Toler
A surname that may come from a toll-collector, a place-name, or the Cornish idea of being “free from toll.”
The #3,757 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,751 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Toler is closely tied to Toller and has been explained in more than one way. Some sources connect it with a toll-collector or toll-taker, from a word meaning “to toll” or “to collect dues”; others link it to a Cornish place-name origin. A further explanation, especially in older English and Scottish material, derives it from a form meaning “toll-free” or exempt from toll.
History
In the historical surname dictionaries, Toler is usually treated as a variant or shortened form of Toller. It appears in English records, including Philadelphia and Cornwall examples cited by 19th-century writers, and Cornish scholarship often treats it as part of the wider group of local surnames built from place-names or toll-related terms. Because the sources disagree, the exact origin may vary by family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old Cornish explanation connects related forms with tol, a pit or hole in the ground used in local place-names.
From the historical record
“TOLEMAN = Tolman, q.v. TOLER = Toller, q.v. TOLFREE"! (Eng.) Toll- Free (free from TOLFREY J taxation) [M.E. and M. Scot, toll- fre, O.E. toll-frio, 'exempt from toll'] The uther mous that in the burgh can byde Wes gild-brother and maid ane fre”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)