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Bakers & Schneiders and Wrights, Oh My!

By
Real Estate Agent with Jameson Sotheby's International Realty

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?

Posted by

 ALAN MAY, Realtor®   
Specializing in Evanston Real Estate and North Shore Real Estate

Jameson Sotheby's International Realty, 2934 Central Street, Evanston, IL 60201
Office: 847.869.7300      Cell: 847.924.3313      Email: Almay@aol.com

Evanston Real Estate & North Shore Real Estate
Licensed in Illinois

   

Comments (19)

Patricia Kennedy
RLAH@Properties - Washington, DC
Home in the Capital

Alan, this stuff is lots of fun.  My people were shipped out of Ireland and Scotland for holding up convenience stores.  They wound up in the Carolinas somewhere as indentured servants.  Lucky my last name (or mom's maiden name) wasn't Crook.

Jan 14, 2010 12:10 AM
Caren Wallace
Premier Property Group LLC - Tualatin, OR
Portland Caren Real Estate

Alan, so much interesting history in names that we don't think about on a daily basis! Thank you for sharing!

Jan 14, 2010 12:56 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Patricia - if born elsewhere in the world... they might have been called "lefty".

Caren - history is in the air every single day.  In fact, we're living it.  One day, our great grandchildren, and their friends will be wondering how we ever managed without personal teleportation implants.

Jan 14, 2010 01:17 AM
Roy A. Peterson
Domicile Analysis of Texas - El Paso, TX
P.R.E.I.

Alan, as always, you are tweaking are brains with fascinating historical stuff.

                                                       ~ Life is Good ~

Jan 14, 2010 01:24 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

roy - just call me the tweakmeister....

Jan 14, 2010 01:40 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

No realtor?  Realster?  Good stuff Alan of Evanston.

Jan 14, 2010 04:51 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Lyn - Realtor.   RealTOR.  REALster.   Nope, sorry... I got nothing.

Jan 14, 2010 06:51 AM
Jane Peters
Home Jane Realty - Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles real estate concierge services

In Wales they call people "Dai the Bake", "Jones the Milk" etc.  But then they are Welsh....

Jan 14, 2010 05:17 PM
Sheldon Neal
Bergen County, NJ - RE/MAX Real Estate Limited - Maywood, NJ
That British Agent Bergen County NJ

...hmmm...and what of Alan "May" ?? Was that because "Alan May or May Not take a bath this week ???"

 

 

 

 

... lol ... I do find these things fascinating too !!!

Jan 15, 2010 12:31 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Jane - it sounds as though Dai the Bake has a thriving business.

Sheldon - what OF Alan May?  (yeah...that's exactly what they said all through highschool.... maybe I SHOULD have taken that bath?)

Jan 15, 2010 01:01 AM
Mitchell J Hall
Manhattan, NY
Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn

Now I know why there are so many Coopers in NY. We must have had a lot of barrel makers. To this day most buildings in NYC have a barrel on the roof called a water tower.

Jan 16, 2010 05:45 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Mitchell - that could be the reason... who knows?

Jan 16, 2010 09:14 AM
Sandy Nelson
Riley Jackson Real Estate Inc. - Olympia, WA
your Olympia area Realtor

Well that's it. I'm changing my name to Realtorster.

Jan 17, 2010 08:11 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Sandy - I love it.

Jan 17, 2010 11:20 AM
Robin Rogers
Robin Rogers, Silverbridge Realty, San Antonio, Texas - San Antonio, TX
CRS, TRC, MRP - Real Estate Investment Adviser

Aren't you a Clever Clogs, Mr. May? You and Russel find the most interesting stuff to smarten us up with.

Cheers,

Robin

Jan 20, 2010 01:08 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

we do our bestest, Robin Rogers.

Rogers is a surname derived from the name Roger, and meaning "son of Roger." The given name Roger means "famous spear," derived from the Germanic elements hrod "fame" and ger "spear."

Jan 20, 2010 02:27 AM
Robin Rogers
Robin Rogers, Silverbridge Realty, San Antonio, Texas - San Antonio, TX
CRS, TRC, MRP - Real Estate Investment Adviser

I am a doubly famous person, then. My name, Robin, is derived from Robert, and means "bright fame."

Jan 24, 2010 04:17 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Robin - you're brightly famous here!

Jan 24, 2010 05:02 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Robin - you're brightly famous here!

Jan 24, 2010 05:03 AM