Winner
A surname that can come from an ancestor’s job as a winnower or, in some cases, from an old personal name meaning “joyful army-man.”
The #8,547 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,131 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The main English explanation links Winner to Middle English words for “to winnow,” the process of separating grain from chaff, so it likely began as an occupational surname for a winnower. Another possible source is the Old English personal name Wynhere, built from wyn “joy” and here “army,” with the sense of “joyful soldier” or “happy warrior.” Because both explanations are found in historical surname books, the name is best treated as having more than one possible origin.
History
The surname is recorded in English and American sources by the 19th century, and later appears in U.S. census and directory material. Historical surname writers also compared it with a cluster of related forms such as Winnett, Winnick, and Winnicott, some of which are clearly tied to place-names or the name Winn.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old English personal names often packed in optimistic meanings, and Wynhere is a good example: “joy” plus “army.”
From the historical record
“WINNER (Eiig.) I Winnower [f. M.E. wine- wen, windewen, O.E.windwian, to winnow] 2 the A.-Sax. pers. name Wynhere = Joyful Soldier [O.E. wyn{n, joy + here, army (as the second elem. in pers. names often short for heremann, soldier] WINNETT = Winn (q.v.) + the Fr. dim. suff. -et. WINNICK for Winwick, q.v. WINNICOTT…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)