Origin
Miller : 1: English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term miller an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’ reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern western and central England Millward (literally ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. In North America the surname Miller has absorbed many cognate surnames from other languages for example German Müller (see Mueller) Dutch Mulder and Molenaar French Meunier Italian Molinaro Spanish Molinero Hungarian Molnár (see Molnar) Slovenian Croatian and Serbian Mlinar Polish Młynarz or Młynarczyk (see Mlynarczyk). Miller (including in the senses below) is the seventh most frequent surname in the US.2: South German Swiss German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Müller ‘miller’ (see Mueller) and in North America also an altered form of this. This form of the surname is also found in other European countries notably in Poland Denmark France (mainly Alsace and Lorraine) and Czechia; compare 3 below.3: Americanized form of Polish Czech Croatian Serbian and Slovenian Miler ‘miller’ a surname of German origin.
Baumiller : German: rare variant of Baumüller (and in North America also an altered form of this) from a status or occupational name for a miller who owned a farm or who was under a feudal obligation to run one.
Blanchflower : from Old French and Middle English blanche ‘white’ + Old French flur flour Middle English flour flower denoting both ‘flower’ and ‘flour white powder’. The 1300 example cited below seems to imply a comparison with a white flower as a symbol of beauty but so was white flour which was a traditional epithet in medieval romances for someone whose skin was perfectly smooth and white. Alternatively Blancheflour might have been given to a flour miller or to a baker of white bread (Old French and Middle English blanc pain) either of whom will have had their hair and body covered in flour dust.
Boutflour : from Middle English bulte ‘to sift’ + flour ‘flour’ perhaps applied to a miller (compare Bolter) although bouten flour was also used metaphorically in Middle English for ‘ravish a maiden’ (MED).
Brockmiller : Americanized form of North German Brockmüller Brockmöller a distinguishing name for a miller (Low German möller) who lived by a marsh (Middle Low German brōk brūk).
Buchmiller : German: variant of Buchmüller (and in North America also an altered form of this) a distinguishing name denoting a miller (Middle High German mülner) who lived by a beech tree (Middle High German buoche). Compare Bookmiller.
Caniglia : Italian (southern): from Calabrian caniglia ‘bran’ Sicilian canigghia so probably a metonymic occupational name for a miller or a cereal grower.
Clack : English:: 1: from the Old English personal name Clacc or its Old Norse (Danish) cognate Klak. As a personal name this is from a word meaning ‘lump’ and may have been used as a nickname for a large or thickset man.2: possibly sometimes from a derivative of Middle English clakken ‘to rattle clatter’ denoting a chatterer alternatively perhaps a miller from the clack or clatter of his mill or a bellringer.
Clowes : 1: English: topographic name from Middle English clouse cluse Old English clūse ‘bar enclosure narrow pass’ later ‘mill dam sluicegate or floodgate’. In the latter sense it may have been a metonymic occupational name applied to a miller. See also Clowser.2: English: variant of Close or Clow with post-medieval excrescent -s.3: Americanized form of German Klaus.
Coggs : 1: from Middle English cogge ‘cog (of a wheel)’ perhaps applied to a wheelwright or a miller. 2: from Cogges in Oxon (see Löfvenberg p. 43) or from a place described using the Middle English word cogge ‘pebble’ or (conjecturally) ‘hill’.
Dannemiller : Americanized form of Alsatian Dannenmüller: distinguishing name for a miller who lived by a forest from Middle Low German Middle High German tan ‘pine forest’ + mūlnære ‘miller’.
De Volder : Flemish (mainly Devolder) and Dutch: occupational name for a miller of woolen fabrics from an agent derivative of Middle Dutch vollen ‘to mill’ with the addition of the definite article de ‘the’. The Flemish surname is also found in France (Nord).
