English Occupational Names

I find it really interesting how daily life in England centuries ago is reflected in so many surnames in English-speaking countries today. These are the so-called "occupational names" that refer to the occupation of the bearer of the name or his descendants. The fact that a person has one of these names does not today mean that he or she has any English blood or any connection to England.

From the preparation of food come surnames like Miller, Baker, Cook and, Brewer. The construction of homes and other buildings gives us common names such as Carpenter, Mason, Sawyer, Plumber and, Thatcher. Those who procured or dealt in building materials might be tagged with names like Wood, Stone or, Clay.

The making of cloth and clothing gave us names which include Spinner, Weaver, Tanner, Taylor (the occupation now spelled "tailor") and, Shoemaker. The dying of cloth is probably the origin of the colour (color) names, the most common of which are Green, White, Black and, Brown.

General craftsmanship brought into being names such as Smith, Wright, Carver, Cooper and, Hooper. Smith is a general industrial term for someone who works with something such as blacksmith or goldsmith. A wright is a builder of something such as boatwright. A cooper is a maker of those ubiquitous wooden barrels of years past and I believe that a hooper made the metal rings that held such barrels together.

There are names requiring no explanation such as Hunter, Archer, Planter, Fisher, Shepherd, Gardner and, Butler. The name Shepherd is today spelled in several different ways. Those involved in building or operating the vehicles of the day might be named Carter, Cartwright or, Wheeler. Those otherwise involved in transportation could be named Walker or Porter. Makers of music or musical instruments could be called Singer, Bugler, Bell or, Stringer. One who makes announcements or announces news may be named Crier.

Then there is the names associated with royalty, nobility or, status: King, Queen, Lord, Duke, Knight and, Freeman. People with these names would have worked for the national or local royalty or nobility in some way. There are several common surnames associated with religion like Church, Bishop and, Abbot. There are surnames like Barber, Minter and, Cutler. A minter is one who makes money (literally) and a cutler is one who makes knives. Finally, we have the terrain or location surnames including: Marsh, Field or Fields, Street, Rivers, Wells, Woods, Hill and, Park or Parker.

Notice that names such as Farmer, Miner and, Sailor are quite rare. This is self-explanatory. These occupations included so many people that if they were given to everyone in that particular line of work, the name would be so widespread as to be near-meaningless. The purpose of a name is, after all, to distinguish one from another. I get the impression that there was a lot of multitasking centuries ago and the name Smith is so common because it indicated a general craftsman or jack-of-all-trades.

These were all working-class names and would not be found in the upper classes. I find it significant that the religious names like Bishop and Abbot are those that would apply to Catholicism. There are few names that would have originated from the advent of the Protestant version of Christianity or with the printing industry, both of which became very important factors in the England of the 16th Century. I take this to mean that these occupation names had already become well-established a considerable amount of time before then.