Lower

Recorded as Ewer, Lewer, Lower and the patronymics Lowers or Lowerson, this is an English surname. It has two possible origins. The first is from an early medieval occupational surname for a transporter or server of water, a servant who supplied guests at a table with water to wash their hands. The derivation being from the Middle English word 'ewer', iself from the pre 10th century Norman-French l'evier', the surname forms with an 'L' prefix showing the fused prefix 'le'. Secondly the surname may be an anglicization of the old Welsh name 'Llywerch', originally a personal name composed of the elements 'llyw', meaning leader, and 'march', a horse, and perhaps equivalent to the French Mareschall or the English Marshall. It is said that the surname from this source is particularly associated with Cornwall. Early examples of the surname recording include Jone Lowers, christened at St Margarets, Westminster, on June 25th 1547, and the marriage of Hercules Lower and Lore Aleigh was recorded at Lanreath, Cornwall, on January 1st 1597. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Lewer, which was dated 1219, in the Fees Court rolls of Surrey, during the reign of King Henry 111rd of England, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.