Painter
An occupational surname for a painter or decorator of surfaces, from the medieval trade name.
The #1,641 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,054 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Painter is an occupational surname, originally given to someone who painted walls, signs, objects, or other surfaces. The name ultimately comes from the Latin root pingere, meaning “to paint,” through Old French and Middle English forms such as peindre and peynter. In medieval records it could also appear in spellings like Paynter or Peynter.
History
The surname is well established in medieval English records and is exactly the sort of trade-based name that became hereditary over time. Historical sources also note related occupational forms such as Paynter and connect the name with other art-and-decoration surnames. Because painting and decorating were common trades, the surname appears in several English-speaking regions and later spread widely through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The 1860 work by Lower explicitly glosses PAINTER as “the occupation,” making this one of the clearest surname-to-trade identifications in English onomastics.
From the historical record
“PAIN. PAINE. See under Paganus. PAINTER. The occupation. H.R.Pictor. See Paynter. PAINTING. The same as Painton. PAINTON. Paington, a parish in Devon- shire. PAIRPOINT. See Pierpoint. PAISLEr. The Scotch town.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom