Tower
A surname that usually meant someone who lived by, worked at, or was identified with a tower or fortified stronghold.
The #7,421 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,824 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally derived from Middle English and Anglo-French words for a tower, ultimately from Latin turris, meaning "tower." In medieval records it could describe someone who lived near a tower, in a tower-house, or by a fortified building. The plural form Towers may reflect a later patronymic or family-name development from the same base.
History
The name appears in medieval English records in forms such as de la Tour and le Tower, showing the strong Anglo-French influence on surname formation after the Norman period. Related French forms such as Latour and Delatour are well established, and Latinized record forms also occur in historical documents. The surname is relatively uncommon in modern US usage, but it has persisted in England and the English-speaking world for centuries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In medieval surname records, Tower and its French equivalents often describe the same kind of person: someone identified by a prominent tower or tower-house near home.
From the historical record
“TOWILL / TOWER (Eng.) a var. of Tawer, q.v. Gilbert le Tower.— Hund. Rolls. (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Dweller at a Tower [M.E. O.Fr. t(o)ur, Lat. turr-is] Hugh de la Tour.— Ca/. Inq. P.M. TOWERS (Eng.) the Tower's (Son) : v. Tower', Tawer. (A.-Fr.-Lat.) pi. of TowerS q.v. TOWERSON (Eng.) the Tower's Son : v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)