Toller Family History

English, Scottish, and North German (also Töller): occupational name for a toll taker or tax collector, from an agent derivative of Middle English toll ‘tax’, ‘payment’, Middle Low German toll (from Late Latin toloneum, teloneum, a derivative of Greek telos ‘tax’). English: habitational name from Toller in Dorset, named from a British river name, apparently composed of elements akin to Welsh toll ‘hollow’, ‘pierced’ + dw(f)r ‘stream’. German: from a short form of the personal name Bartholomäus (see Bartholomew). German: nickname meaning ‘foolish one’ or ‘handsome one’; a noun derivative of Toll 3.

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