Miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

and Millar are surnames of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

or Scottish origin. Miller is a common surname in: the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(where it is the 7th most common surname),

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

(14th),

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(17th), Cayman Islands and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(18th),

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

(22nd),

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

(24th),

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(36th) and Australia (38th).

History

There are two

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones ( equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definiti ...

ous forms of ''Miller'', one that began as an

occupational surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

for a

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

and another that began as a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name.

for people from a locale in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. ''Miller'' of the occupational origin may also be translated from many cognate surnames from other

European languages Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...

, such as ''

Mueller Mueller may refer to: People * Mueller (surname), a surname German in origin Places Antarctica * Mount Mueller (Antarctica) Australia * Mueller College, in Queensland * Mount Mueller (Victoria) *Mueller Park, in Western Australia * Mueller Rive ...

'', '' Müller'', ''

Mühler Muhler is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Joseph C. Muhler (1923–1996), American biochemist and dentist *Marie Sheehan Muhler (born 1937), American politician See also *Miller (surname) *Muller Muller is a surname. Notab ...

'', ''

Moller Moller, Möller, Møller or von Möller is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Möller, German olympic rower *Ale Möller, Swedish musician and composer *Alex Möller, German politician *Andreas Möller, German footballer * ...

'', '' Möller'', '' Møller'', Myller, and others. There is also a form in the early English linguistics as ''Milleiir''. The standard modern word represents the northern

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

term, an agent derivative of mille 'mill', reinforced by

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

(see Milner). In southern, western, and central England, Millward (literally, 'mill keeper') was the usual term. The name Miller also has a long history in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, notably

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

where many migrants from Northern England and Scotland settled in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 2020, Miller was the 24nd most common surname on the birth, death and marriage registers in Scotland; Millar is 75th.

In the United States

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Miller was the 7th most common surname in the United States, the number of occurrences was 1,161,437. In 2007, about 1 in every 25

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

were named Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, Jones, Miller or Davis. Miller was the seventh most common surname. The surname Miller in the United States can also be the result of anglicization of: *surnames of German origin as Müller, "

", "

Moeller Moeller and Möller are closely related surnames of German origin. People bearing one of them include the following: People * Adolph Moeller, American politician * Alfred Alphonse Moeller (1889–1971), governor of Orientale Province in the Bel ...

", "

Muller Muller is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–H * A. Charles Muller (born 1953), translator *Bauke Muller (born 1962), Dutch bridge player * Bennie Muller (born 1938), Dutch footballer *Bill Muller (1965–2007), US journalis ...

" and "

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

", all of which are cognates of Miller *surnames from other European languages, for example: French - Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins and Moulin, Dutch -

Molenaar Molenaar is a Dutch surname deriving from the Dutch word for "miller". Molenaar is the surname of: * Beau Molenaar (born 1985), a Dutch football goalkeeper * Cees Molenaar (1928–1979), founder of the football club AZ * Dee Molenaar (1918–2020) ...

Mulder Mulder is a surname of two possible origins: Dutch and German. It may be Dutch language occupational surname. It is an archaic Dutch word for "miller" (modern Dutch: '' molenaar''). With 38,207 people in the Netherlands named Mulder, it was the 12 ...

and

Smulders Smulders is a Dutch occupational surname. It is a compression of "des mulders", meaning "the miller's son". Notable people with this surname include: * Ans Smulders (born 1951), Dutch artistic gymnast * (1863–1934), Dutch composer, pianist and n ...

, Danish - Møller, Italian - Molin,

Molinaro Molinaro is an Italian-language occupational surname for a miller. Notable people with the surname include: * Al Molinaro, American actor * Cristian Molinaro, Italian football player * Édouard Molinaro, French film director and screenwriter * G ...

and

Molinari Molinari is an Italian language occupational surname for a miller. Notable people with this surname include: * Adriana Molinari, American (née Argentine) pornographic actress * Alberto Molinari (born 1965), Italian actor, producer, and director ...

, Spanish - Molinero or Molino (= mill), Romanian - Morariu, Hungarian - Molnár, Slavic - Mlinar, Mlinarić or Melnik, Greek - Mylonas (Μυλωνάς) etc. Miller is also the third most common surname among

Jews in the United States American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from dias ...

(after Cohen and Levy), from the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

cognate of Müller, which would be Miller (מיללער) or Milner(מילנער). Miller is also the most common surname in the

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

, originating from Müller in Switzerland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller English-language surnames Occupational surnames Scottish surnames Scottish toponymic surnames Surnames of British Isles origin Surnames of English origin Surnames of Ulster-Scottish origin Surnames of Scottish origin English-language occupational surnames