The origin of the name "HAMER"
The origins of the Hamer surname are buried in uncertainty. The majority "Hamers" in the UK come from the Lancashire area, particularly Rochdale and Bury.
However our Hamer family come from the old mid Wales counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire which now form part of Powys. In the nineteenth century there are hundreds of Hamers living in that area and there is evidence to show that Hamers lived there since at least the 18th century. It may be possible then that the Welsh “Hamer” name came about entirely differently from the Lancashire contingent. Even now there are many Hamers living in that area and many Hamers in the graveyards of Llanidloes, Llandinam and surrounding villages.
One point of view is that it is a habitational name from a village in Lancashire named Hamer, from Old English hamor ‘rock’, ‘crag’. Another theory is that it is a metonymic occupational name for a smith or for a maker or seller of hammers, Middle English hamer (Old English hamor), or a habitational name for someone living at an inn or shop distinguished by the sign of a hammer.
Certainly there were examples of the name in early times. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving rolls and registers include: John le Hammer in the pipe rolls of the county of Sussex in the year 1332, whilst John de Heymer is recorded in "Baines History of Lancashire" in 1461. Katerina Hamer married Thomas Anderson, at St. Andrew's Enfield, in the county of Middlesex, on July 22nd 1560, and Ralph, the son of Ralph Hamer, was christened at St. Nicholas Acons, in the city of London, on February 16th 1589.
There are HAMERS all over the world, including Australia and the USA (where Hamer Guitars are made.)
However our Hamer family come from the old mid Wales counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire which now form part of Powys. In the nineteenth century there are hundreds of Hamers living in that area and there is evidence to show that Hamers lived there since at least the 18th century. It may be possible then that the Welsh “Hamer” name came about entirely differently from the Lancashire contingent. Even now there are many Hamers living in that area and many Hamers in the graveyards of Llanidloes, Llandinam and surrounding villages.
One point of view is that it is a habitational name from a village in Lancashire named Hamer, from Old English hamor ‘rock’, ‘crag’. Another theory is that it is a metonymic occupational name for a smith or for a maker or seller of hammers, Middle English hamer (Old English hamor), or a habitational name for someone living at an inn or shop distinguished by the sign of a hammer.
Certainly there were examples of the name in early times. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving rolls and registers include: John le Hammer in the pipe rolls of the county of Sussex in the year 1332, whilst John de Heymer is recorded in "Baines History of Lancashire" in 1461. Katerina Hamer married Thomas Anderson, at St. Andrew's Enfield, in the county of Middlesex, on July 22nd 1560, and Ralph, the son of Ralph Hamer, was christened at St. Nicholas Acons, in the city of London, on February 16th 1589.
There are HAMERS all over the world, including Australia and the USA (where Hamer Guitars are made.)