Way back in the day, your name described your profession, or sometimes your location... (as in Alan of Evanston). We didn't have the type of population as we do today, where we have to differentiate ourselves via family names. You probably only knew one Alan, and if you knew two, you'd differentiate them by their job... ie: Alan the Tailor, or Alan the Baker.
Eventually that grew into Alan Baker, or Alan Tailor. For most professions, in English, many of these are obvious. Baker, Tailor, Brewer, Cook, Butcher, Miller... these all spell out jobs with which we are familiar.
Some became more complicated, with suffixes like "ward" (someone who takes care), "wright" (the guy who makes things), and smith (a job which required some specific training). So Hayward, Wainwright (a "wain" was a wagon, also known as Cartwright, or Cartright), and Silversmith or Goldsmith, become more clear.
A cooper was a person who made barrels, an important job, Weaver & Webster are those who worked with fabrics. Those in the manual trades, Tailor/Taylor (also Schneider in German), Shoemaker, Glover... I know a family named Schoolmaster... what do you suppose his family had in their family tree? A bit more obscure, Thatcher (a roofer, since most roofs were made of Thatch), Carpenter, Sawyer (a guy who "saws"... get it?), Mason, Plumber, Waller (yep, he who makes walls!).
They who work in the fields: Farmer, Hayward (in charge of the Hay), Gardner, Shepard, Shearer, Parker (he who's in charge of the Park), Woodward (responsible for the forest).
Musicians such as Piper, Singer, Harper. Royalty and Clergy... Lord, Knight, Duke, Abbot, and Bishop.
Some a little less obvious:
Hooper made hoops for Barrels, I'm sure they knew the Coopers well! A fletcher is an "arrow-maker", and he very likely had clients named Archer, Bowman, and Boyer. Mr. Faulkner cared for falcons, Mr. Fuller made cloth, alongside Messers Tucker and Walker, and they then sent their goods off to messers dyer, dwyer and dexter to be dyed.
Mr. Tanner tanned animal hides, and Mr. Fisher... well, you get the idea.
Many feminine forms, ended in "ster" (such as spinster)... so Brewer became Brewster, Baker became Backster, or Baxter. A male judge was a Deemer, and a female was a Dempster. Dempster is a very popular name, here in Evanston, as one of our pioneers was named Dempster, and one of our larger streets is named after him.
Fascinating stuff, isn't it?
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