SALTER
Salter is a surname of English origin that appears to derive predominantly from an occupational source. The name is connected with the medieval practice of extracting, processing or trading salt, a commodity of essential value in that era. The term is a product of Middle English, in which the word salt was combined with the suffix -er, a marker applied to indicate a person who performs a particular activity or holds a specific occupation.
Historical records document several spellings of the name, including Salt, Sulter, Saltman and Salterman. These variants are considered to stem from the same occupational origin. The earliest confirmed appearance of the surname is in the year 1243, where an individual named Robert le Salter is mentioned in the Assize Court Rolls of Somerset. This record is dated to the reign of King Henry I the First, 1216 to 1272.
In the early fourteenth century, the name is recorded in a number of tax and financial documents. Thomas le Selter appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296, while John Saltman is cited in the Pipe Rolls of Suffolk in 1327. These entries provide further evidence that the surname was associated with men involved in the salt trade.
There is a second, less common derivation linked to the Old French word saltere or sautere, meaning a psalter – a stringed instrument similar to a harp that was popular in the medieval period. The record of a musician named William le Salterer in the Assize Court rolls of Northumberland suggests a possible link to this meaning. Similarly, a name entry for William le Sautreour appears in the Calendar of Letter Books for the City of London, dated 1304, where he is identified as a minstrel to Queen Margaret, the consort of King Edward the First.
An example of a notable bear of the surname in a more recent period is James Salter, who flourished around 1723. He was the proprietor of “Don Saltero's Coffee-house” in Chelsea, a venue that gathered a large collection of curiosities. His association with the name demonstrates its continued use beyond the medieval occupational context.
Thus, the surname Salter is primarily understood as an occupational designation for those who worked with or sold salt during medieval times, but it also has a recognised, though rarer, alternative origin related to the musical psalter. The name is firmly rooted in the British Isles, used by people who were Christian and spoke English in England during the Middle Ages and thereafter.
Typical given names associated with the Salter surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Claire
- Elaine
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jane
- Jennifer
- Julie
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
- Salte
- Salser
- Salpeter
- Salta
- Saler
- Salt
- Saltaire
- Saltari
- Slater
- Satler
- Salteri
- Salster
- Saltern
- Salters
- Saltmer
- Saltner
- Saltor
- Saltters
- Saltzer
- Saulter
- Sealter
- Selater
- Selter
- Selters
- Shalter
- Skelter
- Skeltor
- Slaiter
- Slatter
- Slayter
- Zelter
- Salder
- Saltrese
- Salzer
- Saulters
- Shelter
- Shilter
- Sholter
- Slaters
- Slatyer
- Sleater
- Sleeter
- Sleter
- Sletter
- Soelter
- Solter
- Soulter
- Sulter
- Slader
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Salter in...
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 11,000 people named Salter in the UK. That makes it the 838th most common surname in Britain. Around 169 in a million people in Britain are named Salter.
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 Salter
- Jake Clarke-Salter - Football player
- Jo Salter - Aviation pioneer
- Arthur Salter, 1st Baron Salter - Politician and academic (1881 to 1975)
- Ivor Salter - Actor (1925 to 1991)
- Matt Salter - Rugby union and rugby league football player
- Alfred Salter - Politician (1873 to 1945)
- Richard Salter - Singer and opera singer (1943 to 2009)
- Herbert Salter - Cricketer (1839 to 1894)
- James Salter - Swimmer, Olympic athlete, Commonwealth Games silver medallist
- Arthur Salter - Politician (1859 to 1928)
- Mark Salter - Football player
- Malcolm Salter - Cricketer (1887 to 1973)
- Jock Salter - Scottish football player (1898 to 1982)
- Andrew Salter - Welsh cricketer
- George Salter - Cricketer (1834 to 1911)
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.