Follow
English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term miller an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’ reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner ). In southern western and central England Millward (literally ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. In North America the surname Miller has absorbed many cognate surnames from other languages for example German Müller (see Mueller ) Dutch Mulder and Molenaar French Meunier Italian Molinaro Spanish Molinero Hungarian Molnár (see Molnar ) Slovenian Croatian and Serbian Mlinar Polish Młynarz or Młynarczyk (see Mlynarczyk ). Miller (including in the senses below) is the seventh most frequent surname in the US. South German Swiss German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Müller ‘miller’ (see Mueller ) and in North America also an altered form of this. This form of the surname is also found in other European countries notably in Poland Denmark France (mainly Alsace and Lorraine) and Czechia; compare 3 below. Americanized form of Polish Czech Croatian Serbian and Slovenian Miler ‘miller’ a surname of German origin.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022