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origins
Recorded in several spellings including Turner, Turnor, Thurner, Tourner and Tournor, this is one of the great British surnames. With over fifty entries in the Dictionary of National Biography, it perhaps surprisingly it has at least three possible origins. Firstly, it may be an occupational name for a maker of small objects of wood, metal, or bone by turning on a lather, deriving from the Anglo-Norman French word "torner". Secondly, it may be a nickname for a fast runner, from the Middle English elements "turnen" to turn, plus the fusing of "hare" a hare. Thirdly, it may be occupational for an official in charge of a tournament, deriving from the Old French word "tornei". The surname dates back to the late 12th Century (see below), and early recordings include Ralph le Turner (1191 - 1192) in the Pipe Rolls of Leicestershire, and Bernard Turnehare in the Curia Regis Rolls of Staffordshire in 1224. Examples from the surviving church registers of the city of London include the marriage of John Turner to Amy German on April 19th 1553, at St. Leonard's Eastcheap, and the christening of Thomasyn Turnor, the daughter of Thomas Turnor, at the church of St Mary Aldermary, in the city of London, on November 16th 1599. John Turner, with his two sons, was one of the passengers on the "Mayflower", the ship in which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from Plymouth to Massachusetts in 1620. The most famous bearer of the name was probably J. M. W. Turner (1775 - 1851), the English landscape painter and master of water colours. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Warner le Turnur, which was dated 1180, in the "Pipe Rolls of London", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189.
There are Jews with the the Turner last name whose ancestors lived in central Europe and I wonder if their name was derived from the town of Turna. As I understand c. 1800 Jews in Central Europe were required to have last names and some chose a name based on the city they came from. Thus, for example, Berliner for a person who came from Berlin.
Balázs Déri says :
Some Turner families though , just like turen tribe in China now speaking mongolian ,may somehow descend from Turnus (Tur'n) king of rutul nation after the war for Troia in XVII-XVI centuries b.c.. As the story tells us,he was an aspirant for the hands of Lavinia daughter of Latinos,ancestor of tua-latin and ste-latin tribes in America, finally rewarded to Aineias father of Askanios arriving just from Troia there. The latter thus might have together with her released t'lat'skanie ( te-Lat-Askani-e ) tribe in na-dene country related among others to ankalit who are later mentioned in Brittannia too. Rutul nation in Dagestan formerly called Albania related to tsez-ottine,tabasaran speaking a language similar to that of Den-Jong may also belong to them,while their relatives remaining at mountain Alba of Transpadania ( the Alps ) may be called there until this day rotwalsch.
See Bruder, Brodnik, Ashkenazi, Politzer, Kohn, Kraus, Förster, Fölsinger, Nussbaum, Zsidó, Zsédenyi, Denkstein, Mohoray, Dengelegi, Czetz, Besenyő, Talmud, Darvay, Dargay, Mgyar, Törzsök, Wodianer, Vodnansky, Demsky, Tinódy, Hajdú, Ártándy, Bottlik, Krizsek
other versions of this surname
links
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner01.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner02.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner03.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner04.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner05.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turner06.php (membership required to view without interruption)
- https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/tt/turnour1.php (membership required to view without interruption)