What's in a name?

[Charles Wiggins]

I was musing this morning about all of the surnames that seem to have come from the trades: Sawyer, Cooper, Smith, Shumacher, Mason, Wright, Baker, Potter.

What others can you think of?

[David G Baker]

I am trying to find out where my last name came from "Baker". As far as I know most of us Bakers are lousy bakers.
My Grandfather on my Mother's side was a blacksmith but didn't have a name that reflected his craft.

[Gary Keedwell]

Had a friend years ago named potsy...he sold grass:eek::D
Gary

[Rich Stewart]

Fletcher. Stewart. King. Knight. Farmer. Plummer.

[Mike Langford]

Porter, Carver, Miner, Miller, Carpenter, Roper, Taylor, Shipman, Painter, Tanner, Turner, Barber, Sander, Cook, Weaver, Archer, Shepard, Priest, .......

[Bubba Davis]

Don't know if you are being funny or serious so here goes most sir names were given from the trade that they had such as Tinker was a tin smith Smith was usually a blacksmith. Others were given or taken from the aria that they lived in or something prominent, such as in my mothers maiden name Rountree was taken for a species or tree in Wales and Northern England that is known as Rowntree and later after several generations became Rountree.

[Barry Stratton]

.......didn't a guy named Crapper invent the toliet?

[Dusty Fuller]

Fuller.... person responsible for "fulling"..."a step in woollen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woollen) clothmaking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing) which involves the cleansing of cloth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth) (particularly wool (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool)) to get rid of oils, dirt, and other impurities, and thickening it. In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves standing ankle deep in tubs of human urine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine) and cloth." Description from wikipedia, not me. I guess us Fuller's have come a long way, though I still have to clear the occasional septic tank screen.

[John Bailey]

Bailey - lawyers, judges

[Randal Stevenson]

.......didn't a guy named Crapper invent the toliet?

In this case the name came first.

While we discussed this in history class years ago, this was mostly based on Western European traditions, does this hold true in other area's of the world? (cyrillic or Kanji, based cultures)

[Thomas Knighton]

Generally, the trades equaling a last name was predominantly amongst the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. After the Norman invasion in 1066, the Normans took what was basically a census. Since many of the Saxons used there home towns as their surname (like Harold of York), the Normans (who used family surnames already) began to give people surnames like Baker and Miller.

Which always made me wonder what John Hancock's family did back then ;)

Tom
Former student of medieval history

[Mike Henderson]

Charles, What trade is a Shumacher?

Mike

[Bill Cunningham]

I think my family owned the cleverest hogs in all of Scotland!! :D

[Charles Wiggins]

Charles, What trade is a Shumacher?

Mike


Actually, I think the original German is Schuhmacher (shoemaker). German for cobbler is Schuster, so I haven't figured out what the difference between a shoemake and a cobbler is. Might be like the difference between a stitcher and a tailor.