Downer Family History

English (Isle of Wight, Hampshire, and Sussex): topographic name for someone who lived on a hill or down from Middle English douner, a derivative of Middle English doun (Old English dūn) ‘hill’ + -er. It is synonymous with atte Doune (see Down) and is a type of formation especially common in Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire.

English: in the north-West Midlands, perhaps a variant of Downward with shortening of the final syllable to -er, a habitational name probably from Downwood (Herefordshire) and perhaps also Dunwood (Staffordshire), with -wood re-etymologized as -ward and occasionally shortened to -ard.

See also Downard. Irish (Tipperary): variant of Dooner.