Origin
Sport : English: unexplained.
Burdin : 1: English: variant of Burden.2: French: nickname or metonymic occupational name derived from medieval Latin burdinus ‘mule hinny’ or alternatively from Occitan burdir ‘to sport or amuse oneself’.3: French: possibly also a derivative of Old French borde ‘smallholding’ (from Frankish bord ‘plank’) used as a designation for a tenant farmer or of Old French bo(u)rde ‘lie’ used as a nickname for a liar.4: Russian and Jewish (Ashkenazic): derivative of Burda.
Falkner : 1: German: occupational name for a falconer Middle High German valkenaere. In medieval times falconry was a sport practised only by the nobility; it was the task of the falconer to look after the birds and train young ones.2: English: variant of Faulkner.
Faulkner : English: from Middle English fauconer fauk(e)ner falconer ‘falconer’ (Old French fau(l)connier) an occupational name for someone who kept and trained falcons (a common feudal service). Falconry was a tremendously popular sport among the aristocracy in medieval Europe and most great houses had their falconers. The surname could also have arisen as a metonymic occupational name for someone who operated the siege gun known as a falcon.
Hawker : English (western England): occupational name for someone who trained hawks or engaged in the sport of hawking from Middle English hauker ‘falconer hawker’ (Old English hafocere). Hawking was a major medieval sport and the provision and training of hawks for a feudal lord was not an uncommon obligation in lieu of rent. The right of any free man to keep hawks for his own use was conceded in Magna Carta though social status determined what kind of bird someone could keep the kestrel being the lowest grade.
Hullock : from Ullock in Dean (Cumb) which is recorded as Wluelaykis in 1277. The place-name derives from Old Scandinavian úlfr ‘wolf’ + leik ‘play sport place where animals play’.
Hurlbatt : from Middle English hurlen ‘to hurl throw with force thrust’ + Middle English bat ‘a stout wooden stick staff club cudgel or flail’ also ‘a war mace’. It may have been used of a warrior on horse or on foot who was skilled in using a mace or a military flail (a spiked ball on a chain) but the social rank of the earliest known bearers of the surname is unknown. Alternatively its original bearers may have been players or referees in the sport of hurlebat. A text of about 1450 mentions ‘Pleying ... at þe hurlebatte’ along with ‘Pleying at þe two hande swerd at swerd and bokelere and at two pyked staf’. In common with these other fighting games it was perhaps a two-man combat using cudgels or maces but a later English writer (1565–73) states that the sport was played with aclides (Latin aclides ‘small javelins’) defined as ‘short battes of a cubit long and a halfe with pykes of yron ... [which] were tied to a line that when they were throwne one might plucke them again’ (see OED at hurlbat). The playing of hurlebat in either of these forms in earlier centuries is conjectural but compare Ricardus Hurlesticke (‘hurl stick hurl cudgel’) 1379 in Poll Tax (Bodenham Wilts).
Leader : English:: 1: occupational name denoting ‘one who leads animals’ or ‘one who carries goods by horse and cart a carter or carrier’ from Middle English ledere an agent noun from Old English lǣdan ‘to lead’. The word may also sometimes have been used to denote a foreman or someone who led sport or dance but the name certainly did not originate with leader in the modern sense ‘civil or military commander’ which is a comparatively recent development.2: occupational name for a worker in lead a ‘plumber’ from an agent derivative of Old English lēad ‘lead’.
Plaster : 1: English and North German: metonymic occupational name for a plasterer from Middle English Middle Low German plaster (from Latin emplastrum ‘(wound) plaster’ (originally a paste) from Greek emplastron a derivative of emplassein ‘to shape or form’; the term was carried over into building terminology to mean ‘bonding agent’).2: English: variant from a common pronunciation of Plastow a habitational name from any of various places called Plaistow (in East London Derbyshire Sussex and elsewhere) from Old English plegestōw ‘place where people gather for sport or play’. This can also be a variant of Plaisted (through interchangeable use of the Old English elements stōw and stede both meaning ‘place’ in earlier times).3: Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Pflaster ‘(street) pavement’.
Plaw : for someone who lived by a place where sports and games were played from Middle English plaghe plawe pleie ploghe plowe (Old English plega plæga plaga) ‘play sport game merriment ’ and by transference ‘play-place’. The Sussex and Surrey surname is specifically from Plawhatch Hall (formerly in East Grinstead Sussex) recorded as La Plawe in 1281 and Plagh(e) in 1285. Compare Plastow.medieval examples without a preposition may alternatively derive from the word in (i) as an epithet for someone who played games or who had a merry disposition.
Plew : 1: German: perhaps a variant of Plewe a habitational name from a place so named in Brandenburg.2: English: variant of Plaw a topographic name for someone who lived by a place where sports and games were played from Middle English plaghe plawe pleie ploghe plowe (Old English plega plæga plaga) ‘play sport game merriment’ and by transference ‘play-place’.3: English: northern variant of Plow itself a variant of Plough ‘plow’.
Popejoy : English (Somerset and Gloucestershire): nickname from Middle English papejai(e) papagei pope(n)jai ‘parrot’ (via Old French papageai from Arabic bab(b)aghā). The ending of the English word was altered by folk etymological association with the bird name jay. The nickname was probably acquired by a talkative person or by someone who habitually dressed in bright colors but occasionally it may have denoted someone who was connected with or who excelled at the medieval sport of tilting or shooting at a wooden parrot (popinjay) on a pole.
Reida : 1: Americanized form of Czech Rejda: nickname from a derivative of rejdit ‘to sport to romp’.2: North German: unexplained. This surname is very rare in Germany. — Note: The population figure published by the US Census Bureau for this surname in the year 2000 is as high as 278 (the figure for 2010 is supposedly less than 100).
Spellman : 1: English: from the early Middle English personal name Spileman Speleman late Old English Spilemann. Its original sense was probably ‘entertainer’ (literally ‘play-man’) corresponding to Middle High German spilmann Middle Low German speelman (see above). However although spile ‘play sport revelry’ and spilen ‘to play’ occur in Middle English there is no evidence for a word spileman and all the English evidence points to this surname being from the personal name rather than an occupational name.2: Irish: in Connacht an Anglicized form of Mac Spealáin and Ó Spealáin (see Spillane).3: Americanized form of German Spellmann: occupational name for a musician or minstrel from Middle Low German spel ‘play’ + man ‘man’.4: Americanized form of German Spellmann: habitational name for someone from Spelle near Rheine or Spellen near Wesel.
Spill : 1: English: from the Middle English personal name Spil(le) (Old English Spila ancient Germanic Spilo from the word for ‘play’ or from the Old Norse name Spillir from spilla ‘to destroy’).2: English: alternatively perhaps a nickname from Middle English spile ‘play sport revelry’.3: North German: variant of Spille.
Venison : from Middle English veneso(u)n venisun ‘wild animal hunted for food or sport game; a deer; the meat of a game animal’ (Old French venesoun) perhaps a nickname applied to a hunter or hunt servant.
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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
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
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