Surname Origins

[TeeDee]

I was thinking of how many English names ( I assume this also translates into most other cultures? ) often have a link to a trade of craft.

As a example - Smith , Cooper , Thatcher , Fletcher etc all have a rather obvious link that we are all aware of.

But I'm wondering what other less obvious names exist that relate a surname to trade/craft or skill - so as a less obvious example - Ostler


But what other names exist to less well known skills?

EDIT - I mean , I guess Ropemaking as an example was an important and skilled craft back in the day but what would be a related surname to ropemaking/rope maker?

 

[Pattree]

Fuller?

 

[Bhod]

Used to be one of my favourite drinking haunts years ago, the Ostlers in Leeds, great little pub.

I'll put forward - Wainright.

 

[TeeDee]

Fuller?

Excuse my ignorance but what is a Fuller ? Could you expand please.

 

[Bhod]

EDIT - I mean , I guess Ropemaking as an example was an important and skilled craft back in the day but what would be a related surname to ropemaking/rope maker?

Roper.

 

[Bhod]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a Fuller ? Could you expand please.

Cloth cleaner.

 

[TeeDee]

Roper.

Kinda obvious now you've mentioned that!!!

How about Sailmaker? Considering how many of our english language is derived from Naval enterprise there must be lots of related surnames.

 

[TeeDee]

Cloth cleaner.

I did not know that - thank you. But why or how does the word Fuller relate to cleaning cloth?

 

[Bhod]

From the Hebrew - Fool' er literally translated as "to trample" , ie the method they used to tread the cloth to clean it. (According to a quick internet search).

 

[HillBill]

Mine, being Hill... I can only wonder. One of several options present themselves. When the first census came about, they either lived on one, wanted to live on one, or could see one. Being a Yorkshireman, all are equally as likely as the others.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Weaver, Mason, Cartwright, Farrier, all pretty self evident. Chandler, candle maker I think, Banister, basket maker, Barker, like Tanner, someone who tans hides (oak bark), Wayne, like Cartwright, a maker of carts.

 

[HillBill]

Weaver, Mason, Cartwright, Farrier, all pretty self evident. Chandler, candle maker I think, Banister, basket maker, Barker, like Tanner, someone who tans hides (oak bark), Wayne, like Cartwright, a maker of carts.

So, where does Claycomb come from? Combed a lot of clay when you made your forum name? Razor clam hunter? Ragworm dredger?

 

[squishy]

My family (Bills) were makers of axes/billhooks/polearms etc.

 

[TeeDee]

My surname is One that apparently shares its meaning with that of Shakespeare.

"The surname Wagstaffe, chiefly found in the English Midlands and in Yorkshire, originated as an occupational nickname for a bailiff, catchpoll, beadle or some other medieval officer of the law who carried a staff, and shook it for effect. The derivation is from the Middle English "wag(gen), to brandish, shake, a development of the Olde English "wagian", with "staff", a staff, rod, from the Olde English "staef". A quotation from the medieval writer, Coverdale, reads, "Be not afrayde for the Kinge of the Assirians - he shal wagg his staff at thee"."

 

[Toddy]

Telfer....armourer.
Hackney....the surname of the men who bred and trained the gentle walking horses for ladies or well to do elderly....now used as a hackney cab.

 

[Chris]

From the Hebrew - Fool' er literally translated as "to trample" , ie the method they used to tread the cloth to clean it. (According to a quick internet search).

Trampled in stale urine, for a bonus Fuller Fact. I saw Tony Robinson very sportingly give it a go once.

 

[k9trev]

Mills , Miller or somebody who lived near a mill

 

[C_Claycomb]

So, where does Claycomb come from? Combed a lot of clay when you made your forum name? Razor clam hunter? Ragworm dredger?

Anglicisation of a German name when they emigrated to the USA in mid 1700s. Back before the internet existed I was told it was Kleckham, now with the internet the spelling might have been different, Kleikam.
The current (probably AI generated) explanation that it is old English and related to clay soil and a hill is BS, on the basis that if that were true there would be quite a few in the UK, but there are almost none. I have never seen another. I used to look for the name in phone books. In the US it’s rare, and concentrated in the area that my dad’s family lived.

 

[TeeDee]

Anglicisation of a German name when they emigrated to the USA in mid 1700s. Back before the internet existed I was told it was Kleckham, now with the internet the spelling might have been different, Kleikam.
The current (probably AI generated) explanation that it is old English and related to clay soil and a hill is BS, on the basis that if that were true there would be quite a few in the UK, but there are almost none. I have never seen another. I used to look for the name in phone books. In the US it’s rare, and concentrated in the area that my dad’s family lived.

I do wonder if it may be related to that of someone that simply digs out clay and prepares it for a potter? Pretty sure there would be a logistical chain of processes and people to any end product.

 

[TeeDee]

Telfer....armourer.
Hackney....the surname of the men who bred and trained the gentle walking horses for ladies or well to do elderly....now used as a hackney cab.

Telfer.. interesting and would we know any idea of the etymological reasoning for that ? If i look at the word it sounds more germanic so maybe its a corruption of something?