Origin
Barber : 1: English: occupational name for a barber from Middle English barb(o)ur ‘barber’ (Anglo-Norman French barber Old French barbier from Late Latin barbarius a derivative of barba ‘beard’). In the Middle Ages barbers not only cut hair and shaved beards but also practised surgery and pulled teeth.2: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from German Barbier ‘barber’ (compare 1 above).3: Catalan: occupational name for a barber barber (see 1 above).4: Slovenian and Croatian; Hungarian (Barbér): occupational name for a barber of German origin (see Barbier compare 1 above and 2 above).5: Americanized form of any of numerous cognates of 1 above in different languages for example Spanish Barbero Portuguese Barbeiro French Barbier Italian Barbieri.6: Altered form of French Barbeau.
Barbier : 1: French: occupational name for a barber-surgeon (see Barber) Old French barbier (from Late Latin barbarius a derivative of barba ‘beard’). Compare Barbe and Barbee.2: German: occupational name for a barber from Middle High German barbierer or an occupational name for an armorer from barbier(e) ‘metal visor (to protect the face)’.
Bartscher : German: occupational name for a barber a compound of Middle High German bart ‘beard’ + scher(er) ‘shearer cropper’ (from scheren ‘to shear’).
Berber : 1: Catalan: probably a variant of Barber. This surname is most common in Mexico.2: Turkish: occupational name from berber ‘barber’.3: Serbian Croatian and Bosniak: occupational name for a barber or in a transferred use a nickname for a quack doctor from Serbian Croatian and Bosnian berber ‘barber’ a loanword from Turkish (see above).4: German: possibly a habitational name from a place called Berber near Kevelaer (Lower Rhine) or from the ancient Germanic personal name Baribert from Old High German bar ‘man’ + berht ‘shining famous’.
Berberian : Armenian: patronymic from an occupational name for a barber from Turkish berber ‘barber’.
Borbely : Hungarian (Borbély): occupational name for a barber Hungarian borbély. See also Barber.
Briley : 1: Irish: Anglicized form of Ó Brólaigh see Brawley.2: English: habitational name from Brilley in Bridstow (Herefordshire) a local variant of the name that usually develops as Bromley.3: In some cases also an Americanized form of Slovenian Brilej: nickname derived from dialect briliti ‘to shave’ hence apparently denoting a barber.
Felsher : Americanized form of German Felscher: probably a shortened form of Feldscher an occupational name for an army surgeon from Feld ‘field’ + scheren ‘to shave’ (from the time when the barber also gave medical treatment).
Golish : 1: Ukrainian (also transliterated as Golysh): nickname from the adjective holyy (Russian-oriented transliteration golyy) ‘naked bare’.2: Americanized form of Polish Golisz: nickname from golić ‘to shave’ probably applied as an occupational name to a barber.3: Americanized form of East German Gohlisch: habitational name from any of several places near Leipzig and Dresden.
Golman : 1: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a barber from Yiddish goln ‘to shave’ + man ‘man’.2: Americanized form of East German Gollmann: habitational name for someone from any of several places called Golm in Brandenburg Mecklenburg and Pomerania.
Kopfer : German (Köpfer): occupational name for a maker and seller of mugs cups etc. (see Kopf 1) or for a person (a barber for instance) who applied cupping glasses (to bleed people).
Lajeunesse : 1: French: from la jeunesse ‘(the) youth’ used as a soldier's name and probably also as a nickname for someone especially young fresh or naive. Compare Laginess Lajiness and Young 2.2: Haitian: from the personal name or nickname La Jeunesse or Lajeunesse of French origin (see 1 above) borne by a servant in The Barber of Seville a play written in 1773 by the French writer Pierre Beaumarchais.
Leveille : 1: French (Léveillé): nickname from l'éveillé ‘the lively’.2: West Indian (mainly Haiti) and Mauritian: from the personal name or nickname L'Éveillé or Léveillé of French origin (see 1 above) borne by a servant in The Barber of Seville a play written in 1773 by the French writer Pierre Beaumarchais.
Lindor : 1: French and West Indian (mainly Haiti): from the personal name Lindor borne by the main character in The Barber of Seville a play written in 1773 by the French writer Pierre Beaumarchais.2: French: habitational name from Lindor a placename (part of the city of Labouheyre) in Landes. This surname (in any of the two possible senses; see also 1 above) is very rare in France. It was brought to the US mainly from the West Indies (mostly Haiti).
Mirley : apparently a variant of Morley. Compare Arthur Mirley 1610 Arthur Morley 1613 in IGI (Kirkham Lancs); John Mirley 1763 John Morley 1784 in IGI (Harrogate WR Yorks); William Barber Morley 1816 Ann Mirley 1832 in IGI (Denby Derbys).
Monzo : 1: Catalan (Monzó): habitational name from Monzón a place in Huesca province in Aragon named Montsó in Catalan. Compare Monzon.2: Italian (Campania): from a medieval personal name Latinized as Montius or perhaps from an altered form of monsu a respectful term of address for e.g. a cook or barber.
