Silvers
Usually a patronymic or descriptive name related to the word “silver,” though some early forms may connect it to a longer surname like Silverside.
The #4,664 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,614 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most likely tied to the English word silver, either as a descriptive nickname or as a shortened form of a name built on Silver-. One historical source also reads it as a plural or possessive-like form related to “Silverside,” suggesting an old family-name shape rather than a direct occupational label. The ending -s can in some cases mean “son of” or simply mark an older surname form.
History
The name is recorded in medieval English records, and later surname writers treated it as part of a cluster of Silver- names. In America it is a relatively uncommon surname, but it has persisted as an established family name. Because early forms are not fully clear, the exact pathway from the medieval record to the modern spelling is uncertain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname writer grouped Silvers with other Silver- names and interpreted some forms as “son of Silver.”
From the historical record
“Preston Guild-Soils, A.D. 1397. SILVERS! DES, pi., and genit., of Silverside. SILVERSTONE (Eng.) Bel. to Silverstone; or Dweller at the White Stone or Rock [Dial. E.iiter, white; O.E. seolfor, silver + O.E. stdn, stone, rock, stone castle] But Silverstone, Northants, occurs in Domesday-Book as Silvestone and Selve-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)