Fortner
Likely an old nickname for a tournament fighter or jouster, later fixed as a surname.
The #3,001 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,834 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is traditionally explained from a word for a tournament or tilting contest, with the sense of someone who took part in such a fight. The older source connects it with Middle English and Old French ideas around a joust or trial of arms, though the exact linguistic path is not perfectly secure. In short, the name was probably applied to a brave or combat-minded person.
History
The name appears in English surname scholarship as a descriptive nickname rather than a place-name or occupation. Lower specifically glossed it as a combatant in a tilting match, and later repeated the same explanation. In modern use it is fairly uncommon, with the highest concentrations found in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers sometimes linked Fortner with courage as much as with tournament fighting, reflecting the chivalric image behind the name.
From the historical record
“land ; also a village in Lancashire. FORTNER. A combatant in a tilting match. See Eng. Surn. i. 109. FORTUNE. A place in Haddington- shire. FORTY. FORTYMAX. Forty is used by the Scot, poet Douglas, in the sense of brave. Fr. foH. Hence these names probably refer to the courage of their original owners,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom