Origin
Walker : English (mainly North and Midlands) and Scottish: occupational name for a fuller from Middle English walker Old English wealcere (an agent derivative of wealcan ‘to walk tread’) ‘one who trampled cloth in a bath of lye or kneaded it in order to strengthen it’. This was the regular term for the occupation during the Middle Ages in western and northern England. Compare Fuller and Tucker. As a Scottish surname it has also been used as a translation of Gaelic Mac an Fhucadair ‘son of the fuller’. This surname is also very common among African Americans.
Ambler : English (Yorkshire):: 1: (of Norman origin): occupational name from Middle English amayler amelour (Old French esmailleur) ‘enameller’ with intrusive b to give a(u)mbelour.3: perhaps an occupational name from a shortened form of an unrecorded Middle English amblerer ‘dealer in amblers or saddle horses’.2: nickname perhaps derived from Middle English ambler ‘walker steady-paced horse or mule’ (ultimately from Latin ambulare ‘to walk’) probably applied to someone with a steady easy-going temperament possibly even a facetious nickname for a walker or fuller. The Middle English verb is also recorded from the 14th century onward in the sense ‘to ride an ambling horse’ so the surname might have denoted someone who rode such a horse though because of its gentle pace it was generally preferred by women.
Bumpus : English: nickname of Norman origin for someone who was a swift walker from Old French bon ‘good’ + pas ‘pace’.
Calcaterra : Italian: nickname from calcare ‘to tread to stamp’ + terra ‘land earth ground’ probably denoting a short person someone who walked close to the ground or an energetic walker.
Fuller : 1: English: occupational name for a dresser of cloth from Middle English fuller ‘fuller of cloth’ (partly from Old English fullere partly from Old French fouleor foleur Latin fullo). Raw cloth had to be fulled i.e. scoured cleansed and thickened by beating or trampling it in water a process also known as walking or tucking hence the surnames Walker and Tucker alongside Fuller. These three terms and surnames are characteristic of different parts of England. In general in Middle English Fuller is southern and eastern while Walker belongs to the west and north and Tucker is southwestern. Compare Fullen.2: English: variant of Fullard with loss of -d.3: German (Füller): occupational name for a person whose work involved filling such as a dauber or a nickname for a gourmand or glutton. Compare Filler.4: Altered form of French Forest and Fournier.
Pettiford : English (of Norman origin): nickname from Old French pied de fer ‘iron foot’ given perhaps to someone with an artificial foot or leg or to a tireless walker or messenger.
Timler : Altered form of German Timmler a variant of Thümmler from either tumel ‘loud noise’ or an agent derivative Middle High German tumelen ‘to lark about’ as a nickname for a restless lively person; or alternatively from Middle Low German tumeler ‘tightrope walker tumbler’.
Welker : German: occupational name for a fuller from Middle High German Middle Low German walker welker ‘fuller’. This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
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