Yager
A surname usually linked to German and Danish words for a hunter.
The #4,766 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,571 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Yager is a spelling variant of German Jäger, meaning "hunter." The older sources also note a Danish form with the same sense. The name therefore began as an occupational surname for someone who hunted or perhaps served as a gamekeeper or woodsman.
History
English-language surname books of the 1800s consistently gloss Yager as the same name as Jager/Jäger. The spelling with Y reflects Anglicized or Americanized writing of a German surname, especially in immigrant communities. In some older onomastic works the name is simply cross-referenced rather than fully explained, which suggests the meaning was already familiar.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname books, Yager is often grouped with a whole set of other "hunter" surnames from different languages, showing how common occupational naming was across Europe.
From the historical record
“YAGER. (G-erman and Danish.) Jager, a huntsman. Yogere, also Dignifies a sweet-heart. 270 DICTIONARY OF FAMILY NAMES. TALE. Local. From a lordship of the same name in Walea. TARE. (Sax.) Ready, dexterous, eager. TARROW. A plant; the millfoil, or plant of a thousand leaves.”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names