Slater Family History

English:: from Middle English sclat(t)er an occupational name for someone who lays slates or sandstone flags on roofs or who manages a quarry from which slates or flagstones were excavated. See also Slate.

Occupational name for a butcher from Middle English sleght a variant of slaught ‘slaughter butchery’ (Old English -slæht ‘blow stroke’) + the agent suffix -ere.

Middle English Sleyghtere has only been found in Essex and is formally related to the synonymous occupational name Slaughter.

In Sussex and adjacent counties, Slater and Slatter are probably post-medieval pronunciations of Slaughter; there seems to be no medieval evidence in the southern coast counties for the occupational name Slater in 1 above.