Pettine : Italian: from pettine ‘comb’ applied as a metonymic occupational name for a comb maker or possibly for a barber.
Quast : German:: 1: habitational name from any of several places so named in northern Germany.2: nickname from Middle Low German Middle High German quast(e) ‘tuft tassel brush’; ‘fool’ possibly also used to denote a barber.
Rasor : 1: English (Middlesex): metonymic occupational name from Old French rasor rasur ‘razor’ perhaps for a barber or someone who made or sold razors.2: Americanized form of German Rauser. See also Razor.
Rayer : 1: German: variant of Reier ‘heron’.2: French: occupational name for a barber from Old French raier (from rere ‘to shave’).3: English (Worcestershire): from the Norman personal name Raher probably from an ancient Germanic name composed of rād ‘counsel’ + hari ‘army’.4: Americanized form of Slovenian Rajar or Rajer: probably a nickname derived from rajati ‘to dance in a ring’. Compare Ryer.
Schabel : South German: probably a nickname for a barber or carpenter from Middle High German schaben ‘to scrape’ (see Schaber).
Schaber : German: from an agent derivative of schaben ‘to scrape to shave’ (Middle High German schaben) hence an occupational name for a carpenter or a barber (compare Schaab).
Scher : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German schere Middle Low German schēre Yiddish sher ‘scissors shears’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of scissors or shears or for a barber cloth cutter or possibly a sheep shearer.
Scherbarth : German: occupational name for a barber from Middle High German scheren ‘to shear or cut’ + bart ‘beard’. Compare Sherbert.
Scherrer : 1: German: variant of Scherer.2: Swiss German: occupational name for a barber especially the health related part of that profession.
Scire : Italian (Sicily; Scirè): variant of Scirea an occupational name for a barber from Greek xyreas composed of the elements xyron ‘razor’ + the occupational suffix -eas.
Shadlock : apparently from Middle English shathien (Old English sc(e)aþian) and scathen (Old Scandinavian skaða) ‘to harm damage’ + lok ‘lock (of hair?)’. It may have been given to an incompetent barber or to someone with ill-kempt hair.
Shedlock : English: variant of Shadlock apparently a nickname from Middle English shathien (Old English sc(e)athian) and scathen (Old Norse skatha) ‘to harm damage’ + lok ‘lock (of hair?)’. It may have been given to an incompetent barber or to someone with ill-kempt hair.
Shirer : 1: Americanized form of German Scheurer and possibly also of some other German name.2: Scottish (Aberdeenshire): variant of Shearer.3: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a barber a Yiddish dialect variant of Sherer 2.
Stover : 2: North German (Stöver): from Middle Low German (bad)stover ‘bather barber worker at a public bathhouse’ mainly an occupational name but occasionally perhaps a nickname for a dedicated bather. Compare Stoever.1: English: variant of Stopher with intervocalic voicing of /f/ to /v/.
Surgeon : English and Scottish: occupational name from Middle English sur(ri)gien ‘surgeon’ (Anglo-Norman French surgien from a derivative of Late Latin chirurgia ‘handiwork’). Before the advent of anesthetics only crude surgery was possible and the calling was often combined with that of a barber or bathhouse attendant. Compare Surgenor.
Topham : English (mainly northern especially Yorkshire):: 1: nickname from Middle English Toppan of uncertain meaning. The second element is perhaps Middle English pan(ne) ‘(crown of the) head’ while Top- could be derived from several different words. If from Middle English toppen ‘to shave (the head)’ then Toppan might have been a name for a barber who provided tonsures for the clergy. Alternatively Top- might represent Middle English tup top(pe) ‘ram male sheep’ hence ‘ram-head’ or Middle English top(pe) Anglo-Norman French tupe ‘hair on the head tuft of hair forelock’ denoting someone with a distinctive head of hair.2: variant of Topping.3: in Lincolnshire a variant of Tupholme a habitational name from a place so named in Lincolnshire. The placename derives from the Old Norse personal name Tupi or a word of obscure origin from which Middle English tup ‘ram’ derives + Old Norse holmr ‘small island water meadow’.4: in southern England the name is rare and may be from an unidentified placename there. The placename may derive from Old English topp ‘top hill top’ + hām ‘village homestead’ but this cannot be certain.
Topper : 1: English: occupational name from an -er derivative of Middle English toppen topen meaning either ‘to take the top off (something) to shave’ or ‘to put the top on something’. Topper could for example denote a barber a sheep shearer or a roofer but there is no contextual evidence at present to settle the matter. However there is no reason to suppose as Reaney does that a topper was ‘probably the one who put the ‘toppe’ (i.e. the tuft of wool) on the distaff’. As McKinley points out this was unlikely to give rise to a distinct occupation and in any case spinning was a female occupation whereas all early examples of the surname belong to men. Compare Topp.2: English: perhaps also a topographic name for someone who lived at the top of a hill (Middle English toppe + -er).3: German (Töpper): variant of Toepfer.4: German (mainly Töpper): habitational name from Topper a place near Krossen Brandenburg.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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