Luke
Map of Lucania
Pronunciation	/luːk/
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/Name	Greek
Meaning	"Light"
Other names
Related names	Luc, Luca, Lucas, Lukas

Look up Luke in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Luke ( /ˈluːk/) is a male given name, and less commonly, a surname.

Some commentaries suggest that the name is drived from the Latin name Lucas, meaning 'man from Luciana, (a region of Italy). However, the earliest known recording of the name is from the Bible which was in existence before the Latin language was prominent. The Gospel of Luke, which was written around AD 70 to 90, and it is from here that the name was first popularised. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, was a physician who lived around AD 30 to 130 (exact years are not known), and he also wrote the Book of Acts in the Bible. Luke is also mentioned by the Apostle Paul in some of the letters Paul wrote to first-century churches.

Luke is the 21st most popular name for new babies in England and Wales,^[1] the 43rd most popular name for new babies in the United States,^[2] and the 2,105th most common surname in the US, with 15,000 people (0.006%) sharing the surname.^[3]

Variants in other languages[link]

• Afrikaans: Lukas
• Arabic: لوقا‎ (Lūqā)
• Albanian: Luka
• Armenian: Ղուկաս (Ghukas)
• Belarusian: Лука (Luka)
• Breton: Lukaz
• Bulgarian: Лука (Luka)
• Catalan: Lluc, Lluch
• Chinese: 卢克 (Lúkè)
• Czech: Lukáš
• Danish: Lukas
• Dutch: Lucas
• Esperanto: Luko
• Finnish: Luukas
• French: Luc, Lucas
• German: Lukas
• Greek:

  Ancient: Λουκᾶς (Loukas)

  Modern: Λουκάς

• Hakka: Lu-kâ
• Hebrew: לוקה ‎
• Croatian: Luka
• Hungarian: Lukács
• Icelandic: Lúkas
• Irish: Lúcás
• Italian: Luca
• Georgian: ლუკა (Luka)
• Latin: Lucas
• Macedonian: Лука (Luka)
• Maltese: Luqa
• Norwegian: Lukas
• Persian: لوکا ‎
• Piemontese: Luch
• Polish: Łukasz, Łukaszek
• Portuguese: Lucas
• Romanian: Luca
• Russian: Лука (Luka)
• Scottish Gaelic: Lùcas
• Slovak: Lukáš
• Slovene: Luka
• Serbian: Лука (Luka)
• Spanish: Lucas
• Swedish: Lukas
• Thai: ลูคา
• Turkish: Luka
• Ukrainian: Лука (Luka)
• Venetian: Łuca
• Welsh: Lŵc

People known as Luke[link]

• Luke the Evangelist, companion of Paul of Tarsus
• Vietnamese Martyrs, Luke Loan Ba Vu and Luke Thin Viet Pham
• Luke Brookshier (born 1971), American television writer and storyboard artist
• Luke Ford (born 1981), Australian actor
• Luke Gardiner, Irish landowner and politician
• Luke Goss (born 1968), singer and actor
• Luke Kelly (1940–1984), folk singer
• Luke Howard (1772–1864), manufacturing chemist and amateur meteorologist
• Luke Johnson, drummer for Lostprophets
• Luke Perry, American actor
• Luke Ravenstahl (born 1980), mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Luke Short, (1854–1893) cowboy and gunfighter
• Luke Skywalker, protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy
• Luke Tan, singer and songwriter
• Luke Temple, American pop-folk singer-songwriter
• Luke Watson, rugby player
• Luke Wilson (born 1971), actor
• Luke Wright (born 1985), English cricketer
• Luke Young (born 1979), English footballer
• Luther Campbell (born 1960), also known as Luke
• Steve Lukather (born 1957), also known as Luke
• Lucky Luke, a comic book character who is a cowboy
• Cool Hand Luke, a character played by Paul Newman

References[link]

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Luke Bryan
Bryan in April 2010
Background information
Birth name	Thomas Luther Bryan[1]
Born	(1976-07-17) July 17, 1976 (age 35)[2] Leesburg, Georgia, USA[3]
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, acoustic guitar
Years active	2005-present
Labels	Capitol Nashville
Associated acts	Billy Currington, Jason Aldean, Ash Bowers, Travis Tritt, Lady Antebellum, Jeff Stevens
Website	www.lukebryan.com

Luke Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country singer. Bryan began his musical career in the mid-2000s, writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington. After signing with Capitol Records Nashville in 2007, he released the album I'll Stay Me, which included the singles "All My Friends Say", "We Rode in Trucks" and "Country Man". Followup album Doin' My Thing included "Do I", which Bryan co-wrote with Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, and the number one singles "Rain Is a Good Thing" and "Someone Else Calling You Baby". Tailgates & Tanlines, released in 2011, includes "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)" and his third number one, "I Don't Want This Night to End". Bryan co-wrote all of his singles with the exception of "Drunk on You" and co-produced all three albums with Jeff Stevens.

