Slaughter Family History
Slaughter Name Meaning
English:: in East Anglia and Essex an occupational name from Middle English slaughter ‘butcher’ a derivative of Middle English slaught ‘butchery’ + er or from a shortened form of the synonymous Middle English slaughterer a derivative of slaughter ‘butchery’ + -er. Compare Slater in Sussex and Surrey a habitational name denoting residence at one or other of several minor placenames such as Slaughter Bridge in Slinfold Slaughter Bridge in Shipley Slaughterford (Farm) in Itchingfield the lost Slaughters in Billingshurst (all Sussex) and Slaughterwicks Barn in Charlwood (Surrey). The names may derive from Middle English slo(gh) ‘sloe blackthorn’ (Old English slāh) + tre ‘tree’ (Old English trēow) or from Middle English sloghtre sloghtere ‘slough mire muddy place’ or perhaps ‘deep river valley’ or ‘ditch’ (Old English slōhtre). The latter is certainly the etymology of Upper and Lower Slaughter (Gloucestershire) and The Slaughter in English Bicknor (Gloucestershire).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022