Palmer
An English surname for a pilgrim who had been to the Holy Land and carried a palm as a sign of devotion.
The #172 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,972 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Palmer comes from Middle English palmer(e), meaning a pilgrim who had returned from the Holy Land, especially one who carried a palm branch or palm token as proof of the journey. The word is ultimately linked to Old English palm and Latin palma, "palm tree" or "palm branch." In early use, it was less a job title than a religious byname for a devout traveler.
History
Medieval writers often treated palmer and pilgrim as near-synonyms, though some distinguished a palmer as a more specifically devout Holy Land pilgrim. The surname was already established in England by the Middle Ages and later became widespread across the English-speaking world. It survives today as a common surname in Britain, the United States, and other former English-speaking colonies.
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Fun fact
Sir Walter Raleigh famously used the word palmer in a poetic passage about pilgrimage, helping keep the old religious sense familiar to later readers.
From the historical record
“PALLISTER = Palister, q.v. PALMER (A.-Lat.) Palm-Bearing Pilgrim (from Falestipe) {M.E. palmer(e;O.E.palm + the agent, suff. -ere ; Lat. palma, a palm-tree] Ralph le Palmere.— /f«»rf. Rolls. And whan I come to the kirk, And sholde knele to the roodfe,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)