Death : apparently from Middle English deeth deth Old English dēaþ ‘death’ perhaps for someone who played the part of Death in a local pageant.The figure of Death occurs for example in the Chester mystery cycle. The traditional pronunciation of this surname in modern times is /di:θ/ (Deeth) which would be a normal development of Old English dēaþ besides the usual modern pronunciation of the word as /dɛθ/. In Middle English Kent dialect the word is also found as diath. The spellings with an apostrophe de'Ath de Ath D'Eath De Aeth etc. are modern introduced perhaps to dissociate the name from the negative connotations of the word and to give it an appearance of gentry status. Sir Thomas D'eath 1723 in TNA was MP for Canterbury and Sandwich and 1st Baronet D'Aeth of Knowlton (Kent). He is perhaps descended from the Death family that is recorded in the Farnborough and Dartford area since the 16th century. Such re-spellings became more popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sampson Death aged 30 miller in Census 1841 (Roydon Essex) appears as Sampson De'Ath aged 71 born in Roydon (Essex) in Census 1881 (Bishop Stortford Herts). Martha Ann Death born in Great Waldingfield Suffolk in Census 1841 (Alpheton Suffolk) appears as Martha A. De'ath in Census 1881 (Buckingham Bucks).
Demille : Flemish: Frenchified (or Americanized) form of De Mil or Demil a variant of De Mul an occupational name for a miller from a short form of mulder ‘miller’.
Doust : apparently from Middle English dust doust ‘dust powder’ (Old English dūst possibly with reference to a dust-coloured complexion or hair. Compare Thomas Dustiberd 1229 in Patent Rolls (Somerset) William Dustifot' 1221 in Assize Rolls (Worcs a nickname for a wayfarer perhaps such as a travelling pedlar) and the traditional nickname Dusty given to one called Miller. Alternatively since the Middle English word also denoted ‘a speck of dust’ it may have been used of someone with a small thin body or slight appearance.
Druckenmiller : Americanized form of German Druckenmüller a distinguishing name for a miller (see Mueller) whose mill was situated in a dry place.
Dust : 1: English (Middlesex): from Middle English dust doust ‘dust’ (Old English dūst) possibly with reference to a dust-colored complexion or hair. Alternatively since the Middle English word also denoted a ‘speck of dust’ it may have been used of someone with a small thin body or slight appearance.2: North German: possibly a Westphalian habitational name from a farm named with dost ‘bush brush’. However the word also means ‘fine dust flour’ and may have been applied as an occupational name for a miller.
Eidemiller : Americanized form of German Heidemüller a topographic name for a miller who kept a mill on a heath from Heide ‘heath uncultivated land’ (see Heid).
Farina : 1: Italian: from farina ‘wheat flour’ (from Latin farina) a metonymic occupational name for a miller or flour merchant. In some cases it may also have been a nickname for someone with a pale complexion.2: Galician and Asturian-Leonese (Fariña): metonymic occupational name from fariña ‘wheat flour’ (from Latin farina; compare 1 above).
Faske : North German:: 1: metonymic occupational name for a grain farmer or miller or a nickname for a small and delicate person or for a person of no account from Middle Low German väseke(n) ‘grain husk chaff fiber little thing’.2: variant of Vaske.
Feese : German: from Middle High German Middle Low German vese ‘spelt chaff husk’ applied as a nickname for a physically small person or as a metonymic occupational name for a cereal farmer or miller. This surname is rare in Germany; in North America it may thus (also) be an altered form of its more common variants Fehse and Fees.
Feeser : German: occupational name for a grain farmer or a miller an agent derivative of Feese.
Flower : 1: English: nickname from Middle English flo(u)r ‘flower blossom’ (Old French flur from Latin flos genitive floris). This was a conventional term of endearment in medieval romantic poetry and as early as the 13th century it is also regularly found as a female personal name. In the US it may also be a translation of a name in another language meaning ‘flower’ such as German Blum or Dutch Bloem.2: English: metonymic occupational name for a miller or flour merchant or perhaps a nickname for someone with a pale complexion from Middle English flo(u)r ‘flour’. This is in origin the same word as in 1 above with the transferred sense ‘flower pick of the meal’. Although the two words are now felt to be accidental homophones they were not distinguished in spelling before the 18th century.3: English: occupational name for an arrowsmith from Middle English floer ‘arrow maker’ an agent derivative of Middle English flō ‘arrow’ (Old English flān).4: Welsh: Anglicized form of the personal name Llywarch of unexplained etymology.5: English: variant of Floor.
