Turner Family History

English: occupational name from Middle English t(o)urnour turner ‘turner’ (Old French to(u)rn(e)our) mainly denoting someone who fashioned small objects of wood, metal, or bone on a lathe but also a variety of other occupations including turnspit and translator or interpreter. This surname may have become confused with Toner. In North America, it is also very common among African Americans.

English: occasionally perhaps a nickname from Middle English turn-hare, a compound of Middle English tournen ‘to turn, direct, steer’ + hare ‘hare’; a name for someone in charge of the greyhounds in hare coursing or an exaggerated compliment for someone who could run fast. See also Turnbull.

English: perhaps also from Middle English t(o)urn(e)our ‘jouster, one who takes part in a tournament’ (Old French tornoieor, tournoieur). South German (rarely Türner): occupational name for a guard in a tower or a topographic name from an agent derivative of Middle High German turn ‘tower’. Compare Thurner.

South German (rarely Türner): habitational name for someone from any of various places called Thurn, for example, in Austria. Compare Thurner. Slovenian and Croatian: regional occupational or topographic name from tur(e)n, a loanword from German (see 4 above).

Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name from a place called Turno or Turna in Poland and Belarus, or from the city of Tarnów (Yiddish Turne) in Poland. Americanized form (translation into English) of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames or names with similar meaning.