Lavender Family History

English: occupational name for a washerman or launderer. Old French lavendier (from Late Latin lavandarius, an agent derivative of lavanda ‘washing things to be washed’). The term was applied especially to a worker in the wool industry who washed the raw wool or rinsed the cloth after fulling.

There is no evidence for any direct connection with the word for the plant (Middle English Old French lavendre). However, the etymology of the plant name is obscure; it may have been named in ancient times with reference to the use of lavender oil for cleaning or of the dried heads of lavender in perfuming freshly washed clothes.

In some cases, possibly also Walloon and Flemish: variant of French Lavandier, a cognate of 1 above, or perhaps a nickname from Dutch lavender ‘lavender’.