What's In A Name?????

[hfarmer30]

I wonder if anyone has included any dialog as to the source of their surname.
For instance, I am sure that my surname of "FARMER" came from the occupation (farming) of my ancestors for over 200 years in the Duston area.

One other name, that of Woddoups came from a branch that farmed the Waddops plant from which a blue dye for shoes was extracted. SSince this plant was very harsh on the soil, these folks were migrants, needed new fertile soil to ply their trade. They moved every few years as they could not rotate their crops.

Anyone, have any interest here?
Regards, Herb

[Peter Goodey]

"I am sure that my surname of "FARMER" came from the occupation (farming) of my ancestors"

You say "I am sure" so presumably you've consulted some of the standard reference books on the origin of English surnames?

And is that what the reference books say? I must say I'm surprised about the name FARMER. Unfortunately I don't have any reference books to hand and I stand ready to be corrected but it sounds doubtful to me, to say the least.

I'm assuming you mean farming in the agricultural sense and I think you do judging by the context.

[Chris in 1066Land]

hi Herb and Peter

According to my 'Oracle' which in this case is "A Dictionary of English Surnames" by P H Reaney & R M Wilson

Farmer, Farmar, Femer, Fermor:-
'one who undertakes the collection of taxes, revenues, etc., paying a fixed sum for the proceeds', or, perhaps more frequently 'one who cultivates land for the owner; a bailiff, steward'

[Pam Downes]

One other name, that of Woddoups came from a branch that farmed the Waddops plant from which a blue dye for shoes was extracted. SSince this plant was very harsh on the soil, these folks were migrants, needed new fertile soil to ply their trade. They moved every few years as they could not rotate their crops.


Hi Herb,
I would be very interested in where you got the information about the waddops plant from because the usual plant referred to when talking about a blue dye used in Britain is woad. I've done a google for woad, and although I haven't gone through all 10000+ hits, nothing that I can see in the first 40 mentions waddops as an alternative name. Nor does googling for waddops give me any info regarding a plant, just 4 references to the surname.
It was very interesting to read that synthetic indigo is a very polluting colour to make and that experiments are being made into the possibility of woad and other indigo plants being grown again full-scale.

Pam Downes

[Peter Goodey]

Chris

Well, yes, quite.
A few definitions from on-line sources:-

farmer
A collector of taxes, who paid the Crown an agreed sum and made a profit on the collection.
(From The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History in History)

farmers-general
A group of some 40 to 60 financiers in 18th century France, who bought from the crown the right of collecting indirect taxes on wine, tobacco, and salt (a practice known as "farming" taxes).
(From A Dictionary of World History)

farm
fixed annual payment as rent, etc. XIII (orig. in to farm , at or in farm ); tract of land leased; farm-house XVI . ME. ferme - (O)F. :- medL. firma fixed payment, f. L. firmre fix, settle, in medL. contract for, f. firmus FIRM 1 .
(From The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology)

The old meaning of "farmer" meant something completely different from the rather generalised modern usage of the word to mean anyone working in agriculture. I think this meaning only emerged in the last couple of hundred years. The term "farming out" to mean something like out-sourcing actually harks back to the old meaning of the word.

During the period when English surnames were emerging and practically everyone was involved in agriculture, it would have been plain daft to use "farmer" in the modern sense as a distinguishing feature! More likely would be a specific skill or something indicative of the individual's actual social class. That's not to say that the surname didn't originate from some specific relationship to leased ("farmed out") land but I'm very doubtful that it meant simply "someone who works in agriculture"

But as I said before, I stand ready to be corrected!

[Peter Goodey]

Pam

In the 1881 census, there are -
WADDUPS 10
WADDOUPS 38
WADDUP 108
They are concentrated predominantly in Oxfordshire, particularly the Bicester area but with a sprinkling in other counties.

I don't think this is the sort of distribution normally associated with an occupational origin of the surname unless it's a bit of local dialect.

However, there is a Waddoups family website which claims the name originates from "Wardrobe" (the court official). Goodness knows how much credibility to attach to that.