Occupation Names: A Labor Day Salute
With Labor Day upon us, it seems like the perfect moment to focus on the original pre-barbecue meaning of the holiday and celebrate hard-working occupational names. So we’re looking back to wtoe we wrote on the subject in our book Beyond Ava & Aiden, but here focusing on the less used, fresher sounding examples, and those with less obvious meanings, so no Archer, Shepherd or Baker.
Have you noticed how many of the boys’ names climbing up the ladder end in the letters ‘er’? They sound really new and cool, but in reality a large proportion of them actually originated in medieval England as occupational surnames, when Timothy the Tanner morphed into Timothy Tanner—as if in our day Pete the Programmer became Pete Programmer. And even if a large proportion of these are trades that no longer exist in this Digital Age, and some of their meanings have been lost to time, part of their appeal as a group lies in their throwback reference to basic concepts of honest labor, adding some historical heft to their appeal, and giving them more weight than other fashionable two-syllable names. They offer the parents of boy babies a comfortable middle ground between the sharper-edged single syllable names (Holt, Colt), and the more ornate longer names (Gregory, Jeremy) of the recent past. Here are some of the most usable ones, together with their original, sometimes arcane, meanings.
The _er-_ending names
Banner— flag bearer
Barker –stripper of bark from trees for tanning
Baxter— a baker, usually female
Beamer — trumpet player
Booker — scribe
Boyer — bow maker, cattle herder
Brenner — charcoal burner
Brewster — brewer of beer
Bridger — builder of bridges
Carter — cart maker or driver, transporter of goods
Carver — sculptor
Chandler — candle maker
Chaucer — maker of breeches, boots or leg armor
Collier — charcoal seller, coal miner
Conner — inspector
Cooper — wooden barrel maker
Coster — fruit grower or seller
Currier — leather finisher
Cutler — knife maker
Decker — roofer
Dexter — dyer
Draper — woolen cloth maker or seller
Duffer — peddler
Farrier— iron worker
Fletcher — arrow maker
Forester — gamekeeper, forest warden
Foster — sheep shearer
Fowler — hunter of wild birds
Glover — maker or seller of gloves
Granger — granary worker
Harper — harp maker or player
Hollister — female brothel keeper!!
Hooper — one who makes or fits hoops for barrels
Hopper — dancer, acrobat
Hunter — huntsman
Jagger — a Yorkshire name meaning peddler or carrier
Keeler — boatman or barge builder
Kiefer — barrel maker or overseer of a wine cellar
Lander — launderer
Lardner — servant in charge of the larder
Lorimer — a spur maker
Mercer — merchant, especially in luxury fabrics
Miller — grinder of corn
Nayler — maker of nails
Parker — gamekeeper in a medieval private park
Porter — gate keeper, carrier of goods
Potter — maker or seller of earthenware pottery
Quiller — scribe
Ranger — game warden
Sadler– saddle maker
Salter — worker in or seller of salter
Sayer –several meanings: assayer of metal, food taster, woodcutter (as in Sawyer)
Slater — roofer
Sumner — court summoner
Thatcher — roofer
Tolliver — metal worker (Anglicization of the italian Taliaferro)
Turner — turner of wood on a lathe
Webster — weaver, originally female
Wheeler— wheel maker
Other occupational names
Baird— minstrel or poet
Beaman— beekeeper
Chaplin— clergyman
Farrar— blacksmith, metalworker
Fisk— fisherman
Reeve— bailiff, chief magistrate
Smith— metal worker, blacksmith
Steele— a steel worker
Todd— a fox hunter
Travis— gate keeper, toll collector
Ward— watchman, guard
Wright— carpenter, joiner