Drummer

This is a surname of apparently English origins. In the famous International Generalogical Index of surnames it is given as being in a group of spellings which include Dreamar, Drawmer, Dreamer, and Drummer. According to the Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley writing in the year 1880, the name is locational from a place called Drummer, near Chadderton, in Lancashire. The meaning of the village name is obscure but it is probably from the pre 7th century Olde English 'drum' meaning a ridge. In general we would agree with this research, except that we believe that it is possible that there have been other locations for the surname, including a now 'lost' village called 'Drem-mere' or similar in Scotland. We do not think that the name however spelt was ever occupational or even a nickname for a drummer. That word is derived from the Dutch 'tromme' and was not used in England until the16th century, several centuries after the usual introduction of surnames. However for some nameholders, it is a possibility. Early examples of the surname recording in the surviving registers of the diocese of Greater London include Thomas Dreymer who married Margaret Wirlye at the church known as St Mary Aldermary, in the city of London, on January 9th 1558, Mary Drummer, who was christened at Christ Church, Spitalfields, on June 19th 1752, and John Drawmer, a witness at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on Mach 28th 1802.