Browse Surnames

This is a list of surnames in which the usage is English; and the categories include occupations.

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Bailey English
From Middle English baili meaning "bailiff", which comes via Old French from Latin baiulus "porter".

Baker English
Occupational name meaning "baker", derived from Middle English bakere.

Bannerman English
Variant of Banner.

Barber English, Scottish
Indicated a barber, one who cut hair for a living, ultimately from Latin barba "beard".

Brewer English
Occupational name for a maker of ale or beer.

Brewster English
Variant of Brewer, originally a feminine form of the occupational term.

Butcher English
Occupational name for a butcher, derived from Old French bouchier.

Cannon English
From the ecclesiastical usage of canon, referring to a church official or servant who worked in a clergy house.

Carman 1 English
Occupational name for a carter, from Middle English carre "cart" (of Latin origin) and man "man".

Carpenter English
From the occupation, derived from Middle English carpentier (ultimately from Latin carpentarius meaning "carriage maker").

Carter English
Occupational name for a person who operated a cart to transport goods, from Norman French caretier. A famous bearer is the former American president Jimmy Carter (1924-).

Carver English
Occupational surname for a carver, from Middle English kerve "cut".

Chancellor English
Occupational name for an administrator, a chancellor, from Norman French chancelier.

Chandler English
Occupational name meaning "candle seller" or "candle maker" in Middle English, ultimately derived from Latin candela via Old French.

Chase English
Occupational name for a hunter, from Middle English chase "hunt".

Constable English
From Old French conestable, ultimately from Latin comes stabuli meaning "officer of the stable".

Cook English
Derived from Old English coc meaning "cook", ultimately from Latin coquus. It was an occupational name for a cook, a man who sold cooked meats, or a keeper of an eating house.

Cookson English
Patronymic form of Cook.

Cooper English
Means "barrel maker", from Middle English couper.

Dwerryhouse English
Indicated a person who worked or lived at a dyehouse, which is a place where dyeing was done.

Farmer English
Occupational name for a tax collector, from Middle English ferme "rent, revenue, provision", from medieval Latin firma, ultimately from Old English feorm. This word did not acquire its modern meaning until the 17th century.

Fiddler English
English form of Fiedler.

Fisher English, Jewish
Cognate of Fischer.

Fishman English
Occupational name for a fisherman.

Fletcher English
Occupational name for a fletcher, someone who attached feathers to the shaft of an arrow. It is derived from Old French fleche meaning "arrow".

Forester English
Denoted a keeper or one in charge of a forest, or one who has charge of growing timber in a forest (see Forest).

Gardener English
Occupational surname for one who was a gardener, from Old French jardin meaning "garden" (of Frankish origin).

Hall English, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Means simply "hall", given to one who either lived in or worked in a hall (the house of a medieval noble).

Harper English
Originally belonged to a person who played the harp or who made harps.

Hayward English
Occupational name for a person who protected an enclosed forest, from Old English hæg "enclosure, fence" and weard "guard".

Hooper English
Occupational name for someone who put the metal hoops around wooden barrels.

Hopper English
Occupational name for an acrobat or a nickname for someone who was nervous or restless. A famous bearer was the American actor Dennis Hopper (1936-2010).

Hunter English, Scottish
Occupational name that referred to someone who hunted for a living, from Old English hunta.

Jardine English, Scottish
Means "garden", denoting someone who worked as a gardener.

Kellogg English
Occupational name for a pig butcher, from Middle English killen "to kill" and hog "pig, swine, hog".

Kitchens English
Variant of Kitchen.

Knight English
From Old English cniht meaning "knight", a tenant serving as a mounted soldier.

Marshall English
Derived from Middle English mareschal "marshal", from Latin mariscalcus, ultimately from Germanic roots akin to Old High German marah "horse" and scalc "servant". It originally referred to someone who took care of horses.

Mason English
Occupational name for a stoneworker or layer of bricks, from Old French masson, of Frankish origin (akin to Old English macian "to make").

Mayer 3 English
Occupational name for a mayor, from Middle English mair, derived via Old French from Latin maior.

