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The surname PORTER is occupational in origin. Research indicates that
it can be associated with the English meaning of "one who carried goods;
one who tended a gate; or a gatekeeper" The above information was given to me by Ken Porter who had it posted
at his website and was also sent to me by Patti Soward. The surname Porter is part of the MacNaughton Clan. The badge of the clan is A castle embattled, gules The tartan of the clan looks like this:
Other information I got from Gathering
of the Clans: Motto: I hoip in God Gaelic Name: MacNeachdainn Plant Badge: Trailing azalea War Cry: Froach Eilean - "Heathery Island" Branches: MacNachtan of Dunderave For more information on the clan, click on the link above. This is additional information on the origin of the Porter name
that has been sent me: First there were Porters on the
"Norman Tax Rolls" prior to England being established in 1066.
Prior to that, if you will look in Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary,
Twelfth Printing, 1971, under occupations, it states: "The Biblical
porter was a gate-keeper and not a burden-bearer. The Levites who had charge
of various entrances to the temple were called porters. In some instances the
same original word was rendered door-keeper. A porter was stationed at the
city gates, and among shepherds responsible for keeping the doors of the
sheepfold. In David's time the porters of the temple, who were also guards,
numbered about four thousand." Also a further check at the
public library will show that it was King David who decided there needed to
be last names. Most people were instructed to take the name of their
occupation. His palace guards were called Portal-keepers and he determined
that they should be called Porter. Porter as a burden-keeper did
not come into use until a little over 200 years ago. Whenever the King or his
royal party were going to travel it was the porter, door-keeper, that was
instructed to carry the luggage to the coach. It was the duty of the coachman
to load the baggage. After this tradition was established by the king, people
started calling anyone who had duty as load-bearers Porters. And still MORE Information on the Porter name: I visited the U.S. Census Bureau's site and found this information on
the Porter name. The census bureau's ranks Porter 129th in terms of frequency. (The
last names fiel contains 88,799 different names) The Porter surname is possessed by .069 of the population survey. |
