Under the feudal system, most men were serfs or bondmen. An Arkwright was a man who made chests, which were called arks. Cartwright obviously has the same origin. A wright was a man who wrought or made things. There were also of course archers and bowmen. (There were many different types of arrowheads and making them was a craft in itself). A fletcher made the shafts for arrows and attached the flights. Flexman is a corruption of flax man, a man who grew flax for making linen.ДЄ Bowyer made bows and a Stringer or Stringfellow made the strings for bows. A barker was a man who dealt in bark for tanning leather. Later the wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills). (At first, people called walkers used their feet to pound the wool so we have the surname Walker. This was called fulling and it has given us the name fuller. In the Middle Ages wool was cleaned and thickened by pounding it in a mixture of clay and water. Faulkner is derived from a falconer and a man who made equipment for horses was a Lorrimer. We also, of course, have the surname Spooner, a man who made spoons. A horner was a man who made things like ink pots and spoons from cow horns. Hurd or Hird is from a man who looked after herds. The surname Whitbread came from people who baked white bread. In the Middle Ages, poor people ate coarse, dark bread. People who sold goods of a certain kind were also called mongers. (The surname Hawk may be short for hawker or it may have begun as a nickname for a person who was as fierce as a hawk). A Frobisher polished swords or armour.ДЄ Chapman and a hawker sold goods at markets. However, a Granger was a man who looked after a grange or farm. A farmer took on its modern meaning much later. The name Farmer may seem obvious but in fact, in the Middle Ages, a fermier was a tax collector. A turner was a man who turned wood on a lathe and made things like wooden bowls. Wheeler was another name for a wheelwright. Smith, Potter, Cooper, Mason, Tailor or Taylor, Spinner, Weaver (Webb was another word for a weaver, a webster was usually a female weaver), Dyer, Thatcher, Tyler, Slater, Miller, Baker, Cheeseman, Spicer, Cook, Fisher, Shepherd, Carter, Clarke, Skinner and Gardener (alternative spellings are Gardner and Gardiner). Some occupational surnames are obvious e.g. if a man was a carpenter he might be called John Carpenter and because sons very often followed their fatherвЂ™s occupation the surname stuck.

Common spellings of last names