Tillman
An occupational surname meaning either a ploughman or, in some early sources, a tile-maker/tiler.
The #1,139 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,016 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as an occupational name. One line of explanation connects it with Middle English and Old English words for tilling the soil, giving the sense “ploughman” or “husbandman.” Some 19th-century sources also treat it as a form of “tileman,” meaning a tiler or roofer who worked with tiles. The evidence points to an English surname with more than one possible occupational sense, both rooted in manual work.
History
Historical dictionaries record Tillman in medieval English usage, and later scholars note it as a surname tied to agricultural labor. The name also appears in spellings such as Tillmon and Tileman. Because similar-sounding forms were used for both farm work and roofing trades, the surname may have arisen independently in more than one occupational context.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century source quotes a medieval line about how few ‘tillmen’ there were, using the word in the plain sense of farm laborers.
From the historical record
“Tilly >,". TILLMAN 1 (Eng.) i Plougijman, Husband- TILLMON J man [f. O.E. tilian, to till+»jaB(», »20n(n] 2 Good Man [A..Sax. Til{l)man, Til(t)- mon — til, good, liberal] Tilmott was the name of one of the English priests who accompanied the ill- fated Hewalds in their mission to the Continental Saxons a.d. 690, as…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)