Singer
An occupational surname for a singer or minstrel, from an Old English word for a vocalist.
The #1,366 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,954 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Singer comes from the common English occupational word for someone who sings, ultimately from Old English sangere, meaning "singer" or "minstrel." In surname use, it most likely began as a nickname or job title for a professional vocalist or entertainer. Some early surname dictionaries treat the name as straightforwardly descriptive of a person's vocal skill.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in England, and it remained a transparent occupational surname rather than a heavily altered place-name or patronymic. Lower explicitly treated Singer as deriving from vocal skill, and Harrison glossed the related form Sanger as "Singer, Minstrel." The surname spread widely in the English-speaking world and is now found at moderate frequency in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the origin word was so clear, Singer is one of the easier English surnames to interpret at a glance.
From the historical record
“still resident in that town. SINGER. Doubtless from vocal skill. SINGERiMAN. The same as Singer, the final syllable being redundant, as in Tuckerman, Fisherman, &c. SINGLEDAY. See Doubleday. SINGLETON. A parish In Sussex, and a chapelry in Lancashire. The latter was long possessed by a very ancient family.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Singer
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904–1991)
- Peter Singer (b. 1946)
- Bryan Singer (b. 1965)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.