The AWAD site this week is devoted to words relating to archery. I learned that a Fletcher is a maker of arrows, from Middle English fleccher, from Old French flechier, from fleche (arrow).
Other professions that mostly survive as surnames. AWAD includes: Webster a weaver, Napier one in charge of the table linen at a royal estate— hence napkin, and Cooper a maker or repairer of casks or
barrels. Any other ideas or examples on this theme?

Baxter 'a female baker', Baker 'a baker', Dempster 'a female judge' (from to deem 'judge'), Brewster 'a female brewer'. The -ster suffix, as I've said in another thread, was originally an indication of feminine nominal agent, but came to be reanlyzed (which, too, has been discussed in another thread) as -s-ter (cf. French -teur) as a masculine nominal agent; then -ess was added to the newly masculated feminine endings, as in seemstress.

I'll hit some obvious ones:
Carpenter, Butcher, Miller, Smith, Seaman, Fisher, Gardener, Plumber.

Maybe Parsons, Taylor, Piper?

And then there's Hooker. A heritage of rug makers, I'm sure.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: saranita,

Oh, I forgot to mention that Cooper is the English translation of German Faßbinder. (I always wanted Rainer Werner to make a film starring Gary.) An some others: Clarke (Clerk), Dean (Deacon), and Bishop. While many English surnames come from professions, I'd say that more come from placenames (York(e)) and personal attributes (Armstrong).

[QUOTE]Originally posted by zmjezhd:

Good list ZMJ. Many come from family names: Johnson, Jackson, Wilson; and of course place names: Coventry, London, Washington etc.
I was more interested in the job names.

Off the top of my head I can think of Thatcher, Butcher, Baker, the ubiquitous Smith, Reeve, Palmer (originally a pilgrim who carried a palm branch to indicate the fact), Cooper (who made barrels) and Carpenter.

Wheelwright, Cartwright, Wright, Chandler, Barber, Wagner.

Wainwright too, and Cook, Farmer, Hunter, Sargent, Dyer, Ostler, Collier and (I presume) Dwyer and Sandler.

And how could we have omitted King?

Porter?

Weaver, Lord, Knight, Tanner, Skinner. (Cutler?)

As you walk along the board sidewalk in downtown Pahoa, Hawaii, you might see the sign indicating the location of Dr. Lozano's office.

Spanish ... "lo sano" = "I heal it."

quote:

The AWAD site this week is devoted to words relating to archery.

And what a forgettable site that is.

Oh, and of course there is always my profession, the nurse. No wonder 93% of our nurses are women.

The very first name in this thread was Fletcher (arrowmaker), and arrows point me to Archer and Bowman. Another is Abbot.

MacTaggert is 'son of a priest' in Gaelic.

Shame we don't have some modern ones, Sharon Computerprogrammer, Joseph Carsalesman, Elizabeth Electrician, Colin Vandriver for example!

quote:

Originally posted by Erik Johansen:
Shame we don't have some modern ones, Sharon Computerprogrammer, Joseph Carsalesman, Elizabeth Electrician, Colin Vandriver for example!

Is the last one Dutch by any chance?

Yeah there's always the old joke about someone being so thick he thinks Hertz Van Rental is a Dutch footballer...
Our own names and occupations maybe? Mine would then be Erik Remover which sadly sounds like some sort of cleaner- "Got those stubborn eriks? Then dab on profusely then buff with a soft cloth to achieve a brilliant finish!".
Richard Invigilator sounds pretty formidable though.

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
MacTaggert is 'son of a priest' in Gaelic.

Forgive me for being dense, but am I correct in understanding that priests are not permitted to marry? In other words, that the name means "bastard"?

Mason

Forgive me for being dense, but am I correct in understanding that priests are not permitted to marry?

Yhey might've had priest before Christianity was introduced to the islands. Also, there are some churches, in the East, that are in full communion with the Roman Catholic church, the Melkites and the Marionites, which allow married men to take holy orders.

Mason, Brickman, Coleman, and Potter

quote:

Originally posted by KHC:
Mason, Brickman, Coleman, and Potter

No. Potter can't be right. I assume you meant someone who makes or fashions pots. The only currently acceptable meaning is an adolescent apprentice in skills magical and fantastical. The work of apprentices is not deemed adequate for admission to the RFPN ( Royal Faculty of Professional Nosology).

quote:

Originally posted by Hic et ubique:

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
MacTaggert is 'son of a priest' in Gaelic.

Forgive me for being dense, but am I correct in understanding that priests are not permitted to marry? In other words, that the name means "bastard"?

Mason

Well, Protestant priests can marry, at least these days. According to something I read Catholic priests at one time COULD marry but the Church was rather unhappy at the priests worldly goods being left to any children rather than them so changed the 'rules'- anyone confirm this?

We'd given brainpower a chance, so I thought it was time to turn to the web for more. To my surprise, there seems to be no site collecting surnames of this sort.

Here is our list to date (55 items), consolidated and alphabetized so you can conveniently see if we don't already have something that occurs to you.

Abbot; Archer; Baker; Barber; Baxter (female baker); Bowman; Brewster (female brewer); Brickman; Butcher; Carpenter; Cartwright; Chandler; Clarke (Clerk); Coleman; Collier; Cook; Cooper (barrels); Cutler?;

Dean (deacon); Dempster (a female judge); Dwyer?; Dyer; Farmer; Fisher; Fletcher (arrows); Gardener; Hunter; King; Knight; Lord;

Mason; Miller; Napier (table linen at a royal estate); Ostler (innkeeper); Palmer; Piper; Plumber; Parsons; Porter?; Potter; Reeve;

Sandler?; Sargent; Seaman; Skinner; Smith; Tanner; Taylor; Thatcher; Wagner; Wainwright; Weaver; Webster (weaver); Wheelwright; Wright

quote:

the name means "bastard"?

It's my understanding that "Fitz" originally meant "natural son," i.e. "bastard."

I've just thought of Shepherd, Deacon, Beadle, Bowyer, Butler and Baillie (from Bailiff).

As for "fitz", I've just found this site, which says:

"Fitz: a Norman-French word derived from the Latin word filius ("son"). It was used in patronymics by thousands of men in the early Norman period in Ireland (e.g. fitz Stephen, fitz Richard, fitz Robert, fitz William) and only on some occasions did it become used as an actual surname, the most famous example being the FitzGerald Earls of Kildare. Yet well into the 17th and 18th century it was used in certain areas dominated by the Old English of Ireland in its original form, as a patronymic. The Tribes of Galway were especially good at conserving this form, with examples such as John fitz John Bodkin and Michael Lynch fitz Arthur, used even as late as the early 1800's. Despite claims to the contrary, the use of Fitz in a surname never denoted illegitimacy. This misunderstanding may have originated because a number of illegitimate members of the British royal family were given such surnames: some of the illegitimate children of King Charles II were named FitzCharles or FitzRoy ("son of the King"); those of King James II were named FitzJames; those of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews (later King William IV) were named FitzClarence."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dianthus,

quote:

Originally posted by shufitz:
We'd given brainpower a chance, so I thought it was time to turn to the web for more. To my surprise, there seems to be no site collecting surnames of this sort.

I found this site which, while not being specifically for surnames, does list many occupations which are still in current use as surnames.

Anglo-Morman fitz is cognate with French fils /fis/, as Di says, both from Latin filius 'som'.