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Seems possible, but this surname Fillister is extremely rare, Filister only being slightly more common, both surnames not as common as the very common surname Carpenter. I was unable to find any variants of British surname Fillister/Filister other than a more common surname Filliter, but I'm not sure if Filliter is a variant. If this surname was an occupational name, why is it such a rarity? I've only found at least 10 people in the census records of England. I've also came across the surname Phillister, but only 3 people had this surname in England, and they were from Durham. I'm leaning towards of another origin, possibly French, maybe an English form of French "fil laitière" meaning "over dairy". The surname Fillaiter also exist, but still very very rare, in the US. I don't know if the Fillaiters are related to the Fillisters of UK, or where they came from, departed from. With such rarity, it is hard to find its origin. I'll try to dig deeper...

This message was edited 7/27/2012, 7:59 PM