Taylor


Select Taylor Surname Genealogy

This occupational name for a tailor comes via the French tailleur from the Latin tailare, to cut.   It would seem that tradition has dictated that the spelling of tailor refers to the trade of tailoring, while the Taylor spelling is the surname form.  The number of Taylors has been augmented by Jewish immigrants taking the name.

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England.  The first evidence of its use as a surname in England appears to be in Somerset in the 1180's. The Taylor name was to be found from an early time in the south Suffolk wool towns.  Rowland Taylor, the Protestant martyr burnt at the stake in 1555, came from Hadleigh in Suffolk.  Adam de Tailour, recorded in Nottinghamshire in 1282, appears to have been the forebear of a Taylor family who held lands in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.  One Taylor line in Nottinghamshire begins with Richard Taylor, born around 1510.

By the 19th century, a larger number of Taylors was further north, in Lancashire and Yorkshire.  Red House in Gomersal, Yorkshire was home to a Taylor family who were cloth merchants and manufacturers.  Mary Taylor of this family was friend to the writer Charlotte Bronte.

Scotland.
  Scottish Taylors were to be found in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Aberdeenshire.  Some Taylors can trace their name from the nickname taillear dubh, meaning "black tailor."  Tailiear dubh na tuaighe (Black Taylor of the battleaxe) was a legendary follower of Cameron of Lochiel in the 16th century.   These Taylors were to be found in the Cowal peninsula in Argyll in the Scottish Highlands.

America.  Many of the early Taylors in the United States are descended from the Protestant martyr Rowland Taylor.

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Rowland Taylor was the Protestant from Suffolk martyred by Queen Mary in 1555.
James Taylor from Scotland is credited with William Symington in building in 1788 the first steam-powered ship.
Robert Taylor was an early 19th century English Radical who challenged the Established Church.
Zackary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States.
F.W. Taylor was a pioneer in the study of scientific management.
Guy Baker Taylor was the inventor of nylon.
A.J.P. Taylor was a distinguished British historian.
Elizabeth Taylor was the many-married British-born actress and celebrity.

Select Taylors Today

  • 458,000 in the UK (most numerous in West Midlands)
  • 223,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
  • 165,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Australia)
Taylor is the #3 ranked surname in the UK and the #13 ranked in America.


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For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.

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