Here are some names of old occupations that may give you an idea of the history of your surname:
| Surname | Occupation |
|---|---|
| Backman/Backster/Baxter/Beck/Becker | baker |
| Barker | One who strips bark from trees prepares leather with bark = tanner |
| Bauer | German for farmer |
| Beadle/Bedel/Bedell | town crier or someone who keeps order |
| Boniface | innkeeper |
| Brewster | female brewer |
| Burgess | represented a borough at official levels |
| Carter | one who moves goods in a cart |
| Cartwright | makes carts and wagons |
| Chamberlain | treasurer or head of household for royalty/nobility |
| Chandler | sells candles, grocer, provisioner especially for ships |
| Chapman | itinerant peddler |
| Crocker | potter |
| Currier | man who dresses and colors leather after it’s tanned |
| Cutler | knife seller or sharpener |
| Dyer | works in a textile mill to color fabric before weaving |
| Farmer | works the land and may have descended from nobility |
| Fuller | person who shrinks, beats, presses cloth |
| Glover | makes or sells gloves |
| Granger | farmer |
| Harper | harp player |
| Hayward | town official in charge of fences, enclosures, collecting strays |
| >Hooper | makes hoops for barrels |
| Joyner/Joiner | carpenter |
| Marshall | highest ranking officer in some countries |
| Mason | stonecutter |
| Mercer | cloth seller |
| Rodman | surveyor’s assistant |
| Roper | makes nets or ropes |
| Sawyer | saws timber |
| Shearer/Sherman | barber, shears fleece, cuts metal or cloth |
| Skinner | sells hides |
| Slater | roofer |
| Smith | metal worker |
| Trotter | messenger |
| Turner | lathe worker |
| Weaver | runs a loom |
| Webster | weaver, in the past a female weaver |
| Wright | builds or repairs, skilled in different trades |