I feel the need to mention that the -ster at the end of my user name does not make me female. I was feeling shaky that day and that’s the variation I found that wasn’t taken. If it was easy to change it to something more meaningful, I’d change it.
You can ask the mods for a change of name; there’s several people who changed them for different reasons, and even one who changed his and changed it back.
The Brits even now pronounce “clerk” as “clark.”
Still probably more effort than it’s worth. It doesn’t bother me that much.
The “-ster” was originally grammatically feminine but it hasn’t meant that the holder is a woman for many centuries. So you have nothing to worry about. Check the etymonline link I posted before.
I had never even thought of -ster indicating female. Now, if were -ess or -ette, that’s a different story. Interesting to hear that it does etymologically go back to a feminine ending, though. These days, I just think of it as in words like “hipster” or “gangster” or “mobster.” No feminine connotations at all. Off the top of my head, the only -ster word I could think of that is explicitly feminine is “spinster.”
Yep - try tellingIce-T he’s feminine…
Saylor is a really common name in Indiana. Is it derived from “Sailor”? I never thought about it being like Taylor/Tailor before-- I always assumed it probably came from “Seller,” as in like, a cashier in a store in the pre-cash register days. Or maybe an itinerant merchant of some kind.
Anyone know where that name comes from? How old is it? I know lots of people from this area with that name, but I’ve never met someone who lives in a coastal area with it, which is another reason it might not come from “Sailor,” albeit, people do move a lot.
Could be a variation of Seiler – a ropemaker.
Because there’s not much point in giving someone a name based on a characteristic which he shares with a large proportion of his community; you want to name him after a distinctive characteristic. So you only get called “John the farmer” if the fact that you are a farmer is at least somewhat remarkable. If you are surrounded by farmers you’ll find you get called “red-haired John”, or “left-handed John” or whatever.
“Hooker” is (or was) also a job description in logging, as well.
Martel?
I’m apparently named for a deity. “Osborne” from the Old Norse “Asbjørn”, literally “god bear” - it refers to the cave bear, which was worshiped as a deity by some primitive cultures.
That’s a good description of Ozzy. Yes, I know he spells it Osbourne with a “u”.
Osborne, Osbourne, Osborn, Osburn, etc., all the same name with the same derivation. “Asbjørn” was apparently pronounced “OOS-bern”, more or less.
Smythe? Clark? or many many many more.
Because you haven’t been out, much. Just in the US there are 1274 registered with “Tailor” as surname. Worldwide, 40000 or so.
Lack of education/imagination by the OP
I don’t know about non-European cultures, but they’re common in other European cultures. For example, Kovač/Kovach/Kovacs means blacksmith and it’s common in Hungarian and some Slavic languages.
Moderator Note
Let’s refrain from insulting remarks directed at other posters. No warning issued, but don’t do this again.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Another quite famous one, esp. in Scotland: Stewart/Stuart meaning Steward.
- According to Wikipedia, the “w” got replaced by “u” to prevent their French allies from pronouncing it “Stevart”.
I think it is unlikely that most (or perhaps even any) of the people who adopted “Knight” as a surname were actually knights. People at that level of society, if they didn’t have a surname already, were likely to use the name of the place where their main piece of property was located. It is more likely that the original adopters were associated with knights in a more indirect way: a servant of one, a bastard of one, an actor who regularly portrayed one in a traveling show. Some surnames are even thought to have originated as put downs (“Mayor” for someone who was bossy, for example.)
I recently read a book on James Taylor. His ancestry is Scottish, and the name was originally spelled “Tailyeor.” However, none of his ancestors seem to have been tailors.
Don’t forget Psmith, the multi-talented character who, confoundingly enough considering OP, was a bank clerk at one point. (The “P” is pronounced as in “ptarmigan.”)