Origin
Beat : Scottish (Angus) and English: variant of Beet from the Middle English personal name Bete a pet form of Betris (see Beatrice). Compare Beets.
Baitup : unexplained. Possibly a nickname from Middle English bai ‘reddish brown’ + top(pe) ‘hair on the head; tuft of hair’ (Old English topp(a)) or possibly a nickname from either Middle English baiten ‘to feed (an animal)’ or the falconry term baten ‘to beat the wings impatiently and flutter away from the fist or perch’ (OED) + up ‘up’. The alias Baitam recorded in 1610 is equally unexplained. No medieval bearers have been found.
Bauder : South German (Swabia): nickname for a pugnacious person or for a hitter from an agent derivative of Middle High German būden ‘to beat to pound to hit’.
Bearer : 1: English: possibly an occupational name from Middle English berere ‘carrier or porter’ but no evidence has been found that it became hereditary. Alternatively an altered form of another name such as Berrier a very rare occupational name for a thresher of grain (an agent derivative of Middle English berien ‘to beat thresh’) or Berrow a variant of Barrow or an English equivalent (via Anglo-Norman French) of Berard.2: Americanized form of German Böhrer (see Bohrer).
Bussanich : Italianized form of Croatian Busanić: possibly a nickname from Croatian busati se ‘to beat one's chest or head’ figuratively ‘to claim all credit for’ or from Italian busso ‘beat stroke’. The name originates from the islands of Lošinj and Susak in the Adriatic Sea.
Canche : Amerindian (Mexico; Canché): Mayan name from a Castilianized form of the name of a mangrove shrub (Conocarpus erectus) called in English buttonwood or button mangrove. Alternatively perhaps from a Castilianized form of a term based on the word che' ‘wood stick’ denoting either a raised seedbed or floorboards that serve to beat and cut cobs.
Dorner : 1: German (also Dörner): habitational name for someone from any of the places called Dorn or Dornau in Bavaria or either of two places called Dorna in Saxony and Thuringia.2: German (also Dörner): northern variant of Turner an occupational name for a watchman someone who manned a tower. This surname is also found in France (Vosges Alsace and Lorraine). Compare Durner.3: Breton (also Le Dorner): occupational name for a thresher derived from dornañ ‘to beat to thresh’.
Oelschlager : North German (Ölschläger): occupational name for a producer of oil from Middle High German öle (from Latin oleum) + agent derivative of slahen (German schlagen) ‘to beat pound’.
Schwing : German:: 1: metonymic occupational name for someone whose job was to swingle flax i.e. to beat the flax with a swingle in order to remove the woody parts of the plant prior to spinning from Middle High German swinge ‘swingle’. This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).2: habitational name from any of the places called Schwinge (near Stade and in Pomerania) or Schwingen (Bavaria). Compare Swing.
Slaymaker : 1: English: occupational name for someone who made slays from Middle English slay(e) ‘slay (an instrument used in weaving to beat up the weft)’ + -maker. See Slay 1 and compare Sleeman 2.2: Altered form of German Schleiermacher an occupational name for a maker or shawls or scarves from Middle High German sleier ‘scarf shawl veil’ + macher ‘maker’.
Sleeman : English (Cornwall and Devon):: 1: nickname from Middle English sle(i)gh ‘sly clever skillful’ (Old Norse slœgr) + -man. Compare Sly.2: occupational name for someone who made or used slays from Middle English slay(e) ‘slay (an instrument used in weaving to beat up the weft)’ (Old English slege) + -man. Compare Slaymaker.3: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a grassy slope from Middle English sle ‘grassy slope’ (Old English slēa) + -man. Compare Slee 2.
Stockslager : Americanized form of German Stockschläger probably an occupational name for a lumberman from Middle High German stoc ‘tree’ + an agent derivative of slān slagen ‘to hit beat or cut’.
Swinger : 1: English: occupational name perhaps for a fuller who finished cloth by beating it and stretching it on tenters. Middle English swyngere is not independently recorded but it appears to be an agent derivative of Middle English swingen ‘to beat strike punish afflict (something)’. Compare the synonymous Tucker an agent derivative of Middle English tuken ‘to torment beat’. The earliest bearers of the name Swinger were wealthy townsmen.2: In some instances probably an Americanized form of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Schwinger or German Zwinger a nickname from Middle High German zwinger ‘oppressor’.
Swingler : English: of uncertain origin. There is no evidence for a Middle English occuaptional term swinglere an agent derivative of Middle English swingelen ‘to beat (flax)’ for someone who worked in the linen or hemp industry. The surname may instead be an altered form some other name for example Swindler or Swindlehurst.
Wettengel : German: occupational name for a road maker or mender from Middle High German wec ‘way street’ + tengelen ‘to break (stones) beat or knock’.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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