Geater Family History

English (Suffolk Kent Sussex): either a nickname from Middle English get(t)our jet(t)our ‘person who behaves ostentatiously; a boastful or swaggering person’ or an occupational name from Anglo-Norman French get(t)our ‘caster of metal’ an agent derivative of get(t)er jet(t)er ‘to throw (something); to cast (in metal)’.

The occupation usually involved making everyday domestic items such as buckles and cooking pots but sometimes special commissions such as bells and (from the mid 14th century) cannons.