Porter Name Origin, Meaning and Family History

Porter Name Meaning: An occupational name for a gatekeeper (either a walled town, walled city, monastery, castle, etc).

From the Old French \"portier\", PORTER is an occupational name for a gatekeeper (either a walled town, walled city, monastery, castle, etc). Those who were given the position of porter were also usually given accomodation and privileges.

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Surname Distribution

Census frequency by county

Name Concentrations Within England and Wales

Porter Surname Statistics


Top Professions for the Porter family

Profession Census Frequency
Scholar 1,745
Agricultural Labourer 621
House Servant 266
Labourer 203
At Home 196
Farm Labourer 149
Dress Maker 122
Servant 120
House Keeper 78
Annuitant 78
General Servant 72
Laundress 67
Shoe Maker 63
Carpenter 58
Coal Miner 51
Scholar At Home 50
Farm Servant 48
Farmers Son 48
Farmer 47
Gardener 45
Frame Work Knitter 44
Tailor 43
Ag Lab 39
Nurse 38
Cook 38

Porter Surname Variants Ranking

Rank Surname Match Census Frequency
1 Porter 100% 153,311
2 Prater 67% 2,928
3 Parter 83% 2,242
4 Portor 83% 999
5 Preater 57% 872
6 Peartree 50% 768
7 Priter 67% 191
8 Proter 67% 191
9 Perter 83% 183
10 Portter 86% 107
11 Preator 43% 102

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The surname Porter is the most popular version of all its varients

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