Oyler
Likely an occupational surname meaning an oilman or dealer in oil, though some early writers also linked it to Oliver.
The #9,320 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,390 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The most likely explanation is that Oyler is an occupational name for someone who dealt in oil, from Middle English oil and the agent suffix -er. Early surname writers also suggested it may have been a variant of Oliver, but that looks less convincing than the occupational reading. A minority of older references even treated it as a local or dialect form, so the surname’s early form may have varied by region.
History
19th- and early-20th-century surname dictionaries mostly treat Oyler as either an oil merchant/oiler or as a variant of Oliver. The name appears in English records by the 17th century in London and elsewhere, and later compilations note it as a surname found in several English counties. In modern usage it remains uncommon, with a small number of bearers in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One early citation quoted by surname scholars is Reginald le Oyler, which makes the occupational reading especially plausible.
From the historical record
“Alexander de Ockeston, — Hund. Rolls. . OYLER, a var, of Owler, q.v. PACE (A.-Lat.-Gr.-Heb.), a variant of Pa(i)8h. q.v. William Pace.— r^to de Nevill. Easter-eggs are still called pace-eggs in the North of England. (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Bel. to Pas (France) ; or”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)