GAUNT. Like John, fourth son of Edward III., some families of this surname evidently derive it from the town of Gaunt, now Ghent, in Flanders. De Gaunt and Le Gaunt are both found in the H.R.; tlie latter form is probal;>ly from the personal peculiarity of the iirst bearer. Shakspeare makes John of Gaunt play upon his own name in Richard II. in tliis sense : —

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.