Freymiller : German: status name for a miller who was a free man not a bondsman in the feudal system.
Gortner : German (also Görtner): occupational name for a miller from an agent derivative of Low German gorte ‘groats’.
Grewel : 1: from Middle English gruel(le) gruwel grouel(le) ‘meal flour’ Old French gruel possibly applied to a miller or a baker. 2: see Grewal.
Grewell : 1: English: metonymic occupational name for a miller or baker from Middle English gruel(le) gruwel grouel(le) ‘meal flour’ Old French gruel. It is very rare in Britain.2: Variant (or perhaps the original form; see 1 above) of Gruwell a surname which could be of German English or French origin.3: Americanized form of German Greuel (this one is in part a cognate of Grüwell; see Gruwell and compare 2 above) or perhaps of some other similar (like-sounding) German surname e.g. Grewohl which is very rare and unexplained.
Griesel : South German (Bavaria) and Swiss German: from a diminutive of Middle High German griez ‘coarsely ground grain’; perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a miller farmer or farm worker or alternatively a topographic name for someone who lived on sandy soil from the same word in this sense.
Grinder : English (Middlesex and Sussex): occupational name for a grinder of grain i.e. a miller from Middle English grinder ‘grinder of corn miller’ (Old English grindere) an agent noun from Old English grindan ‘to grind’. Less often it may have referred to someone who ground blades to keep their sharpness or who ground pigments spices and medicinal herbs to powder.
Grist : English (southern): apparently from the Middle English abstract noun grist ‘grinding’ Old English grist a derivative of grindan (see Grinder) so possibly a metonymic occupational name for a miller. The word was not used in the concrete sense of grain to be ground until the 15th century.
Gritter : 1: Dutch (mainly Drenthe): occupational name for a miller who produces grits dialect variant of grutter gruiter.2: In some cases also an Americanized form of Swiss German or North German Grütter or Grüter (see Grueter and Grutter).
Grittner : German:: 1: (Silesia): occupational name for a grist miller from Middle Low German grutte ‘grits coarsely ground flour’.2: metronymic from the female personal name Grite Grete from Margaretha (see Margaret).
Gritz : Altered form of German Grütz a metonymic occupational name for a miller from Middle High German griuze grütz e ‘grits’ or possibly a shortened form of derivatives such as Grützmacher (see Gruetzmacher).
Gruel : 1: German: from an ancient Germanic personal name formed with an element reflected in Gothic hrōtheigs ‘victorious’.2: French: metonymic occupational name for a miller or baker from Old French gruel ‘fine flour meal’.
Grutter : 1: Swiss German (Grütter): variant of Grüter (see Grueter).2: North German (Grütter): occupational name for a miller Middle Low German grütter.
Heinmiller : Americanized form of German Heinmüller a distinguishing nickname for a miller called Hein from the personal name Hein + Middle High German mülnære ‘miller’; compare Heinemeyer.
Hermiller : Probably an altered form of German Herrmüller: status name of a miller in the service of a feudal lord from Middle High German her ‘lord’ + mülnære ‘miller’. The surname Herrmüller is very rare in Germany.
Hogenmiller : Americanized form of German Hogenmüller: occupational name for a miller located in the upper part of a community from Low German hoge ‘high’ + ‘miller’ translation of müller.
Kamprath : German: from Middle High German kamprat ‘cogwheel (in a mill)’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of cogwheels or more likely for a miller.
