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ArchivesRe: Fillister
in reply to a message by bluray
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
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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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