Biography[link]

Bryan was born and raised in Leesburg, Georgia. At age fourteen, his parents bought him his first guitar, and after learning to play it, he joined various local bands and began to play in local clubs.^[3] After graduating Lee County High School, Bryan planned to move to Nashville, Tennessee; however, this move was delayed, due to the death of his brother, Chris, on the same day he planned to leave. Luke attended Georgia Southern University, and is a member of the Eta Zeta chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.^[4] After graduation Luke went to work for his dad, despite everyone encouraging him to move to Tennessee. His dad encouraged him to relocate and he arrived in Nashville in 2001, signing a record deal only two months later.^[5]

[edit] 2007-2008: I'll Stay Me

He moved to Nashville on September 1, 2001 and landed a deal as a songwriter within two months. In that time his first serious girlfriend was Terri Hasty. ^[3] Among his first cuts was the title track of Travis Tritt's 2004 album My Honky Tonk History.^[6] An A&R representative at Capitol Records saw Bryan perform at a club, and signed him to a recording contract. In the meantime, Bryan co-wrote Billy Currington's single "Good Directions", which went to number 1 on the Hot Country Songs charts in mid-2007.^[7] Bryan co-wrote his debut single, "All My Friends Say", with producer Jeff Stevens. This song reached a peak of number 5 on Hot Country Songs in mid-2007. In August 2007, Capitol released Bryan's debut album, I'll Stay Me.^[8] Bryan wrote or co-wrote all but one of its 11 songs. The album's second single, "We Rode in Trucks", peaked at number 33 in early 2008, while "Country Man" reached number 10.

Thom Jurek of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, considering Bryan's lyrics "in the mainline of honky tonk tradition" although he thought some of the sound was "calculated".^[8]

[edit] 2009-2010: Doin' My Thing

In March 2009, he released an exclusive EP to iTunes titled Spring Break With All My Friends that featured two new songs, "Sorority Girls" and "Take My Drunk Ass Home," plus an acoustic version of "All My Friends Say." After this EP, he released his fourth single, "Do I". Bryan wrote the song with Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum, whose lead singer Hillary Scott also sings backing vocals on it.^[9] It debuted at number 53 on the country singles charts dated for May 9, 2009 and reached number 2 in December, having been held from the Number One spot by Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now". "Do I" was included on Bryan's second album, Doin' My Thing, which was released in October 2009. Also included on the album was a cover of OneRepublic's "Apologize".^[10] Bryan wrote the album's next two singles, "Rain Is a Good Thing" and "Someone Else Calling You Baby", with Dallas Davidson and Jeff Stevens, respectively. Both of these songs went to number 1 on the country music charts.

Allmusic gave this album a positive review as well, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine considering Bryan more "relaxed" in comparison to his debut.^[10]

[edit] 2011-present: Tailgates & Tanlines

Bryan released his seventh single, "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)", to country radio on March 14, 2011. Also co-written by Bryan and Davidson, it served as the lead-off single to his third studio album, Tailgates & Tanlines, which was released August 13' 2011. The album debuted at number 1 on the Top Country Albums and number 2 on the Billboard 200. "Country Girl" peaked at number 4 on the country charts and number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bryan co-wrote the album's second single, "I Don't Want This Night to End", with Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip, who are collectively known as the Peach Pickers. In early 2012, this song became Bryan's third number 1. "Drunk On You" is the album's third single. On March 6, 2012, Bryan released his fourth Spring Break EP entitled Spring Break 4 ... Suntan City. Along with the title track, which Bryan co-wrote with Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip, the EP includes "Spring Breakup,"Little Bit Later On" and "Shake the Sand."^[11]

Personal life[link]

Luke Bryan married Caroline Boyer on Dec. 8, 2006. They welcomed a son, Thomas "Bo" Boyer in March of 2008.^[12] Their second son, Tatum "Tate" Christopher, was born in August of 2010.^[13]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

• ^ACurrent single.

Other charted songs[link]

Music videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]