McBride - Bumpus Genealogy

      Anatomy  of  the  " T " Surnames

Origin - Meanings of Surnames beginning with " T "

                                                                T A B O R

English: metonymic occupational name for a drummer, from Middle English, Old French tabo(u)r ‘drum’. Hungarian: from the old secular personal name Tábor. Czech and Slovak (Tábor) and Jewish (from Bohemia): habitational name from the city of Tábor in southern Bohemia. This was a center of the Hussite movement; in Czech it came to denote a member of the radical wing of the Hussite movement.                                                                 

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                                                T A T E
 
(Origin Gaelic) Pleasure, delight.  Tate, learned.  Tad, in Welsh, is a father, and Taid, a grandfather.

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                                            T A Y L O R
 
A name of trade.  We find this name modified to Tayleure, the orthography having been changed by the bearers to hide what they thought the lowness of its origin.  So Smith is changed to Smyth, Turnet to Turnour, etc. -- as Camden says, 'Mollified ridiculously lest their bearers should seem villified by them.'  A Mr. Taylor, who, from this false pride, had changed his name to Tayleure, once haughtily demanding of a farmer the name of his dog, the man replied, 'Why, sir, his proper name is Jowler, but since he's a consequential kind of puppy, we calls him Jouleure!"

                                              T I N K E R
 
English (mainly Yorkshire): occupational name for a member of pots and pans, Middle English tink(l)er (of uncertain etymology).

                                                           T R U S E L

Historically, surnames evolved as a way to sort people into groups - by occupation, place of origin, clan affiliation, patronage, parentage, adoption, and even physical characteristics (like red hair). Many of the modern surnames in the dictionary can be traced back to Britain and Ireland.