer and pianist
- Martin Ball, English actor
- Martin J. Ball, Welsh professor
- Michael Ball , English actor and singer
- Roger Ball, industrial designer
- Nicholas Ball , English actor
- Robert Ball , British artist
- Bobby Ball, English comedian
- Sonja Ball, Canadian voice actor
- Thomas Ball , American sculptor
- Walter Ball
- Wilfrid Ball, British painter
- William Ball, American stage director
- Zoë Ball, English radio and television personality
Business
- Decimus Alfred Ball, British slumlord
- Edmund Ball, American entrepreneur, one of the Ball Brothers
- Edward Ball , American businessman and political figure
- Ernie Ball, American entrepreneur, musician, and guitar innovator
- Frank Ball, American entrepreneur, one of the Ball Brothers
- Harvey Ball, American entrepreneur; earliest known designer of the Smiley
Media
- Dave Ball, competitor
- Johnny Ball, English children's television presenter
- Krystal Ball, American political pundit, host of Rising with The Hill's Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
- Molly Ball, American political journalist and writer
Military
- Albert Ball, English World War I fighter pilot; recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Alexander Ball, English admiral of the Royal Navy and Governor of Malta
- Henry Lidgbird Ball, British Royal Navy officer who discovered and explored Lord Howe Island
- William L. Ball III, United States Secretary of the Navy
Politics, law, and diplomacy
- Bartholomew Ball, Mayor of Dublin 1553-1554
- Edward Ball , American national politician
- Gregory R. Ball, American state politician
- Hiram J. Ball, American state politician and farmer
- John Ball , English Member of Parliament for Norwich
- John Ball , American soldier and politician
- John Thomas Ball, Irish barrister and politician, MP for Dublin University 1868–1875
- John Ball , American pioneer and state politician
- Joseph H. Ball, American journalist and national politician
- L. Heisler Ball, American physician and national politician
- Mottrom D. Ball, American government official
- Nicholas Ball , Mayor of Dublin 1582–1583
- Nicholas Ball , Irish barrister
- Robert James Ball, Canadian politician
- Thomas Henry Ball, American national politician
- Thomas R. Ball, U.S. Representative from Connecticut
- Walter Ball , Mayor of Dublin 1580-1581
- Whitney Lynn Ball, American philanthropist
- William Lee Ball, Virginia congressman
- William Macmahon Ball, Australian academic and diplomat
Religion
- David Ball , Episcopal bishop of Albany, NY
- David Standish Ball, American Episcopal bishop
- John Ball , British Anglican bishop
- John Ball , African-American minister from Nova Scotia
- John Ball , English Presbyterian minister
- John Ball , English radical priest and leader of 1381 Peasants' Revolt
- Margaret Ball, beatified by the Roman Catholic Church as martyr of the faith
- Michael Ball , English Anglican clergyman; former Bishop of Truro
- Peter Ball , disgraced former Bishop of Lewes and twin brother of Michael Ball
Sciences and mathematics
- Alice Ball, chemist; invented the Ball Method for treating leprosy
- Benjamin Ball , English-born French psychiatrist
- Bobby Ball , American racing driver
- Catherine Ball, English-Australian businesswomen involved in making drones
- Elmer Darwin Ball, American entomologist
- Ernest Aubrey Ball, American botanist
- George Ball , American entomologist
- John M. Ball, British mathematician
- John Ball , American cognitive scientist
- John Ball , English geologist
- John Ball , Irish naturalist and politician, MP for County Carlow 1857–1880
- Keith Martin Ball, English mathematician
- Leo Anton Karl de Ball, German-Austrian astronomer
- Loren C. Ball, American astronomer
- Mary Ball, Irish naturalist and entomologist
- Robert Ball , Irish naturalist
- Robert Stawell Ball, Irish astronomer
- Webb C. Ball, American railroad engineer who established the first rules for railroad chronometers
- William Ball , British astronomer; founder Fellow of the Royal Society
Sports
- Alan Ball, Jr., English professional footballer and football club manager
- Alan Ball, Sr., English professional footballer and football club manager
- Alan Ball
- Alan Ball , American Olympic weightlifter
- Alf Ball , English footballer
- Alf Ball , English footballer
- Allan Ball, English footballer with Queen of the South
- Arnie Ball, American volleyball coach; father of Lloy Ball
- Ashleigh Ball , English field hockey player
- Bobby Ball , American racecar driver
- Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player
- Catie Ball, American Olympic swimmer
- Chris Ball, American football coach and former player
- Daniel Ball, Canadian Hockey Goaltender
- Dave Ball , American football player
- David Ball , English footballer
- David Ball , American football player
- David Ball, British sport shooter
- Eric Ball , American football player
- Jeff Ball , baseball player
- John Ball , English amateur golfer; winner of The Open Championship
- Jack Ball , English footballer for Bury and England
- Jack Ball , English football forward
- Jack Ball , English football goalkeeper
- John Ball , English footballer for Bolton Wanderers
- John Ball , American footballer for Rochester Rhinos
- Kevin Ball, soccer player
- A family of American sportspeople:
- * LaVar Ball, football player, father of the following basketball players:
- * Lonzo Ball
- * LiAngelo Ball
- * LaMelo Ball
- Lloy Ball, American volleyball player
- Luke Ball, Australian rules footballer
- Michael Ball , English professional footballer
- Montee Ball, American professional football player
- Neal Ball, baseball player
- Neiron Ball, American football player
- Phil Ball , college football coach
- Phil Ball , owner of the St. Louis Terriers
- Reggie Ball, American professional football player
- Robert Ball , Australian lawn bowler
- Robert Ball , Australian judoka
- Rudi Ball, German-South African; only athlete of Jewish descent to represent Germany in the 1936 Winter Olympic Games; Hall of Fame
- Sam Ball, NFL lineman
- Walter Ball , Negro League baseball player
- William Ball, English footballer
Writing and education
- Catherine Ball, known as the Baroness de Calabrella, British writer and newspaper owner
- Clifford Ball, author
- David W. Ball, American novelist
- Donna Ball, writer
- Edward Ball
- Hugo Ball, German author and poet
- Isabel Worrell Ball, American journalist and editor
- John Ball , English author and scholar
- John Ball , American explorer
- John Ball , American novelist
- Phil Ball , British writer based in Spain
- Philip Ball, English science writer
- Samuel Ball , Australian education researcher
Other
- Edward Hughes Ball, later Edward Hughes Ball Hughes or "The Golden Ball", British dandy
- Helen Ball, senior British police officer
- Martha Violet Ball, American educator, philanthropist, activist, writer, editor
- Mary Ball Washington mother of George Washington
- Robert M. Ball, American Social Security official
- Robert W. Ball, Canadian naval architect
- Ron Ball, British Police and Crime Commissioner