Kamradt : German:: 1: metonymic occupational name for a miller from Middle High German kamprat Low German kamrat ‘cogwheel (in a mill)’; see Kamprath.2: alternatively perhaps a nickname from the vocabulary word Kamerad ‘comrade’ a 16th-century loanword from French camarade from Italian camerata originally someone who shared the same room or quarters; or from the old personal name Gamerat (reflected for instance in Gahmuret the name of Parzifal's father in the courtly epic by Wolfram von Eschenbach).3: variant of Gamradt an East German name of Slavic origin (see Gamroth).
Kirner : 1: German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German kürne ‘mill’ hence an occupational name for a miller or a topographic name for someone living near a mill.2: English and German: variant of Kerner.
Kitzmiller : Americanized form of German Kitzmüller (see Kitz + Muller) a nickname for a miller who kept goats; alternatively the first element may be from a personal name formed with the ancient Germanic element Gid- cognate with Old English gidd ‘song’.
Koerner : German (Körner):: 1: occupational name for a grain merchant or possibly for the administrator of a granary Middle High German körner.2: occupational name for a miller from a noun derivative of Middle High German kürne ‘mill’.3: from the personal name Kor(de)ner a derivative of Konrad which was altered to Körner.
Kritz : 1: German: metonymic occupational name for a grist miller from Middle High German grütze ‘grits’.2: German: from a Germanized Slavic form of the personal name Christian probably influenced by Czech Kříž (see Kriz).3: German: from a dialect variant of Kreutz.4: Jewish (from Ukraine): nickname from Yiddish krits ‘scratch’.
Kuempel : 1: German (Kümpel): short form of an old personal name formed with Old High German kuoni ‘bold experienced’ or chunni ‘tribe race people’. See Konrad.2: German (Westphalia): occupational name for a miller whose mill works with bucket wheels from Middle Low German kump ‘bucket’.
Lanteigne : French (Normandy): probably a nickname for a miller derived from Latin antenna a term used to denote the sails of a windmill. It is formed with definite article l'. This surname is no longer found in France while in North America it is also reported to be an altered form of the variant Lentaigne of which a few examples are still found in France. Compare Lantagne.
Lindemulder : Dutch: occupational name for a miller who processed linseed from Dutch lijn ‘linseed’ and mulder ‘miller’.
List : 1: German and Dutch: nickname for someone who was wise and knowledgeable from Middle High German list Dutch list ‘wisdom ingenuity’.2: Dutch: habitational name from Ter List the name being derived from the plant lis ‘iris flag’.3: Americanized form of Hungarian Liszt a metonymic occupational name for a miller from liszt ‘flour’.4: Slovenian and Croatian: nickname from list ‘leaf’ or a Slavicized form of Hungarian Liszt (see above).
Lockmiller : Americanized form of German Lochmüller a distinguishing name for a miller (see Mueller) whose mill was in a valley or hollow (Middle High German loch).
Lohmiller : German: distinguishing name for a miller (Middle High German mülnære) whose mill was in a wooded area (see Loh).
Loughmiller : Americanized form of German Lachmüller a distinguishing name for a miller (Middle High German mülnære) whose mill was by a pond or lake (Middle High German lache).
Macina : 1: Italian: from màcina ‘millstone grindstone’ possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a miller or as a topographic name or a habitational name from a place called with this word such as Macina in Brescia province.2: Italian: from a pet form of the personal name Maci (see Machi 1).3: Polish: derivative of the personal name Maciej (see Matthew).
Maczka : Polish:: 1: (Mączka): from mączka ‘finely ground flour’ (diminutive of mąka ‘flour’) presumably a metonymic occupational name for miller.3: perhaps also a nickname derived from maczać ‘to dunk to sop’ or maczek a diminutive of mak ‘poppy poppy seed’.2: from a pet form of the personal name Maciej Mateusz (see Matthew).
Maczko : 1: Polish (Mączko): derivative of mąka ‘flour’ presumably a metonymic occupational name for a miller or a nickname for someone with a very pale complexion.2: Polish: nickname from a diminutive of mak ‘poppy’.