Merchant English
Variant of Marchand.

Miller English
Occupational surname meaning "miller", referring to a person who owned or worked in a grain mill, derived from Middle English mille "mill".

Millhouse English
Name for someone whose house was in a mill or who worked in a mill.

Mills English
Originally given to one who lived near a mill or who worked in a mill, from Middle English mille.

Millward English
Means "guardian of the mill" in Old English.

Myer English
From Old French mire meaning "doctor", derived from Latin medicus.

Park 2 English
From Middle English park, from Latin parricus, of Frankish origin. This was a name for someone who worked in or lived in a park.

Parker English
Means "keeper of the park" in Middle English. It is an occupational name for a person who was a gamekeeper at a medieval park.

Parsons English
Originally denoted a son of a parson, a derivative of Latin persona "person".

Porcher English, French
Means "swineherd" from Old French and Middle English porchier, from Latin porcus "pig".

Porter English
Occupational name meaning "doorkeeper", ultimately from Old French porte "door", from Latin porta.

Rider English
Variant of Ryder.

Rimmer English
Occupational name meaning "poet", from Middle English rime meaning "rhyme".

Sappington English
Possibly from the city of Sapperton, England, derived from Old English sapere meaning "soap maker" and tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".

Sawyer English
Occupational name meaning "sawer of wood, woodcutter" in Middle English, ultimately from Old English sagu meaning "saw". Mark Twain used it for the main character in his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Scriven English
Occupational name meaning "writer, clerk, scribe" in Old French, derived from Latin scriba.

Sergeant English, French
Occupational name derived from Old French sergent meaning "servant", ultimately from Latin servire "to serve".

Sexton English
Occupational name for a sexton (Middle English sexteyn), a caretaker for a church or graveyard.

Shearer English
English cognate of Scherer.

Shepard English
Variant of Shepherd.

Shepherd English
Occupational name meaning "shepherd, sheep herder", from Old English sceaphyrde.

Skinner English
Occupational name for a person who skinned animals, from Old Norse skinn.

Slater English
Occupational name indicating that an early member worked covering roofs with slate, from Old French esclat "shard", of Germanic origin.

Smith English
Means "metalworker, blacksmith" from Old English smiþ, related to smitan "to smite, to hit". It is the most common surname in most of the English-speaking world. A famous bearer was the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790).

Steed English
Occupational name for one who tended horses, derived from Middle English steed, in turn derived from Old English steda meaning "stallion".

Steele English
Occupational name for a steelworker, from Old English stele meaning "steel".

Stoddard English
Occupational name for a horse keeper, from Old English stod "stallion, stud" and hierde "herder".

Tailor English
Variant of Taylor.

Tanner English
Occupational name for a person who tanned animal hides, from Old English tannian "to tan", itself from Late Latin and possibly ultimately of Celtic origin.

Tasker English
From Middle English taske meaning "task, assignment". A tasker was a person who had a fixed job to do, particularly a person who threshed grain with a flail.

Thatcher English
Referred to a person who thatched roofs by attaching straw to them, derived from Old English þæc meaning "thatch, roof". A famous bearer was the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).

Tinker English
Occupational name for a mender of kettles, pots and pans. The name could derive from the tinking sound made by light hammering on metal. It is possible that the word comes from the word tin, the material with which the tinker worked.

Toller English
Occupational name meaning "tax gatherer", derived from Old English toln "toll, fee, tax".

Towner English
Variant of Toller.

Tucker English
Occupational name for a fuller of cloth, derived from Old English tucian meaning "offend, torment". A fuller was a person who cleaned and thickened raw cloth by pounding it.

Tupper English
Occupational name for a herdsman, derived from Middle English toupe "ram".

Tyler English
Occupational name for a tiler of roofs, derived from Old English tigele "tile". A famous bearer of this name was American president John Tyler (1790-1862).

Weaver 1 English
Occupational name for a weaver, derived from Old English wefan "to weave".

Woodward English
Occupational name for a forester, meaning "ward of the wood" in Old English.

Yates English
From Old English geat meaning "gate", a name for a gatekeeper or someone who lived near a gate.