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

　　Rider/Ryder — cavalryman, horseman, messenger

　　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