Mahl : 1: North German (Mähl): topographic name for someone who lived at a mill Low German Mähl or a metonymic occupational name for a miller or mill worker.2: German: nickname from Middle High German Middle Low German māl ‘mark stain’.3: German: topographic name from Middle High German Middle Low German māl ‘boundary mark or stone’.4: Germanized form of Sorbian Mały ‘small little’ (see Maly) and of its shortened form Mał which can also be from a short form of the Old Sorbian personal name Małomir based on Old Slavic malъ ‘small little’.5: Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Mahl ‘meal’ one of surnames distributed at random by Austrian clerks.
Mailman : Americanized form of German Mehlmann or of its Jewish cognate Mehlman occupational names for a miller or flour merchant.
Maka : Polish (Mąka): from mąka ‘flour’ a metonymic occupational name for a miller or flour merchant.
Malay : 1: Americanized form of Rusyn (from Slovakia) Mlej: from an imperatival derivative of a dialect form of the verb mlieť ‘to mill’ used as a nickname for miller. Compare Maley 2 and Malley 3.2: Ukrainian: metonymic occupational name from malay ‘bread made of corn peas or millet’.3: Irish: perhaps from Ó Máille see O'Malley. This form of the surname is very rare in Britain and Ireland and is found mainly in Lancashire England.4: Filipino: nickname from Tagalog malay ‘consciousness awareness’.5: Filipino: ethnic name from Tagalog malay ‘Malay’.
Malter : 1: English: occupational name from Middle English malter ‘maltster malt-maker or malt-seller’ (a derivative of Old English mealt ‘malt’). Compare Maltman. This surname is very rare in Britain and Ireland.2: English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Maleterre in Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes (Ille-et-Vilaine) from Old French male terre ‘bad land’. This surname is very rare in Britain and Ireland.3: German: metonymic occupational name for a grain measurer or a maker of grain measures or for a miller from Middle High German malter a measure of grain.4: Jewish (from Austrian Galicia): from German Malta ‘the island of Malta’ + the suffix -er one of names assigned at random by Austrian clerks.
Mealmaker : from Middle English mele ‘meal ground cereal’ + maker ‘maker’ i.e. a miller. Compare Meale and Millman.
Mehl : 1: German: metonymic occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from Middle High German mel ‘flour’. This surname is also found in France (mainly Alsace) and Denmark.2: Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads in southwestern Norway originally named with Old Norse melr ‘sandbank gravel bank’.
Mehler : 1: Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from an agent derivative of German Mehl ‘flour’.2: German (Rhineland Hesse): variant of Mahler.
Mehlman : Americanized form of German Mehlmann and a variant of the same Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname: occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from Middle High German mel (German Mehl) ‘flour’ + man (German Mann) ‘man’. Compare Mailman.
Melber : 1: South German: occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from an agent derivative of Middle High German mel (genitive melwes) ‘flour’.2: Jewish (from Austrian Galicia): occupational name for a dealer in flour from Upper German Melber.
Melka : 1: Polish and Czech: from the vocabulary word melka ‘half-ground grain’ hence a metonymic occupational name for a miller or a nickname from the same word in Polish dialect denoting a kind of flour soup.2: Jewish (from North Africa): variant of Malka 1.3: Ethiopian: from the personal name Melka meaning ‘ford (of a river)’ in the Amharic language. — Note: Since Ethiopians do not have hereditary surnames this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to US.
Meller : 2: Americanized form of German Möller and Danish Møller ‘miller’ (see Moeller).3: German: habitational name for someone from Melle (see Melle).1: German Jewish (Ashkenazic) and Polish (of German origin): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from an agent derivative of German Mehl ‘flour’.4: English (Lancashire Yorkshire and Staffordshire): variant of Mellor or in the south-east and East Anglia possibly a dialectal variant of Miller.
Melman : 1: Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant a variant of Mehlmann (see Mehlman).2: Dutch: variant of Van Melle (see Melle 6).3: Probably also an Americanized form of German Mellmann (see Mellman) or Mehlmann (see Mehlman).
