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 2,397
Agricultural Labourer 608
Labourer 234
House Servant 181
Dress Maker 138
Servant 108
House Keeper 106
Laundress 91
Cotton Weaver 91
General Servant 89
Carter 78
Coal Miner 78
Carpenter 76
Farm Labourer 64
House Maid 62
Shoe Maker 55
Tailor 53
Domestic Servant 49
Gardener 48
Cook 47
Blacksmith 47
Farmer 36
Nurse 36
Farmers Son 34
Wife 33

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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