Starcher
An occupational surname for someone who starched linen or stiffened clothing.
The #8,951 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,426 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from the occupation of starching clothes, especially linen and collars. It is built from the word starch, once associated with making fabric stiff and crisp, plus the agent suffix -er, meaning “one who does the job.” Older writers also connected it with an earlier sense linked to strength or stiffness in the word’s history.
History
The name is recorded in 19th- and early-20th-century surname dictionaries as an occupational byname, and one source notes that it was especially relevant in Elizabethan and early Stuart times, when starched collars were fashionable. It appears to have remained a relatively uncommon English surname. Some older scholars speculated about links with other Stark- names, but the occupational explanation is the clearest and most widely stated.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Yellow starch became a notable fashion detail in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, which helped make the trade memorable enough to generate surnames.
From the historical record
“on the nobler metals. It has been corrupted into Stammer. STARCHER, important in Elizabethan times and in that of James L, when yellow starch came in. Perhaps the origin of Starke and Starkie. STAPLER, the merchant who bought wool en gros. As a surname it exists as Staples. STEYNER, the maker of steenes, or stone…”
— Family Names and their Story