Hammer Family History
Hammer Name Meaning
German English and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German hamer Yiddish hamer a metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of hammers for example in a forge or a nickname for a forceful person. As an English surname the derivation from Middle English ham(m)er hamor ‘hammer’ (Old English hamor) is formally possible either as a metonymic occupational name or as a locative or occupational name taken from a shop sign or inn sign. However there is no evidence that such appellations became hereditary surnames. The surname of German origin (possibly also in the sense 2 below) is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine). English and German: topographic name for someone who lived in an area of water meadow or flat low-lying alluvial land beside a stream Middle English ham(me) Old English hamm Old High German ham (see Hamm ) + the English and German agent suffix -er. In England names composed of a topographic term + -er are characteristic of southern England especially Kent Sussex Surrey and Hampshire. English: possibly a variant of Hanmer and in northern England a variant of Hamer . Norwegian: variant of Hamar . Germanized or Americanized form of Slovenian or Croatian Hamer ‘hammer’ itself of German origin (see 1 above).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
