Fowler
An occupational surname for someone who caught or hunted birds.
The #299 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 2,954 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fowler comes from Middle English fowler, meaning a bird-catcher or bird-hunter. It ultimately goes back to Old English fugol, meaning "bird," plus the agent suffix -er, so the basic sense is "one who catches birds." In older usage, the word could cover a range of methods, from nets to bird-bolts to fowling pieces.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as le Fowler and related spellings, showing that it was already being used as an occupational byname in England. It remained common enough to survive into modern surnames and also generated regional pronunciation and spelling variants such as Vowler and Vowles in the West of England. Like many job-based surnames, it later became hereditary and spread widely in English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same occupational idea behind Fowler also helped inspire surnames built from other bird-related trades, and one old source even remarks that Fox appears right after Fowler in some directories.
From the historical record
“Fowle. H.R. FOWLER. A bird-catcher ; a destroyer of birds by any method, whether with net, bird-bolt, or " fowling-piece." Le Fowelere. H.R. FOWLES. FOWLS. See Foulis. FOX. FOXE. 1. From the animal, like Wolf, Bear, Boar, kc. Le Fox. H.R. FRA”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom