The Bakers

Another name wise successful professional corps is the bakers. In English, we meet Baker’s quite often. Trying to recall some famous people carrying this name, Josephine Baker comes to ones mind. So does the notorious gangster “Ma” Baker and her equally notorious sons. Not only the regular Baker’s have their family name derived from the people making bread. Also the Bacon family can trace their name back to baking via the ancient Anglo-Saxon word “bacan”, to bake. Baxter too is a baking derivate, coming from the word “bagster”. The latter is obviously some older word for baking. Whitbread is baker making finer bread and pastries. Whit equals white and indicates more sophisticated products.
In Germany, the baker is called “Bäcker”. There are several “Bäcker’s” in Germany, many of them spelling their name “Baecker”, which in pronunciation gets the same effect. The well known tennis player Boris Becker is most likely also a baker related person, although with a slightly different spelling.
Turning to France and Spain, “Boulanger” and “Panadero” are the names we are looking for. There are several “Boulanger’s” living in French speaking countries. There are also “Panadero’s” in Spain. Neither of these families has, however, produced any members that instantly come to my mind.
I would be very little surprised if there are even more names in the English speaking world that somehow could be traced back to baking. If I come across any, this post will be updated.

PS This post was slighlty modified on Wednesday 16 July 2008.