used tree bark when converting hides into leather. But many Barkers have an ancestor who was a shepherd, the name having absorbed Bircher.
Barnard see BERNARD.
Barnes, Barne, Barns (Eng) Descendant of someone who lived near or worked in barns, which were originally places for storing barley. Barnes is also a place in Surrey, named for its ‘barns,’ where some bearers of the name may originally have lived. The name can also mean descendant of Barne, a personal name representing Old English beorn ‘young aristocrat’ or Old Norse bjorn ‘bear.’ In an Irish context Barnes is likely to be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal names Bearán ‘spear,’ (found also as Barrane, Barrington, Barron, O’Barran, O’Barrane) or Bardán ‘bard,’ (found also as Bardon).
Barnet, Barnett (Eng) Descendant of a man named Bernard, or someone who came from a place named Barnet. The place name indicated a place where the vegetation had been ‘burned’ away.
Baron, Barron (Eng, Scot) A nickname for someone who acted in a haughty way; in Scotland a title used for a land-owner.
Barr, Barrs (Eng, Scot, Welsh, French) Descendant of someone who lived by a town or castle gate. He could instead have come from Barr in Ayrshire or Renfrewshire, or from Great Barr in Staffordshire, or from places in France such as Barre-en-Ouche, Barre-de-Semilly. Other possible explanations of this name are ‘maker or seller of bars or stakes,’ and nickname for a tall, thin man.
Barrane see BARNES.
Barras, Barrasford see BARROW.
Barrell (Eng) Occupational name of a cooper, maker of barrels or casks, or a nickname for someone who was barrel-shaped. Occasionally a form of Barwell, a place in Leicestershire, and indicating someone who originally came from there.
Barrington (Eng) Someone who came from one of the several places so-named because it was ‘Bara’s or Beorn’s settlement.’ For the meaning in Ireland see BARNES.
Barron see BARNES and BARON.
Barrow, Barby, Barras, Barrasford, Barrowby, Barrowden, Barrowford, Barrows, Barugh, Barway, Barwise, Berrow (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the many places named for its ‘barrow,’ a word meaning either a grove of trees or a long low burial mound.
Barrs see BARR.
Barsham see BASHAM.
Bartholomew, Baitson, Barson, Bart, Bartie, Bartle, Bartleet, Bartlet, Bartleman, Bartlett, Barty, Bason, Bate, Bates, Bateson, Batt, Beatson (Eng) Descendant of a man called Bartholomew, an Aramaic name which occurs in the Old Testament. It means ‘son of Tolmai,’ itself another biblical name occurring as Talmai.
Film buffs associate the name Bates with Psycho, the Hitchcock film based on a novel by Robert Bloch. Anthony Perkins played the part of Norman Bates, killer of a young woman in a much-imitated shower scene.
Barton (Eng) Someone who came from one of the several places so-named because it was a ‘settlement where barley was grown.’
The name seems to have appealed to writers: George Eliot writes about Amos Barton in Scenes of Clerical Life and the heroine of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton bears that name. For several years (1946–1951) the adventures of Dick Barton, ‘Special Agent,’ captivated the British radio audience.
Bartrick, Brightrich (Eng) Descendant of Beorhtric, an Old English personal name composed of elements meaning ‘brightruler.’
Barty see BARTHOLOMEW.
Barugh, Barway, Barwise see BARROW.
Barwell see BARRELL.
Basham, Barsham, Bassham (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the places so-named because it was ‘Bar’s homestead,’ Bar being a personal name meaning ‘wild boar.’
A Mr Basham of Guernsey who was an osteopath once attracted a certain amount of media attention.
Bason see BARTHOLOMEW.
Bass, Bassett see FISH.
Bassham see BASHAM.
Bastard (Eng) Descendant of an illegitimate child. For obvious reasons bearers of this name tend to change it in modern times. The word itself is avoided because it has become a term of abuse.
Dickens was still able to have Oliver Twist referred to as ‘a bastard child,’ though he went on to say that the word was a reproach to whoever used the word rather than the person at whom it was aimed.
R.D. Blackmore comments in Lorna Doone that ‘others were of high family, as any need be, in Devon – Carews and Bouchiers, and Bastards.’
Bate, Bates, Bateson see BARTHOLOMEW.
Batha, Bathaw, Bather, Batho, Battams see ABADAM.
Batt see BARTHOLOMEW.
Battersby (Eng) Someone who came from a place so-named because it was ‘Bothvarr’s village.’ The -by in such names is common in places where Scandinavian invaders settled. It represents an Old Norse byr ‘village, homestead.’ Other typical English place names that became surnames are BOOTHBY, BURNABY, BUSBY, CATESBY, CONINGSBY, DANBY, DERBY, DIGBY, DIMBLEBY, FRISBY, GOADBY, HORNBY, KEARBY, KIRBY, RIGBY, ROKEBY, SAXBY, SELBY, SLINGSBY, SOWERBY, SWINDERBY, THIRLBY, WELBY, WHITBY, WILLOUGHBY. Occasionally, however, surnames ending in -by have a different origin. See, for example, LIBBY, TUBBY.
Baudrey, Baudrick see BALDREY.
Bavon see EVAN.
Baxter see BAKER.
Baylehache see BAILHACHE.
Beaconsfield see STANSFIELD.
Beadle, Beaddall, Beadel, Beadell, Beadles, Beddall, Beddell, Bedell, Bedle, Beedle, Biddell, Biddle, Biddles, Buddell, Buddle, Buddles (Eng) These are all linked to a ‘beadle,’ who would have been a junior law official during the surname-formation period. One of his jobs was to make public announcements.
Mr Bumble, the beadle in Dickens’s Oliver Twist, also takes it upon himself to name the foundlings. ‘We name our foundlin’s in alphabetical order. The last was a S – Swubble: I named him. This was a T – Twist: I named him. The next one as comes will be Unwin, and the next Vilkins. I have got the names ready made to the end of the alphabet, and all the way through it again, when we come to Z.’ This explanation evokes an admiring ‘Why, you’re quite a literary character, sir’ from Mrs Mann.
Beak, Beake