Mette : 1: North German: from a pet form of the female personal name Mechthild (see Metz).2: North German: occupational name for a miller from Middle Low German matte mette ‘dry measure’.3: French: topographic name from Old French mete ‘boundary stone boundary’ (from Latin meta ‘bounded estate’).
Metzner : 1: German (Silesia Saxony Bavaria and Austria): from Middle High German metze a small dry-measure for grain or flour hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of measures or for a miller's assistant (who measured the quantity of flour due to the miller as payment in kind).2: South German: occupational name for a butcher from an agent derivative of Middle High German metzjen metzigen ‘to butcher’.3: German: habitational name for someone from Metzen in Lower Bavaria.
Meulemans : Flemish and Dutch: patronymic from Meuleman an occupational name for a miller from molen meulen ‘mill’ (from Latin molina) + man ‘man’.
Meunier : 1: French and Walloon: occupational name for a miller meunier (Old French mounier from an agent derivative of Latin molina ‘mill’). Compare Menier Miller and Monier 1.2: Altered form of French Mignier (see Minier 2).
Mielnik : 1: Polish Rusyn (from Poland) and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller from Polish mielnik. Compare Melnik.2: Polish: habitational name for someone from a place called Mielnik.
Mildner : German:: 1: occupational name for a miller from medieval Latin molendinarius.2: in some cases perhaps an altered form of Müldener an occupational name for a trough maker from Middle Low German muldener.
Miler : Polish Czech Croatian Serbian Slovenian and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller from a Slavicized and Yiddishized form of German Müller (see Mueller) often applied as a translation into German of corresponding Slavic occupational names or surnames. Compare Miller.
Mill : 1: Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived near a mill from Middle English mille melle mulle ‘mill’ (assimilated forms of Old English mylen). It was usually in effect an occupational name for a worker at a mill or for the miller himself. The mill whether powered by water wind or (occasionally) animals was an important center in every medieval settlement; it was normally operated by an agent of the local landowner and individual peasants were compelled to come to him to have their grain ground into flour a proportion of the ground grain being kept by the miller by way of payment.2: English: from the Middle English female personal name Mill a short form of Millicent (compare Millett) or perhaps from a variant of the Middle English male personal name Mile (see Miles).4: Dutch (Van Mill): habitational name from Mill in North Brabant.3: German: habitational name from Millen (North Rhine-Westphalia).
Millender : Altered form of German Müllender: occupational name for a miller from medieval Latin molendinarius.
Millhouse : English (Lincolnshire and Lancashire): topographic name for a miller who lived ‘at the mill house’ (Middle English milne-hous mille-hous ‘mill-house building with a mill in it’).
Millward : English (mainly West Midlands): occupational name from Middle English milne-ward mille-ward ‘keeper of a mill miller’ (Old English mylen-weard). In southern England and the West Midlands this was a standard medieval term for a miller. Compare Miller.
Milonas : Greek: occupational name for a miller from Greek mylos ‘mill’ + the suffix of occupational nouns -as. Milonas has been known as a Greek surname since Byzantine times.
Milstein : Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a miller or artificial name from Yiddish milshteyn ‘millstone’. Compare Millstein.
Mlynarski : Polish (Młynarski) and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic; also Młynarski): occupational name for a miller Polish młynarz (from Latin molinarius ‘miller’) or a habitational name from a place called with this word.
Moehle : North German (Möhle): topographic name for someone living near a mill or a metonymic occupational name for a miller or worker in a mill from Middle Low German mole ‘mill’.
Moeller : North German (mainly Möller) and Danish (Møller): occupational name for a miller from Middle Low German möller Danish møller. Compare Moller">Moller and Meller.
Molder : 1: German: occupational name from an agent derivative of Middle High German mulde ‘trough tub’ (see Moldenhauer).2: Dutch; North German (also Mölder): occupational name for a miller Middle Dutch molder.
Molenda : Polish: variant of Molęda an occupational name for a miller from a derivative of Latin molendinator.
