Corner

Recorded in the spellings of Corner and Cornner, this interesting name is English Medieval but from two quite distinct French origins. The first is from the word 'cornier' meaning an angle or corner, and as such was introduced into England after the 1066 Norman Invasion. In this case it is topographical, and was given to someone who lived at a place where two roads met or who lived at a place called Corner, one Agnus Acorner in 1483 being recorded as coming from an area in the city of Nottingham called 'Cornerwong'. Other recordings from similar sources include William de la Cornere, in the 1273 "Hundred Rolls of Buckinghamshire" and Dyonisia Attecornere in the 1297 "Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall". The second possible origin is that the name is occupational for a hornblower. In this case it derives from the Norman-French "corn", meaning a horn, plus the agent suffix "ier", to indicate a player of the instrument. Agnes le Cornier is recorded in the 1209 Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire. Later recordings include Christopher Corner and Katheryne Battyn, who were married at St. Mary Magdalene's, Old Fish Street, London, on September 20th 1608. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Cornere, which was dated 1204, in the "Pipe Rolls of the county of Essex", during the reign of King John of England, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.