Pepper Family History

English and North German: from Middle English peper, piper, Middle Low German peper ‘pepper’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a spicer; alternatively, it may be a nickname for a small man (as if the size of a peppercorn) or one with a fiery temper, or for a dark-haired person (from the color of a peppercorn) or anecdotal for someone who paid a peppercorn rent. Americanized form of the Ashkenazic Jewish ornamental name Pfeffer, or Fef(f)er, a cognate, from Yiddish fefer ‘pepper’. Irish: variant of Peppard.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press