"What's in a Name" Surname Index

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What's in a Name ?

COOPER (Part One)

There is a list containing forty occupations out of which the most frequently occurring surnames have evolved. The sequence varies slightly but "Cooper" is never far from these heading the list. Its prominent position is only to be expected because from the earliest times and indeed well into the present Century a cooper was an important member of every community. It was to him that our predecessors went for their tubs and buckets.

Although vessels made of metal were not unknown during the Middle Ages, they were largely restricted to those purposes where no other material was suitable, and in particular, cooking utensils, where there was direct contact with fire. Advanced technique in metal-work did not develop until the 1600's and metal containers designed for everyday purposes had either to be cast or beaten-out. And anything really large had to be assembled from smaller pieces and usually rivetted.

Consequently where vessels were required for carrying water or preparing foods or storing beverages, the choice of materials was limited. Pottery and glass were certainly available and sometimes used but they were easily broken. Leather was another alternative and leather buckets and bottles were by no means uncommon, but they could never be much larger than what the size of the hides permitted. This left only wood and great skill was shown by the craftsmen who assembled the parts which went into the making of pails, tubs, barrels, casks and vats.

Within the trade itself there was considerable specialisation. Curved and bulging vessels destined for the storage of wine, beer and other liquids had to be constructed with meticulous accuracy. Not only had the long side- pieces, called "staves" to be cut and curved equally all round, but laterally, the radius of each adjoining edge had to correspond with the inner and outer circumference of the barrels. Precise cutting of the grooves at each end was needed to receive the bases and lids and the hoops, if made of metal, as they usually were, had to be shaped in order to rest neatly along the outside curved surface.

Those craftsmen who constructed vessels of this nature were designated "wet coopers" and so were distinguished from "dry coopers". They also made similar types of container but since they were not designed to hold liquids, a tight and exact measuring-up was not vital. Straight-sided vessels, such as churns and other domestic utensils fell to the "white coopers". Strangely enough, none of these designations seems to have generated a specific surname, as, for example, in the case of "Cartwright" or "Goldsmith".

The ultimate origin of the word "cooper" can be traced to a language once spoken thousands of years ago in Central Asia and it took the form "kupa". Basically this word related to the notion of a thing being "hollow" or "curved" and this idea can be detected in words such as "cup", "cave", "cove" and "cupola". In Classical Latin it emerged as "cupa" meaning a "cask" and in the Latin as spoken in the Middle Ages, a maker or repairer of wooden vessels was called a "cuparius" and this passed into English under various forms of spelling.

Unfortunately these varieties have become inextricably confused with surnames of similar spelling but of different origins. These can only be dealt with satisfactorily in a separate feature, which is to follow.

Illustrations of the different spellings abound: in 1415 a York Mystery Play was promoted by "XX Coupers" and in a Latin Dictionary compiled in 1450 the word "cowper" is given as the equivalent of "cuparius". A saying current in Tudor times was: "If you talk of a cooper, I'll tell you the tale of a tub". (1589).

From describing one who manufactured casks and barrels the word "cooper" extended its meaning to include people engaged in the wine-trade - sometimes more specifically referred to as "wine-coopers".

The work also attracted another meaning. Coopers were men who were employed to supervise cargo on the River Thames and they were notorious for breaking into containers and stealing whatever they found useful - rather like certain baggage-handlers at certain Airports at a later date! Anyway in the 1700's to say that somebody was a "Cooper" was, in a way, on a par with a similar turn of phrase, "Isn't he a right tinker!" However this usage did not gain currency until the Mid-Eighteenth Century and it is unlikely to have been the basis of any surname.

The earliest reference to the name occurs in Surrey for 1176 where mention is made of a "Robert le Coupere". The considerable variations in spelling are very early evident. In 1181 there is a "Selide le Copere" (Norwich); in 1296 we learn of a "Geoffrey Cowper" in York. In London (1378) a man called "Walter" is registered under both "Cuppere" and (later) as "Couper" while yet again in York, we find "John Copper" (1424).

After "Cooper" the most commonly encountered variation is "Cowper" and there is sometimes a dispute as to how it is pronounced. The best authority is that of the celebrated Poet, William Cowper (1731-1800) who insisted that his name was spoken as if written "Koo-per".

Of the form "Cooper" the name is widely distributed and there are no apparent areas of concentration. The Local Directories list about 600. In addition to "Cowper" there are "Coopper", "Copper", "Couper" and "Cupper" The name went over to the United States hence Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) "Last of the Mohicans". and also Peter Cooper (1791-1883) who organised much of American Industry. The name has appeared frequently in politics but the names of the Stage Personality Gladys Cooper (1888-1971) and Gary Cooper (1901-1961) are better remembered, especially by our older readers.

© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 14th July 1997.

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