Stoner
Usually an occupational surname meaning a stone worker, hewer, or mason; in some cases it may be a shortened form of Stone-hewer.
The #2,246 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,054 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most authorities connect Stoner with Old English stan, meaning “stone,” plus the agentive suffix -er, giving the sense “one who works with stone.” It was used for a stonecutter, stonemason, or quarry worker, and some writers also treat it as a shortened form of Stone-hewer or Stanyer. A minority of older speculation linked it to other forms, but the occupational explanation is the clearest and best supported.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval England and appears in northern and eastern English records as well as later in London. Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname writers generally treated it as an occupational name, though some also noted occasional confusion with related forms such as Stanier. It has remained a relatively uncommon English surname, with bearers later found in Britain and in emigrant populations abroad.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical writer even suggested that some families called Stoner may have been shortened from an older stone-working form rather than named directly from “stone” alone.
From the historical record
“STONEMAN (Eng.) = Stone (q.v.) + E.man. STONER (Eng.) i Stonecutter, Stone- mason [O.E. stdn, stone + the agent. suff. -er] 2 = Stone (q^v.) + the agent, suff. -er. (rarely) 3 for Stonop, q.v. STONES, pi., and genit., of Stone, q.v. Elena de Stons. — Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)