Etymology

Proper noun

1. A ducal title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the English and British royal families
3. .
4. A placename given to towns in countries settled by the British.

Quotations

• 1595 William Shakespeare: Third Part of King Henry the Sixth: Act II, Scene VI:

  Warwick. Richard, I will create thee Duke of Gloucester;

  And George, of Clarence; Warwick, as ourself,

  Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.

  Richard. Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester,

  For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous.

• 1847 William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, W. Orr July-December 1847, page 61 ( "The Aristocracy of Names"):

  There is one of the novels of Miss Edgeworth - we forget which - in which a gentleman of the name of Harvey figures as a hero. Harvey! Only fancy John, Peter, or William Harvey as the hero of a novel! But Miss Edgeworth was too well acquaintanced with the philosophy of names to commit such a blunder: she made the individual Clarence Harvey, and the name has never to this day been objected to even among the female teens.

• 1973 Agatha Christie: Postern of Fate: page 221:

  - - - Got rather a silly name. Like a hotel. You know, the Royal Clarence. That's his name. Clarence."