Baron is a title of nobility. In the kingdom of England, the medieval Latin word baro, baronis, was used originally to denote a tenant-in-chief of the early Norman kings, who held his lands by the feudal tenure of "barony", in Latin per baroniam, and who was entitled to attend the Great Council which by the 13th century had developed into the Parliament of England.

The title was quite common in most European countries often in a slightly modified form. In Italian, the word used was Barone. The corresponding title in the Holy Roman Empire was Freiherr.

The word baron comes from the Old French baron, from a Late Latin baro "man; servant, soldier, mercenary" (so used in Salic Law; Alemannic Law has barus in the same sense). Isidore in the 7th century thought the word was from Greek βαρύς "heavy" (because of the "heavy work" done by mercenaries), but the word is presumably of Old Frankish origin, cognate with Old English beorn meaning "warrior, nobleman"). Cornutus in the first century already reports a word barones which he took to be of Gaulish origin. He glosses it as meaning servos militum and explains it as meaning "stupid", by reference to classical Latin bāro "simpleton, dunce"; because of this early reference, the word has also been suggested to derive from an otherwise unknown Celtic *bar, but OED takes this to be "a figment".

Anna Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She rose to fame after her performance as Natalie Keener in Up in the Air, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her other work includes The Twilight Saga, Camp, Rocket Science, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 50/50, and the Broadway musical High Society.

Kendrick "caught the [acting] bug" at the age of 10, when she caught a bus from Portland, Maine, to New York City so that she could attend auditions. Kendrick's first acting role was as Dinah in the Broadway musical High Society in August 1998 when she was 12 years old, a performance for which she earned Theatre World Award, Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award nominations, making her the third-youngest Tony Award nominee.

Kendrick went on to appear in a number of other theater productions, including the musical A Little Night Music, before making her film debut in the 2003 musical comedy Camp, for which she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 2004 Chlotrudis Awards and Best Debut Performance Independent Spirit Award for her portrayal of Fritzi Wagner.