The surname is the last trace of work that once filled a village and now fills nothing. Fletchers fitted arrows. Chandlers sold light. Coopers made the barrels that held the economy together.
Walkernot one who walks — a fuller who trampled cloth
Cooperone who makes barrels
Websternot a male weaver — a woman who wove
Brewstera woman who brewed
Baxtera woman who baked
Fletcherone who fits feathers to arrows
Chandlerone who makes and sells candles
Thatcherone who roofs with straw
Fullerone who thickens cloth
Sawyerone who saws timber
Colliera coal miner or charcoal burner
Naylorone who forges nails
Tannerone who cures leather
Dyerone who dyes cloth
Gloverone who makes gloves
Cutlerone who makes knives
Sadlerone who makes saddles
Skinnerone who flays and dresses hides
Fowlerone who catches birds
Chapmannot a shopkeeper — a travelling pedlar
Drapera cloth merchant
Spencerone who dispenses provisions
Slaterone who roofs with slate
Barkernot one who barks — a tanner who stripped oak bark
How this is counted. The rule is absence: the trade the surname names has no present-day occupation behind it. Where the trade still exists under another name, the surname is not counted here.
The frequency here — 15% — is measured against
159 surnames, which is our corpus and not the English language.
Run the same rule over a different corpus and the number will differ; what will not
differ is which surnames carry the marker, because that is decided by the string,
not by the sample.