Name origin of Guyler

[Natasha27]

Can anybody help me with the origin of the surname Guyler?

Apart from my family I do not know of anyone with this surname, is it particularly popular anywhere in the world? Most people tend to guess that it could be French, I would love it if anyone had an idea of where it come from.

(In my family history I have also seen it spelt as Gillah)

Natasha

[dawnsh]

Hi Natasha

Welcome to Rootschat 

Looking at early entries in the birth marriage and death indexes from 1837 at www.freebmd.org.uk it seems the surname may have come from the Nottinghamshire area.

You'll need to do some historic research in parish registers to see if there are early rferemnces to it.

Have you tried searching at www.familysearch.org

That's most probably a good place to start if you don't have any subscriptions to genealogy sites.

Dawn

[Natasha27]

Thank you

We are still in Nottingham, (we didn't go far clearly!) I have managed to trace our Guyler name back to the 1800's, I just think its quite an unusual last name, but maybe after all it will be English.

I've never properly had a look at that site, thanks for the link, I'll have a search

Natasha.

[Ruskie]

According to this it is an English occupational name:
http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/
(Enter the name and select 1881 to check for locations)

There may have been variations through the ages too, so keep an open mind when searching further back - Gayler springs to mind. Even if surnames have different origins sometimes spellings can be confused and names and misheard, mistranscribed and misspelled.

[Natasha27]

That is interesting, I wonder what occupation the name may have come from.

[DavidJP]

Hi Natasha,

This surname intrigued me & having had a look at Ruskie's link, which just showed that it was an occupational surname but not what occupation it derived from. I decided to consult my copy of the Oxford Names Companion, which is basically a dictionary of Christian names, Surnames & English Place names & found the folllowing for the surname Guyler.

Guyler English (Nottingham): nickname for a deceitful or treacherous person, from an agent deriv, of ME guylen to deceive (a deriv. of guyle guile, from OF but of Gme origin).

ME = Middle English
OF = Old French
Gme = Germanic

I have typed it as it appears, but have added the abbreviations underneath.

Its certainly interesting anyway.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards

David

[Ruskie]

It could have been from an occupation which no longer exists:
http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/g.html

Keep in mind that your family could have come from elsewhere and changed their name, intentionally or otherwsie, to appear less 'foreign' and to fit in.

The best thing to do is trace your family via the traditional means and see where that takes you.

[Natasha27]

Oh dear, worrying if that is where our name comes from! :s

I do find it an interesting name and we have wondered if it could have derived from something else like you say people did sometimes make alterations to 'fit in'

thanks for all your help.

[garstonite]

a terrific actor - born in Wallasey but brought up across The Mersey in Liverpool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deryck_Guyler
although there are plenty of Nottingham Guyler from Nottingham early 1800`s - the earliest on here is 1711 and from Bretagne ,France
http://en.geneanet.org/search/?name=guyler&ressource=arbre

England/France /Austria/Dutch were all  at war with Spain in 1718 - 1720 ...I wonder if that`s when the first Guyler may have came over from France ??
something for you to ponder about