Chaucer (surname)

The surname Chaucer is thought to have one of the following derivations:

  • The name Chaucer frequently occurs in the early Letter Books and in French language of the time it meant "shoemaker", which meaning is also recorded in the "Glossary of Anglo-Norman and Early English Words".[1]
  • From French 'chaussier', 'chaucier', a hosier.[2][1]
  • It may have arisen from 'chaufecire', 'chafewax', i.e. a clerk of the court of Chancery whose duty consisted in affixing seals to royal signature.[1][2] However, Kern doubted this derivation, since the surname 'Chaucer' was too common.[1]

The first two derivations are ultimately traced to Latin calcearium, "shoemaker".[1]

The surname may refer to:

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Alfred Allan Kern, The Ancestry of Chaucer (Google eBook), Lord Baltimore Press, 1906, p. 6
  2. ^ a b Grace E. Hadow, Chaucer and His Times, (book description)
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