TOWLER
Towler is an English surname whose earliest recorded use can be traced back to 1199 in the Lincolnshire Pipe Rolls, a document dated to the reign of King Richard I. It is a generic occupational name that has acquired several distinct meanings over the centuries.
The most straightforward derivation is from the Middle English word towele, meaning a towel. In medieval England a person who made, repaired or sold towels would have been identified by this occupation, and the name subsequently became hereditary. Evidence of this use appears in numerous parish registers from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Other documented origins include an early occupational meaning related to tax collection. The surname may have derived from the word toln – a tax or payment – combined with the agent suffix -er, producing a meaning of “toll taker” or tax gatherer. William Langland, writing in the late fourteenth century, refers in the prologue to “Piers Plowman” to “Taillours and tynkers and tollers in markettes”, illustrating contemporary use of the term. A second possible origin is locational: the name may be taken from the Dorset village of Toller, recorded as Tolre in the Domesday Book of 1086. The place name itself is derived from the Celtic elements tol – a hollow – and dwr – a stream, describing a deep‑hole stream.
A further medieval derivation refers to the Old English word tawere, meaning a person who specialised in the process of tawing or softening leather. Leather was a vital material for clothing, footwear and harnesses, and a tawer would have been a recognisable trade in towns and market towns.
Over time the spelling of the surname has varied. Common variants include Towles, Towell, Towl, Towlese and others such as Direller, Toull and Tineour. The diversity of spellings reflects regional dialects of Middle English and the influence of Norman French on English toponymy and surnames. The name also appears in the forms Tooule and Tooll in some early records.
Modern bearers of the surname are concentrated in particular parts of the United Kingdom. In England the highest frequencies are recorded in the West Midlands, with pockets in Devon, County Durham and Greater Manchester. In Scotland small numbers exist in Aberdeenshire and the city of Aberdeen. In Ireland the name is found mainly in the province of Connacht, especially in the counties of Mayo and Sligo, where many families emigrated during the nineteenth century.
Outside the British Isles, substantial concentrations are observed in the United States, Australia and Canada, with the United States having the largest single population, estimated at more than fifty thousand individuals. These diaspora communities are largely the result of nineteenth and twentieth‑century waves of Irish and British emigration.
Although the original occupational or locational significance of Towler may not bear directly on the lives of modern bearers, it remains a useful indicator of the medieval economy and social structure of the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Towler surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Simon
- Stephen
Female
- Carol
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jacqueline
- Julie
- Lesley
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Petrina
- Sarah
- Susan
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 Towler in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 2,871 people named Towler in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,110th most common surname in Britain. Around 44 in a million people in Britain are named Towler.
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 Towler
- Harley Towler - Badminton player
- Bernard Towler - Football player (1912 to 1992)
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.