Cutler
An occupational surname for a maker or seller of knives and other cutting tools.
The #2,331 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,765 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cutler comes from the trade for a knife-maker or maker of cutting implements. The name is tied to French forms such as Anglo-Norman and Old French words for a knife-maker, ultimately from the word for a knife. In English records it appears early as a occupational byname, and the spelling could vary, especially in Scotland where CUTLAR is found.
History
The surname is well established in medieval English records and was already common enough in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379 to be remarked on by later surname scholars. It also spread into Scotland, where the form Cutlar is reported as a regional spelling. Because the trade was widespread, the surname developed independently in more than one place as a straightforward occupational name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 14th-century poll-tax record helped make Cutler one of the better-attested medieval occupational surnames in northern England.
From the historical record
“CUTHBERTSON. See Cuthbert. CUTLER (in Scotland often CUTLAR). The trade, from coutcan, Fr. a knife, coute- lier, a knife-maker. In the H.R. we find it written Le Coteler and Le Cotiler. CUTTER, A northern provincialism for engraver. Halliw. CUTTLE, Cuthill or Cuttle is a suburb of Prestonpans, co. Haddington. In…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom