Fielder
An occupational surname for someone who worked in or managed a common field or open farmland.
The #5,068 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,636 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fielder is formed from English field with the agent suffix -er, meaning “person connected with the field.” In older surname explanations, it could refer to someone who had care of a common field or worked as a field labourer. The word is straightforwardly tied to rural land use rather than to a personal name.
History
The surname appears in English records and was later carried to North America with migration. Older surname dictionaries treat it as a close occupational cousin of Field and Fielding, all belonging to the same rural naming pattern. It remains comparatively uncommon but is well established in English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers sometimes grouped Fielder with a wider family of field-related names such as Field, Fielding, and Fieldhouse.
From the historical record
“field, Wingfield, Westfield. FIELDER. A person who had the care of a common field. FIELDING. In a docmneut dated 9 Edw. IL, mentioned by Collins, Geoffrey de Fielding calls himself " Filius Galfridi filii Galfridi, comitisde Hapsburget domini iu Laufenburget RiuFiLDiNG iuGermania.'' It appears from the same…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom