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Help[Surname] Re: Fillister
in reply to a message by Charls
I don't know where you picked up this fil laitière thing because it makes no sense in French since it literally means 'thread dairymaid'. If you're looking for the origin of Filliter, you'll find it at http://archive.org/stream/adictionaryengl00goog#page/n306/mode/2up. As for Fillaiter which is really Filliater, it's an Americanization of the French name Filliatre which comes from Old French fillastre 'son-in-law, stepson'.
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Oopsy, mistype there. I mean't Filliater, a french surname. Also, I thank you for clarifying that it doesn't make sense, which I had a feeling about. I was finding the French form of the English surname Filliater, and I thought "ter" might have ended in "tiere" as in Filliatiere, but after looking for more forms, I later found Filliatre, then Filliastre, then Fillastre. As you have said, it is from Old French fillastre, which is ultimately from Latin filius, meaning "a son". We both came to the same conclusion. As you can see, the Filliater and Fillisters of Ohio are related, and like you said, an American form of Fillastre. I believe this is also true with the Fillister of England, an English form of Fillastre.
This message was edited 7/28/2012, 8:44 PM
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