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ArchivesFor Merriment, continued discussion of Baxter
"The reference is Reaney and Wilson, Dictionary of English Surnames, 1995 (most recent so far as I know). See under Baxter."
While I was over in England these past few days I picked up the 1997, revised edition of Reaney and Wilson's *Dictionary of English Surnames* at Waterstones, and checked out the entry for Baxter.
The authors definitively state that the surname is derived from the Old English "baecestre", being the feminine form of "baecere", meaning "baker."
Granted, the entry also states that the name "is used chiefly of men" and that "only two examples have been noted with a woman's christian name" (which would seem obvious if what the authors are referring to is the fact that not many English parents in the past would have been likely to christian their little girls "Baxter").
However, I didn't find any reference to the origin of the surname itself having been based on dialect (as you mentioned in your earlier posting) rather than on the possibility that today's bearers of that occupational surname may have had a female ancestor who independently supported herself as a baker.
-- Nanaea
While I was over in England these past few days I picked up the 1997, revised edition of Reaney and Wilson's *Dictionary of English Surnames* at Waterstones, and checked out the entry for Baxter.
The authors definitively state that the surname is derived from the Old English "baecestre", being the feminine form of "baecere", meaning "baker."
Granted, the entry also states that the name "is used chiefly of men" and that "only two examples have been noted with a woman's christian name" (which would seem obvious if what the authors are referring to is the fact that not many English parents in the past would have been likely to christian their little girls "Baxter").
However, I didn't find any reference to the origin of the surname itself having been based on dialect (as you mentioned in your earlier posting) rather than on the possibility that today's bearers of that occupational surname may have had a female ancestor who independently supported herself as a baker.
-- Nanaea
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