FLOWER

Flower is a surname of English origin that has been recorded in the British Isles for many centuries. It is generally classified as an occupational name, although scholars recognise that it may also have arisen as a nickname or metonymic designation for various professions.

The earliest form of the name appears in 1203 as William Flur in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, a record dating to the reign of King John. The name is first witnessed in the 13th century throughout England, with names such as William Floere and John le Floer appearing in the Hundred Rolls of Devonshire in 1275 and Edmund Flour in the Feet of Fines of Essex in 1313. A later record from 1635 mentions Thomas Flower, who emigrated to the New World aboard the vessel Abraham.

The term flour (Middle English) is the source of the surname in the sense of a seller of mill‑product or a miller. It derives from the Old English *flor*, which itself comes from the Latin flos meaning flower. In this sense the surname was a nominal identifier of someone who dealt in flour, a common occupation in medieval England. The name also appears in the form of Flour in some early documents, illustrating the fluidity of spelling in that period.

Another proposed derivation comes from the Old French word flur and its Middle English descendant flo(u)r, also meaning flower. In medieval romantic poetry this word was used as a conventional term of endearment; it was early enough to appear as a female given name in the 14th century. Consequently, Flower may also have been given as a nickname to a person with a cheerful or pleasant disposition, or to a person who lived near a notable field or garden of blossoms.

A third hypothesis concerns an occupational meaning unrelated to vegetables or ornaments. In some regions Flower was applied metonymically to an arrowsmith, from the Middle English floer, a derivative of flo, an Old English word meaning arrow. This theory is supported by the name's occurrence in Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire (Bristol). The surname is also frequent in Derbyshire, Essex and Kent, regions with a long history of milling and agriculture.

Variations of the spelling of Flower are numerous and reflect local pronunciation, dialect and the influence of neighbouring languages. Common variants include Floer, Fleur, Fluer, Flowers (the plural form), Flowerdew and Flowerday. In French‑speaking areas the name is sometimes rendered Fleur, the French equivalent of Flower in English. The surname has also spread beyond the United Kingdom to Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States as a result of historical emigration.

In the 14th century a coat of arms was granted to a Flower family descending from William Flower, who served as High Sheriff of Rutland in 1387. The arms are described as an ermine shield bearing an ermine cinquefoil, a design that symbolises beauty and, by extension, the literal idea of a flower.

In summary, the surname Flower is firmly rooted in English history, deriving from several plausible sources such as flour merchants, flowers themselves and even arrowsmiths. Its earliest documented appearance dates back to the early 13th century, and it has since evolved into a number of orthographic variants while remaining a recognisable family name across the British Isles and beyond.

Typical given names associated with the Flower surname

Male

• Andrew
• David
• James
• John
• Mark
• Michael
• Paul
• Peter
• Richard
• Robert

Female

• Claire
• Diana
• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Helen
• Jean
• Margaret
• Mary
• Rebecca
• Sarah
• Susan
• Teresa

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

How to communicate the surname Flower in...

Braille

⠋⠇⠕⠺⠑⠗

Morse

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Semaphore

Surname type: Occupational name

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Flower

• Gilly Flower - Actor (1908 to 2001)
• Ben Flower - Welsh rugby union and rugby league player
• Desmond Flower, 10th Viscount Ashbrook - Irish peer (1905 to 1995)
• Russell Flower - Cricketer
• Newman Flower - Book publisher and author (1879 to 1964)
• William Henry Flower - Comparative anatomist and surgeon (1831 to 1899)
• Archibald Dennis Flower - Rower and Mayor of Stratford (1865 to 1950)
• John Flower - Cricketer

Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.

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