This interesting and long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and is an occupational name for a tapster or seller of ale, deriving from the Middle English "tipeler", from "tipel, tipple", to cause to fall, to spill, with the agent suffix "-er". In its original sense "a man who has to do with", the "-er" designates persons according to their profession or occupation. Job-descriptive surnames initially denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. One William Tipeler was recorded in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire, a county where, interestingly, the name is still most widely recorded. Entries in Lincolnshire Church Registers include: the christening of Nathanyell, son of Nathanyell and Margarett Tipler, at Quadring, on February 6th 1563, and the christening of Isabella, daughter of Samuel Tippler, at Great and Little Hale, on March 24th 1623. Further spelling variants include: Tipplar and Typplar (Morton by Bourne, 1575 and 1578 respectively); and Typler (Kirkby Underwood, 1582). A quotation from Lower's "Patronymica Britannica" reads, "The same year (1593) one Symon Collingham, of Seaford (Sussex) was licensed as a tipler, and is to abstain from the use of unlawful games during the time of his tiplinge". On July 18th 1807, Thomas Tipler and Elizabeth Lorking were married at St. Matthew's, Ipswich, Suffolk. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert le Tipelere, which was dated 1250, in "Middle English Surnames of Occupation", Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2024