Setter Family History

English: occupational name for a stone- or bricklayer from Middle English setter(e) ‘workman who lays stones, bricks, or tiles in building’ (an agent derivative of setten ‘to set’). English: occupational name from an agent derivative of Middle English setten ‘to place (decoration on a garment or metal surface)’ which in at least some cases denoted an embroiderer.

In medieval London and probably in other major ecclesiastical centers, setter(e) denoted a maker of opus anglicanum, a kind of luxurious embroidery in which precious stones and silver and gold threads were ‘set’ or sewn onto ceremonial clothing.

Scottish: perhaps a variant of Seatter, a habitational name probably from Seatter in Stromness (Orkney) but perhaps also from any of various other Orcadian places called Seatter or Setter. These names are from Old Norse setr ‘seat, residence, farm dwelling’ or sætr ‘mountain pasture’.

German: unexplained. Norwegian: variant of Sether.