Moline : 1: Americanized form of Swedish Molin.2: Catalan (Moliné): occupational name for a miller from moliner miller. This surname is also found in southern France.3: French and Jewish (from France): altered form of Molina a surname of Spanish and Catalan origin.
Molinero : Spanish: occupational name for a miller derived from molino ‘mill’.
Moller : 1: North German (also Möller) and Danish (Møller): occupational name for a miller (see Moeller). The surname Möller of German origin is also found in the Netherlands and some other European countries (compare 2 below). Compare also Moler 2.2: Swedish (Möller): occupational name for a miller of either German or Danish origin (see 1 above).3: English: variant of Mellor.
Molnar : 1: Hungarian (Molnár): occupational name from molnár ‘miller’ probably a Hungarized form of the South Slavic word for a miller mlinar. The surname Molnár is also found in Slovakia and Romania.2: Serbian Croatian Slovenian and Rusyn: of Hungarian origin (see 1 above).3: In some cases also an Americanized form of Dutch Molenaar ‘miller’.4: Jewish (from Hungary; Molnár): adoption of the name in 1 above either as a Hungarian calque of the formerly used German-based surname or because the Hungarian surname (or word) has some sounds in common with the original surname.
Monier : 1: French: dialect variant of Meunier ‘miller’. Compare Monie and Monnier 1.2: French: variant of Monnier 2 ‘minter money-changer’.3: English (Lancashire): occupational name for a moneyer from Middle English monier ‘moneyer’ (Old French monier) or for a miller from Old French monier ‘miller’ (compare above). This surname is rare in Britain. Compare Money and Minter.
Monk : 1: English: nickname for someone of monkish habits or appearance from Middle English munk monk ‘monk’.2: Irish (Dublin): adopted for Gaelic Ó Muineaog (see Minogue) or Ó Manacháin (see Monahan).3: North German (Mönk) and Dutch: equivalent of 1 from Middle Low German monik Middle Dutch moni(n)c mun(i)c.4: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant from Polish mąka ‘flour meal’.
Morar : 2: Indian (Gujarat): unexplained.1: Romanian: occupational name for a miller from morar an agent derivative of Romanian moară ‘mill’ or a direct derivative of Latin molarius.
Moulin : 1: French and Walloon: from Old French molin ‘mill’ (from Latin molina) applied as a topographic name for someone who lived at a mill or by extension as a metonymic occupational name for a miller or mill worker.2: French and Walloon: habitational name from (Le) Moulin the name of several places in various parts of France and in Belgium (Wallonia) named with Old French molin ‘mill’. Compare Demoulin and Dumoulin 1.3: Altered form of French Desmoulins (see Dumoulin 2).
Muehleisen : German (Mühleisen): metonymic occupational name for a miller from Middle High German mülīsen literally ‘mill-iron’ meaning the shaft of the mill-wheel. Compare Milliron and Millirons.
Mueller : German (mainly Müller) and Jewish (Ashkenazic; also Müller); Dutch: occupational name for a miller Middle High German müller German Müller. In Germany Müller Mueller is the most frequent of all surnames; in the US it is often changed to Miller or appears as Muller. See also Mulder.
Muhle : German:: 1: (Mühle): from Middle High German mül(e) ‘mill’. This was normally a metonymic occupational name for a miller or mill worker though it may sometimes have been no more than a topographic name for someone living near a mill. See also Mill.2: northern variant of Maul 1 from Middle Low German mule.
Muhleman : Americanized form of Swiss German Mühlemann: occupational name for a miller or worker at a mill from Middle High German mül(e) ‘mill’ + man ‘man’.
Mullens : 1: English and Irish: variant of Mullins.2: Flemish and Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived at a mill or by extension an occupational name for a miller.
Mulliner : English: occupational name for a miller from Old French molinier ‘miller’. Compare Molyneux.
Munier : French (mainly Lorraine and Alsace): occupational name for a miller from a regional variant of meunier ‘miller’.
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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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