Sawyer Surname Meaning & Origin
What the Sawyer last name means, where the surname began and how it spread.
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Meaning and origin of the Sawyer last name
Meaning of the Sawyer last name: sawer of timber. Sawyer is an English surname for a man who sawed timber. Before powered mills, logs were cut by hand over a saw pit, one man above and one below. The last name is most common in East Anglia and the south of England, and settlers took it to Massachusetts and Maine. A curious detail: Mark Twain made the surname famous around the world with Tom Sawyer.
Arms associated with the Sawyer name
In English heraldry a coat of arms belonged to one person at a time, so different Sawyer lines used their own versions, each set out in a blazon, the formal heraldic description.
Get your full Sawyer family history
This is only a glimpse of the Sawyer story. The full Sawyer history report goes much deeper into where the name began, who carried it and how the family spread, and it comes with a museum-style painted Sawyer coat of arms. Get the full Sawyer report.
Sawyer name FAQ
What does the Sawyer name mean?
Sawer of timber. Common variants include Sayer, Sawyers.
Where does the Sawyer surname come from?
It originates in England, and is also found in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Is there a Sawyer coat of arms?
Arms were granted to individuals rather than to everyone with a surname. Herald Lab paints a personalized Sawyer coat of arms in museum style, based on historic heraldry.
Sources: Reaney & Wilson, Dictionary of English Surnames; Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford).