Downer
A locational surname for someone who lived by or on a down, or chalk hill.
The #6,436 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,508 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Downer is generally taken as a locational name meaning “at the down” or “by the down,” from Middle English down, a hill or open upland, ultimately from Old English dūn, “hill.” Historical sources gloss it as a person residing on the down, and also connect it with the older place-name form meaning “at the down.” In sense, it is closely related to surnames such as Downe and Downes.
History
The name appears in English records by the medieval and early modern period, especially in areas where people were identified by the landscape they lived near. Nineteenth-century surname writers treated it as a straightforward locality-based surname, and some also linked it with the same family of forms as Downe and Downes. It is established in England and later appears in English-speaking countries through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old English dūn originally meant a hill, which is why so many English place names and surnames with down refer to elevated open ground rather than a low valley.
From the historical record
“Ate-Dune, i.e. ' At the Down.' DOWNER. See Downe. See Downe. Perhaps the same as DOWNES. DOWNEY. Downie.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom