Trimmer
Probably a surname for a trimmer or cutter, though some families may instead come from a place-name such as Tremere in Cornwall.
The #9,276 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,987 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as coming from Middle English trimmen, "to trim, cut, or dress," with Trimmer meaning someone who trims or cuts. Early surname writers also suggested it may have denoted a particular craft worker, perhaps an embroiderer or textile trimmer, though that idea is less certain. Another old explanation connects some bearers with Tremere, a place-name in Cornwall, so the name may have more than one origin.
History
Lower explicitly treats TRIMMER as a variant or descendant of Tremere, while Bardsley lists both an occupational explanation and a local one. The surname is found in England and later in the United States, where it remains uncommon. Because the name has several plausible origins, different families with the same spelling may not share a single ancestor.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname scholars were not unanimous about this name: one source preferred a place-name origin, while another thought it was occupational.
From the historical record
“Devon. TRIMMER. See Tremere. TRING. A parish in Hertfordshire. TRIPP. The family trace by deeds to temp. Hen. VIII. in co. Somerset ; but tra- dition derives them from the illustrious race of Howard, and accounts for the name, and the " scaling ladder" in their arms, by the following wretched little anecdote…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom