Thrower
An occupational surname for someone who wound or twisted thread or silk, especially in textile work.
The #6,828 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,524 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Thrower is an English occupational surname. In the historical surname books, it is explained as ‘the thrower’—that is, a person who ‘throws’ thread or silk, meaning winds or twists it in textile manufacture. The word is connected with Old English roots for twisting or turning, and the older forms also link it to the work of the turner or potter in the sense of rotating or turning by hand.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval and post-medieval England and appears in old records in forms such as Throwa and related spellings. Nineteenth-century surname writers noted that Trower was probably a later variant or corrupted spelling of Thrower. The name survived as a fairly uncommon occupational surname and is most strongly associated with England.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old surname writers sometimes grouped Thrower with names for turners and potters because all of them involved the idea of turning or twisting by hand.
From the historical record
“THROSTLE J THROSTLE [O.E. jirosiOle] THROWER (Eng.) Thread - Thrower (in textile-manuf.) ; Potter ; Turner [f. O.E. ^rdwan, to twist, turn, throw] The turner's lathe and the potter's wheel are still called a ' throw'. Hardly O.E. ^owere, ' martyr'. THRUPP for Thropp, Thorp, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)