Barker
An occupational surname for someone who stripped or prepared tree bark, especially for tanning leather.
The #360 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,542 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Barker comes from Middle English barkere, meaning a person who worked with bark. The name originally referred to someone who stripped bark from trees or prepared it for use by tanners, since bark was an important source of tannin in leather-making. The root is the Old English word for "bark" in the tree sense, not the sound a dog makes.
History
The surname is well established in England and appears in early records as both Barker and related forms such as Barkar or le Barkere. It is one of several English occupational surnames tied to medieval crafts and trades. The name later spread widely in Britain and to countries of English settlement, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older sources, Barker can also be linked very directly to tanning, since bark was a key material used to process leather.
From the historical record
“navigator. BARKER. A tanner, from his using barli of trees in liis trade. In the old ballad of the King and the Tanner in Percy's Reliques, the latter calls himself "a larl/er, Sir, by my trade." Eng. Surn. Bar- carius and Le Barkere. H.R. BARKLEY. See Barclay. BARLEY. Parishes and places in cos. Hertford and Yorlv.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Barker
- Kourtney Kardashian (b. 1979)
- Clive Barker (b. 1952)
- Travis Barker (b. 1975)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.