Becher Family History

German: occupational name for a maker of wooden vessels, a shortened form of Becherer, the loss of the final syllable having occurred in the 15th century. German: occupational name for someone who distilled or worked with pitch, for example in making vessels watertight, from an agent derivative of Middle High German bech, pech ‘pitch’. Scandinavian: either the German name (see 1 and 2 above) or a variant spelling of Becker. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name from Yiddish bekher ‘cup’. English: topographic name, a variant of Beech with the habitational suffix -er.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press