Lapper Family History

Perhaps for one who wraps or folds something from an unrecorded derivative of Middle English lappen or a mender of clothes or shoes from an unrecorded derivative of Middle English lappe ‘strip or patch of cloth or leather’. Lack of medieval evidence for either occupational name makes these explanations uncertain, but compare Lapp and the Flemish surname de Lapper ‘mender of clothes or shoes’. Alternatively, perhaps a post-medieval spelling of a disyllabic pronunciation of Lappe (see Lapp).

John Lapper 1558–1603 in TNA (Ugborough, Devon) is probably identical with John Lapp 1589 and John Lappe 1607 in IGI (Ugborough, Devon). The Lapp family goes back to the 14th century in or near Ugborough, and the name is also recorded in Hants and Wilts in the late 16th century.

Possibly, sometimes a reduced form of Lapworth. Compare Richd Lapper 1716, George Frederick Lapworth 1828 in IGI (Bampton, Oxon); James Lapper 1734, James Lapworth 1739 in IGI (Southrop, Gloucs).