Mortier Family History

French (mainly northern) Flemish and Walloon: topographic name from Old French mortier ‘marsh muddy place’ or a habitational name from Mortier, a place in Belgium (Wallonia), or Mortiers, a place in Aisne and Charente-Maritime in France, both named with this word.

French: from Old French mortier ‘mortar’ (container used to pound or mix various substances; compare Morter) perhaps applied as a metonymic occupational name for a spicer or a mason bricklayer.

Alternatively, it may have been used as a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a mortar.