Spooner
An English occupational surname originally referring to a maker or seller of spoons.
The #4,802 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,955 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Spooner is generally understood as an occupational name from Middle English spoon, meaning a spoon, plus the agent suffix -er, used for someone who made or dealt in spoons. Older surname dictionaries gloss it as ‘the spooner,’ i.e. a spoon-maker, which fits the period when spoons were common household items and a craft worth naming. The ultimate word for spoon is Old English spon or spōn, a term for a wooden chip or splinter that later became the name of a utensil shaped from wood.
History
The name is documented in England by the late medieval and early modern period, and it spread in the usual way for occupational surnames, becoming hereditary over time. It is especially associated with English records and later appears in the United States through immigration. The surname is also well known through Richard Spooner and the later British family of that name, though the broader name is not tied to one famous line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A spoon-maker was once important enough to leave a lasting surname, because spoons were everyday essentials long before forks became common.
From the historical record
“EathcrlBeDorgood; Si. Peter, Comhill. 1657. — Beajamin Spooner and Agnn Doged: ibid p. 761. Thus Dogood and Toogood are from the same parent; v. Thur-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances