Shipman
An English occupational surname meaning “sailor” or “seaman,” originally from Old English.
The #2,339 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,816 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shipman comes from Old English scipmann, literally “ship man” or “man of a ship.” It referred to a sailor, mariner, or skipper. The surname preserves this old occupational term, later written in Middle English as shipman.
History
The name is well attested in medieval English records and literature, including Chaucer, where it clearly means a seaman. Historical surname dictionaries place it especially in parts of England such as Derbyshire, Northumberland, and Yorkshire. It remained a straightforward occupational surname rather than becoming a place-name or nickname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales includes a Shipman, helping confirm the word’s medieval meaning as “sailor.”
From the historical record
“Domesday-Book. ' SHIPMAN (Eng.) I Sailor, Skipper [M.E. s{c)hip'man, O.E. scipmann\ A shipman was ther, wonynge [dwelling] fer by waste ; For aught I woot he was of Dertemouthe. —Chaucer, Prol. Cant. Tales, A 388-9.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)