Joiner
An occupational surname for a maker of joined wooden work, especially fine carpentry.
The #2,228 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,885 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Joiner comes from the Middle English occupational word for a woodworker who joined pieces together, especially in making fitted wooden structures or fine interior woodwork. It is ultimately related to the verb join, with the sense of fitting parts together. In older English usage, the term overlapped with carpenter and with specialized woodworking trades.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval and early modern England as a straightforward occupational byname, later becoming hereditary. Nineteenth-century surname writers treated it as a clear example of an English craft name, alongside forms like Fitter and other trade surnames. It remains most common in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and Britain.
Origin
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Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old surname books note that joiner was once close in meaning to fitter, since both could describe someone who put parts together.
From the historical record
“Hr.Rileymentionsa'Welsh Poly- fuyster*(p.xxii). Strictly speaking, afuster was a joiner, one who made the wooden framewoil of the sad- dle-tree. No doubt related to O.F. fttsi, a staff', stake, slock, stump, trvnk, or log (v. Fust (i), Skeal). Xjt.'L.fiaHs. Onrfiaty and /uiiiHtss”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances