Fetters
A likely nickname surname from “fetter,” originally referring to shackles or someone associated with restraining others.
The #7,446 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,024 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally taken from Middle English fetter, meaning a shackle, chain, or pair of irons, ultimately from Old English roots connected with binding or fastening. As a surname, it most likely began as a nickname for a gaoler or keeper of prisoners, or more loosely for someone thought of as a restrainer or binder. It may also in some cases reflect a plural or variant form of the same nickname base.
History
The historical references supplied connect Fetters with the older name Fetter and with related forms explained as occupational or nickname surnames. In English surname collections, such names often appear in several spellings, with the plural -s added later or used interchangeably. The modern American distribution is likely to reflect later British or Irish immigration and spelling variation rather than an independent separate origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same word family appears in the old surname Shacklock, which some 19th-century writers also glossed as a gaoler’s nickname.
From the historical record
“SHACKLOCK (Eng.) i meton. for Gaoler [M.E. sehakloc{k, a fetter-lock, fetters'; O.E. seacol, a shackle + loe, a lock] 2 for Shakelock, i.e. having a long lock of hair [Late M.E. shakeloc(k; f. O.E.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)