Origin
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.
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.
Bismillah : from the Arabic phrase b-ismi-llāh ‘in the name of God’ an invocation widely used before any undertaking also representing the fuller b-ismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi ‘in the name of God the compassionate the merciful’ recited several times a day as part of Muslim prayers.
De Kam : Dutch: metonymic occupational name either for a comb maker or for a wool comber or fuller from Middle Dutch kam ‘comb’ + the definite article de ‘the’. Compare Kam.
Falardeau : French: variant of Folardeau a derivative of Foulard (rarely Folard) itself derived from the Old French verb foler ‘to full a cloth’ hence an occupational name or nickname for a fuller. The surname Falardeau is very rare in France while the variant Folardeau has already died out there.
Filler : 1: South German: occupational name for a flayer or skinner from Middle High German viller ‘knacker’ from villen ‘to skin’.2: Altered form of German Füller (see Fuller).3: English: variant of Filer 1 or 2.
Fullen : 1: English: occupational name for a fuller (see Fuller) from Old French fulun ‘fuller’.2: English (Lancashire): branch of this family in Lancashire probably represents a variant of Fulham (see Fullam) reintroduced from Ireland.
Grumet : 1: Jewish (from Austrian Galicia): from German Grummet ‘aftermath rowen’ one of names assigned at random by Austrian clerks.2: French: metonymic occupational name for a fuller from Old Picard grumet ‘oats’ which were used in the fulling process.
Kalo : Hungarian (Kaló): occupational name in the cloth-making industry for a fuller from kal kall ‘full (cloth)’ i.e. flatten rough cloth by beating it with an implement.
Kam : 1: Dutch and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Dutch and Yiddish kam ‘comb’ hence a metonymic occupational name either for a comb maker or for a wool comber or fuller. Compare De Kam.2: Dutch (Van der Kam): from Middle Dutch kamme ‘brewery’ hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a brewery or an occupational name for someone who worked in one.3: Dutch (Van Kam): habitational name for someone from Chaam (formerly Kam) near Breda.4: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 金 see Jin 1.5: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 甘 see Gan 1.6: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 琴 see Qin 2.
Kamm : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German kamb(e) kam(me) German Kamm Yiddish kam ‘comb’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a comb maker or more probably a wool comber or fuller. Kamm is also used to mean the crest of a mountain range but it seems unlikely that the name is topographic. This surname is also found in France (mainly Alsace).
Kammer : 1: German: from Kammer ‘chamber storage chamber treasury’ hence an occupational name for a chamberlain or treasurer (see Kammerer).2: German (Kämmer): occupational name for a comb maker or a wool comber or fuller from an agent derivative of Middle High German kam(b) ‘comb’.3: Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Kammer ‘chamber’.
Kennan : Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhionnáin a patronymic from Fionnán a personal name from a diminutive of fionn ‘white’. A fuller form of this name found in Scotland is McKennan. Compare Gannon and Scottish McKinnon.
McAreavey : reduced from Mac Giolla Riabhaigh ‘son of the brindled or grizzled lad’. Compare the further reduced form McGreevy and fuller versions such as McIlreavy and Scottish McIlwraith. A variant McIlvrick looks very like Mac Giolla Bhric 'son of the freckled lad' but may as Black suggests be another anglicized spelling of Mac Giolla Riabhaigh.
O'Hanrahan : from Ó hAnradháin a fuller form of Hanrahan.
Paratore : Italian (mainly Sicily): occupational name for a fuller of cloth from Late Latin parator (genitive paratoris) or Sicilian dialect paraturi.
Serpell : possibly a locative name from Appledore in Burlescombe (Devon) which is recorded as Surapla in 1086 Surapple in the 12th century and as the fuller Sureapeldor in 1242 and Sourappeldore in 1303. The place-name means ‘sour-apple (tree)’ the sour apple being the crab-apple from Old English sūr ‘sour’ + æppel ‘apple’ (apuldor apuldre ‘apple-tree’). The shorter name may have persisted in local speech into the surnaming period. Compare Appledore.possibly sometimes a nickname from Middle English sour ‘sour’ + appel ‘apple’; compare Joh. Sourappill 1386 in Feet of Fines (Yorks).
Steitz : German:: 1: habitational name from a place so named in Saxony-Anhalt.2: from Middle High German stiussen ‘to push’ probably a nickname for a fuller in the cloth trade.
Streicher : 1: German: occupational name for an official who measured grain (by stroking across the filled measure) or inspected cloth from Middle High German strīcher.2: German: occupational name for a fuller or wool dealer who combed the wool.3: German: habitational name for someone from any of the places called Streich or Streichen in Württemberg.4: German: nickname for a roamer from Middle High German strīchen ‘to move fast roam’. Compare Striker.5: Swiss German: occupational name for a farm worker (evening out the swaths) or a dairy man (milking cows) of the same etymology as 1 above.
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’.
Treadwell : English: metonymic occupational name from Middle English tred(de) ‘tread walk trample’ + wel(le) ‘well’ perhaps for a fuller or someone who trod grapes for wine production. Fulling was the process by which newly woven cloth was cleaned and shrunk by the use of heat water and pressure (from treading) before finally being stretched and laid out to dry on tenter hooks.
Veazey : English (Rutland): nickname from Anglo-Norman French enveisé ‘playful’ (Old French envoisié) Latinized as invesiatus (compare medieval Latin invasus ‘possessed by a demon’) and paralleled by lascivus ‘wanton’. The first syllable was lost early resulting in numerous dialectal and orthographic variants; only Lenfestey preserves the fuller form with an intrusive medial -t-. There has also been some confusion with Vessey.
Walke : 1: German: metonymic occupational name for a fuller from Middle High German walke ‘fulling mill’. Compare Walker.2: English (Devon): variant of Walk.
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.
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
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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