Porter Name Origin, Meaning and Family History

Porter Name Meaning: An occupational name for a gatekeeper (either a walled town, walled city, monastery, castle, etc).

From the Old French \"portier\", PORTER is an occupational name for a gatekeeper (either a walled town, walled city, monastery, castle, etc). Those who were given the position of porter were also usually given accomodation and privileges.

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Surname Distribution

Census frequency by county

Name Concentrations Within England and Wales

Porter Surname Statistics


Top Professions for the Porter family

Profession Census Frequency
Scholar 3,668
Agricultural Labourer 341
General Labourer 304
Coal Miner 218
Cotton Weaver 215
Domestic Servant 206
Dress Maker 201
Labourer 195
Living On Own Means 188
Farmer 170
Living On Her Own Means 146
Farm Labourer 144
General Servant Domestic 124
General Servant 105
Laundress 80
House Keeper 78
Carpenter 76
Clerk 72
Gardener 71
Blacksmith 64
Grocer 63
Errand Boy 58
Butcher 57
Farm Servant 54
Joiner 54

Porter Surname Variants Ranking

Rank Surname Match Census Frequency
1 Porter 100% 153,311
2 Prater 67% 2,928
3 Parter 83% 2,242
4 Portor 83% 999
5 Preater 57% 872
6 Peartree 50% 768
7 Priter 67% 191
8 Proter 67% 191
9 Perter 83% 183
10 Portter 86% 107
11 Preator 43% 102

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The surname Porter is the most popular version of all its varients

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