Everyone is familiar with occupational names, whether you realize it or not! Most are commonly known as surnames, but some have become popular as personal names as well. They are names that originated from a person’s occupation. Some of them are straightforward: Hunter means someone who hunts, Fisher is someone who fishes, and so on. But some are less obvious, so make sure you click through to each name’s page if you’re not sure what occupation it derives from – it’s fun to guess!
What do you think of these occupation names? Did any take you by surprise?
Occupational Names
- ABBOTT
- ARCHER
- BAILEY
- BAKER
- BAXTER
- BAYLOR
- BECKER
- BISHOP
- BOWMAN
- BRENNER
- CALDERON
- CARILLO
- CARTER
- CARVER
- CHANDLER
- CHASE
- COLEMAN
- COLTER
- COOPER
- CURRIER
- DEXTER
- FAULKNER
- FIFER
- FISHER
- FLETCHER
- FOSTER
- GAGE
- GARNER
- HARPER
- HAWKING
- HOOPER
- HUNTER
- JAGGER
- KIEFER
- MARSHALL
- MASON
- MATHER
- MERCER
- MILLER
- PAIGE
- PARKER
- POET
- PORTER
- RANGER
- RYDER
- SAILOR
- SAWYER
- SHEPHERD
- SKYLAR
- SLATER
- SPENCER
- TANNER
- TAYLOR
- THATCHER
- TOLLIVER
- TUCKER
- TURNER
- TYLER
- WALKER
- WHEELER
What are your impressions of these occupational names? Join us in our Facebook Group to chat about them!
Kees Andersen (they/them) is a longtime BabyNames.com member and content creator for the site. They first became interested in names when researching for stories they were writing as a young child and it snowballed into a lifelong passion. Kees attended Western Washington University and majored in history, which helped inspire a love of historical names.
Kees resides in Washington state with husband Peyton and two cats Nimue and Caspian. In their spare time they love to travel, read, fawn over their cats, and take photos.
