Shorter Family History

English:: topographic name for someone who lived by a detached or cut-off piece of land known in Middle English as a sherte shirte or shurte (Old English scerte scierte scyrte). The addition of + -er to a topographic term to form an agent noun is typical of Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire and may also have occurred in Berkshire and Wiltshire.

The name is synonymous with atte Scherte and atte Schurte; see Short and Shortman. In Staffordshire, apparently a shortened form of Shorters, itself a variant of Shorthouse, a nickname either for someone who wore short stockings or boots (Middle English short ‘short’ + hose ‘stocking, boot’).

Alternatively, it could refer to someone with a short neck (Middle English short + hals ‘neck’; see Shortell). This representation reflects both geographical and physical attributes that influenced the naming conventions of the period.