Chapman

The Noble Tribe of Chapman represented here by Lord Ethan of that Ilk. The ancestry of the name Chapman can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is a name for a merchant. Chapman is an occupational surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Occupational surnames were derived from the primary activity of the bearer. In the Middle Ages, people did not generally live off of the fruits of their labor in a particular job. Rather, they performed a specialized task, as well as farming, for subsistence. Other occupational names were derived from an object associated with a particular activity. The surname Chapman is derived from the Old English word ceapman, which means merchant. [1] Therefore, this surname would have been taken by someone whose primary occupation was that of a merchant. The earliest record of someone bearing the surname Chapman in England was in Cambridgeshire, prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066.