Daughters Family History

English (London): variant of Dafter with post-medieval excrescent -s apparently from Middle English doughter dohtor douter (Old English dohtor) ‘daughter’ often pronounced in early modern English as dafter.

For the name to be borne by a man such that it became a hereditary surname is surprising though there are occasional instances of men being named in this way (unless they are clerical errors or it was a surname acquired by the retainers of an heiress of an important family).

Alternatively Daughter Daughters might be a simplified pronunciation of Dawtry (see Daughtery) a surname well evidenced in Yorkshire and Sussex where Doughter and Daughter also occur.

In which case the change to Dafter will have arisen through misinterpretation.