Granger
An occupational surname for someone who managed a grange or granary — in effect, a farm steward or farmer.
The #2,055 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,603 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Granger comes from the word grange, meaning a farmstead, grange, or granary, with the agent suffix -er added to show a person connected with that place or function. In medieval use, it referred to someone who kept or oversaw a grange, especially on an estate. The name was also used in French, especially in northern French forms, with the same basic occupational sense.
History
Medieval records show early spellings such as Granger and related forms like Grainger and Grangeman. The surname was established in England by the late 14th century and appears in both English and Anglo-French records. Later it spread widely in Britain and beyond as a hereditary family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older estate life, a grange was often a outlying farm or granary belonging to a monastery or manor, so the granger was a key administrative worker as well as a farmer.
From the historical record
“called. GRANGER. See Grange. The bailill" who presided over one, was called Ate Grange, (H.R.) and afterwards Granger. GRANT. "Nothing certain is known re- garding the origin of the Grants. They have been said to be of Danish, English, French, Norman, and of Gaelic extraction, but each of these suppositions depends…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom