Soler
A surname that can be locational, usually tied to an upper room or loft, and in Spanish also relates to sunlit ground or a floor/base.
The #6,241 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,371 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is most commonly explained as a locational name from a word meaning an upper room, loft, or garret: Middle English soler(e), Old French solier, and Medieval Latin solarium all point to this sense. In older English usage, a "soler" was the upper chamber of a house. In Spanish and Catalan, the same surname may also connect with soler/solera-type words referring to a floor, base, or sun-exposed place, so the name could have arisen independently in more than one language area.
History
English surname writers record forms such as John del Soler and treat the name as local, "at the soler," meaning someone living by or in an upper room or loft. In Iberian contexts, Soler is a well-established surname, especially in Catalan- and Spanish-speaking areas, and it may derive from place-based or topographic vocabulary as well as from house terminology. Because the same spelling appears in several related Romance traditions, modern bearers may have different surname histories depending on family origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early English citations show "soler" as a real everyday word for an upper room, not just a surname term.
From the historical record
“SOLLER (A.-Lat.) One who lives in a Garret or Loft [M.E. soler(e ; O.E. solor or O.Fr. solier, both f. Lat. solari-um, ' a balcony or terrace exposed to the sun ' ]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)