Origin
Mallet : 1: French: nickname from a diminutive of Mal ‘bad’. Alternatively from a derivative of the related Old French word maleit ‘accursed’ (from Latin maledictus the opposite of benedictus ‘blessed’) applied as a nickname for an unlucky person. Compare Malet 1.2: French: variant of Malet 2 an Old French pet form of the personal name Malo.3: French: from a diminutive of Old French male ‘trunk chest coffer’. This may have been a metonymic occupational name for a maker of chests or by extension for a carrier. Compare Malet 3.4: French: variant of Maillet ‘mallet’ used as a metonymic occupational name for a smith or as a nickname for a fearsome warrior (see English Mallett 2).5: English (Jersey and London; also Norfolk): variant of Mallett mostly of Old French and Norman origin (see above).
Bettle : English (Bedfordshire):: 1: nickname from Middle English betel ‘mallet’ (Anglian Old English bētel West Saxon bītel bȳtel) perhaps denoting a maker or user of a beetle (a kind of mallet used for driving in wedges ramming down paving stones etc.).2: in some cases perhaps a nickname from Middle English bitel ‘sharp’.
Breaker : 1: Americanized form of Swiss German Bräker (see Braker).2: Americanized form (translation into English) of German Brecher.3: English (Dorset and London): occupational name either for one who ‘breaks’ (i.e. combs or cards) wool (a sense of breaker first recorded in 1514 but probably also current in Middle English) or perhaps for one who uses a brake the Middle English word for a crushing or pounding implement such as a flax brake (for thrashing flax) a pestle (for pounding meal etc. in a kitchen) or a mallet for softening materials such as leather.
Corey : 1: English: possibly from the Old Norse personal names Kori (of unexplained etymology) or Kári (from kárr ‘curl’ or ‘quarrelsome’). Alternatively a habitational name from one or more of Curry Mallet or Curry Rivel (Somerset) West Curry or Cory in Morwenstow (Cornwall) or the river name in Coryton (Devon) all of which have early spellings with -o-.2: Irish (Down; Tyrone): variant of Curry.3: Americanized form of Arabic Khoury or Khouri ‘priest’. Compare Cory and Korey.
Keck : 1: English (Gloucestershire): nickname from the Middle English reflex of the Old Norse personal name Keikr (from Old West Scandinavian keikr ‘bent backwards’) or Kekkja.2: English (Gloucestershire): nickname possibly from keck backformed from kex used through much of southern England as the name of a range of umbelliferous plants having a hollow stalk when dried for instance cow parsley cow parsnip and hemlock as well as teasel (with parallels in Scandinavia).3: German: nickname from Middle High German kēc ‘lively active’ (cognate of English quick) which later changed its meaning to ‘bold forward fresh’.4: Americanized or Germanized form of Slovenian Kek: nickname from the same root as keka ‘small mallet or beetle’ also ‘lush tuft of hair’ or as a homonym keka ‘someone who walks in a sneaky way’.
Marra : 1: Italian (southern): habitational name from any of the places so called in central and southern Italy from marra ‘heap of stones’.2: Italian Galician and Portuguese: from marra ‘hoe’ in Galician and Portuguese also ‘big mallet for breaking stones’ (from Latin marra) presumably a metonymic occupational name for one who made such implements or for one who used them.3: English and Scottish: variant of Marrow.
Mazo : 1: Spanish: nickname for a forceful person or metonymic occupational name for someone who used a mallet mazo.2: Galician and Asturian-Leonese: habitational name from any of a number of places so named in Galicia (Spain) Asturias (Spain) and León.3: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Maze.
Oakhill : from Oak Hill in Froxfield (Wilts) which is recorded as Hochulle in 1257 and Ockhulle in 1331. The place-name may derive from Old English hōc ‘hook’ + hyll ‘hill’ with reference to a projecting hook-shaped hill.from Ocle Clifford in Newent (Gloucs) which is recorded as Ocle in 1318 Ocley in about 1580 and Ocull in 1587. The place-name apparently derives from Old English āc ‘oak’ + lēah ‘open woodland’.perhaps also from Oakhill in Shepton Mallet (Somerset) though documentation earlier than the 19th century is lacking. The place-name may derive from Old English āc ‘oak’ + hyll ‘hill’.a different explanation may be needed to account for the bearers recorded in Cheshire Shrops and Lancs from the 16th century onwards and for the present-day northern distribution of Okell and Okill.
Shipton : English: habitational name from any of various places called Shipton including three in Gloucestershire two in Oxfordshire and one each in Buckinghamshire Dorset Hampshire Shropshire East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire or from Shepton Beauchamp Shepton Mallet and Shepton Montague (Somerset). Most of the placenames derive from Old English scēap ‘sheep’ + tūn ‘farmstead estate’; however the East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire placenames arise from Old English hēope ‘briar bramble’ + tūn.
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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
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