Fetters

This most interesting and unusual surname has two possible derivations. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, deriving from the Anglo-French, Middle English "faitour", a doer or maker, which may have been a nickname given to someone who made things, possibly a carpenter. A second possible explanation is that the surname is a variant of the English name "Fitter", of unknown derivation, as the word "fitter", a workman, appears only in the 19th Century, while the verb "to fit" is not recorded in a relevant sense until the 16th Century. In northern dialects the term meant one "who vends and loads coals, fitting ships with cargoes", while another source suggests that "fitter", was applied to a carpenter. From this source, the name first appears in the late 12th Century (see below), while from the former source, the first recording is a Walter le Faytour, mentioned in 1255, in the Charters of the Monastery of Ramsey (Berkshire). Adam le Feytur is recorded in 1272 in the Feet of Fines of Staffordshire. Willmott Feator was christened on November 11th 1570 at Woodbury, Devonshire, and Bridgett Faytor was christened, here also, on August 20th 1557. William Fayter married Margaret Bastine at Harford, Devonshire, on November 17th 1613. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey le Fittere, which was dated 1195, in the "Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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.