In 1507 the Scottish royal treasurer settled an account with a craftsman named only by his trade: "To the turnour that turnit apilles to the king for the tournament." The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue quotes the line. Somebody sat at a lathe in the reign of James IV, turning wooden pieces for a royal spectacle, and was paid as "the turnour" because that was who he was.
Turner is that word made hereditary: an occupational surname, and one of the most common in Scotland with no clan behind it at all.
What Did a Scottish Turner Actually Do?
He shaped things on a lathe, and then a good deal else. The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue runs its entry for turnour from 1384 to 1700 and gives four senses: one who makes things from wood on a lathe; one who produces or brings something about; one who deals in merchandise; one who turns something round a central point. The Oxford-backed dictionary of American family names widens the edges further, defining it as an "occupational name from Middle English t(o)urnour turner 'turner' (Old French to(u)rn(e)our) mainly denoting someone who fashioned small objects of wood metal or bone on a lathe but also a variety of other occupations including turnspit and translator or interpreter."
Bowls, cups, chair legs, spindles, bobbins: the turner made the round things in a household before anything was cast or molded. It is a trade name of the same kind as those in our histories of the Walker name, Miller and Baxter.
Is Turner a Scottish Surname or an English One?
Both, independently, and that is the accurate answer rather than a diplomatic one. Occupational surnames form wherever the occupation exists. The trade word was current in Scots from at least 1384, so Scottish Turners did not need to come from England to acquire the name; they needed a grandfather who worked a lathe. England produced Turners in far greater numbers and English families carried the name north, so any given line could be either.
The Scottish footprint is substantial in its own right: 4,891 Turners in the 1901 census, ranking 155th. Aberdeenshire even carries an estate named for the family, Turnerhall near Ellon, held by Turners in the eighteenth century with the Scottish Episcopal chapel at Tillydesk on their ground.
What Turner does not have is a clan: no chief, no clan body, no assigned tartan, no sept status on any clan organization's own list. Our guide to what Scottish surnames mean explains why occupational names sit outside the clan structure by their nature.
Who Was Sir James Turner?
A Scottish soldier whose treatment of the Covenanters helped set off an armed rising. He was born in 1615, son of Patrick Turner, minister of Dalkeith. His parents intended him for the ministry and he took an MA at Glasgow in 1631 without enthusiasm for it. In 1632 he went to Germany and enlisted under Gustavus Adolphus, and by 1639 he was a captain. In 1640 he joined the Covenanting army at Newcastle, though he never signed the Covenant and stayed sympathetic to the royal cause; he was later adjutant-general of foot under Charles II, taken prisoner at Worcester.
After the Restoration he was sent into the south-west to enforce Episcopacy, quartering soldiers on Presbyterian households and levying fines. The Covenanters called him "Bloody Bite-the-Sheep."
How Did Turner Trigger the Pentland Rising?
Because on 12 November 1666 a handful of his soldiers pushed an old man too far. At St John's Town of Dalry in Galloway, troops threatening an elderly man over unpaid fines were disarmed by local Covenanters, and within days a scuffle had become a rising. The party moved on Dumfries and captured Turner; he was nearly killed, escaped when his guards left their posts, then negotiated terms with those still holding him, which they kept.
The rest went badly for the rebels. They reached Lanark on 26 November and Colinton, outside Edinburgh, the day after, and on 28 November Colonel James Wallace's force was broken at Rullion Green in the Pentland Hills by Tam Dalyell of the Binns. Forty to fifty Covenanters were killed, up to a hundred and forty taken, thirty-six later executed. Our account of the Killing Time follows what the persecution became in the decade after, and our history of the Pentland name and the hills themselves covers the ground the battle was fought on.
Turner published Pallas Armata, essays on warfare, in his lifetime; his memoirs waited until 1819, long after his death some time after 1685. He is a reminder that a surname's most notable bearer is not always its most admirable one.
How Should a Turner Line Be Traced?
- Do not search the surname alone. With nearly five thousand Turners in Scotland in 1901, a name-only query is useless; pair it with a parish, an occupation or a spouse's surname from the first attempt.
- Add the older spellings Turnour, Tornour, Turnor and Turnar before about 1700, when a clerk might be writing the trade rather than a fixed surname.
- Keep Turner and Turnbull apart. They are unrelated names, Turnbull being a Borders family with its own history, and index software will blur them.
- Expect burgh records to be more productive than Highland ones, since the craft concentrated where trades were incorporated.
- Work backward from a post-1855 statutory certificate, using our note on civil registration and our guide to ScotlandsPeople.
Own a Piece of Turner Heritage
Lathes made the round things in a household long before anything was cast or molded, and the man at the lathe was paid as the turnour because that was who he was. Three objects carry it here: a mug, a silver-framed keepsake ornament and a garden flag, family crest over a tartan background. An occupational surname of this kind has no chief and was never given a pattern, so the cloth behind these crests answers to the design rather than to any claim; our explainer on tartan and the absence of a chief runs through the customs, and shipping is free on a catalog past 2,000 names.
Turner Family Crest Garden Flag
Frequently Asked Questions About the Turner Name
What does the surname Turner mean?
Someone who turned objects on a lathe, from Middle English t(o)urnour and Old French to(u)rn(e)our. The Scots word is recorded from 1384 and could also cover a merchant, a turnspit or an interpreter.
Is Turner a Scottish name?
It is Scottish and English at once. Occupational surnames arise wherever the trade is practiced, the Scots word was in use by 1384, and 4,891 Turners were recorded in Scotland in 1901, ranking 155th.
Is there a Clan Turner?
No. There is no chief, no clan body and no tartan assigned to Turner, and the name does not appear as a sept on any clan organization's own published list.
Are Turner and Turnbull related?
No. They are separate names with separate origins, Turnbull being a Borders surname in its own right. Searching them together only adds noise.
Who was the most notable Scottish Turner?
Sir James Turner, born 1615, son of the minister of Dalkeith, whose enforcement of fines against Covenanters in the south-west helped provoke the Pentland Rising of 1666. He was captured at Dumfries during it.
Sources and Further Reading
- Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: Turnour n.1 — the four senses, the 1384 to 1700 range, and the 1507 Treasurer's Accounts payment quoted above.
- Dictionary of American Family Names: Turner — the Middle English and Old French forms, the lathe, and the turnspit and interpreter senses.
- Sir James Turner — born 1615, son of the minister of Dalkeith, Glasgow MA 1631, service under Gustavus Adolphus, the south-west fines, the nickname, and the capture at Dumfries.
- The Pentland Rising — Dalry on 12 November 1666, the march by Lanark and Colinton, and Rullion Green on 28 November with its casualties and executions.
- Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies: Aberdeenshire, British East Florida and family narrative — Robert Turner of Turnerhall and the Tillydesk chapel on Turner land.
- Turner in the 1901 Scottish census — 4,891 bearers, ranked 155th.
- ScotlandsPeople — National Records of Scotland registers, wills and census images, and the place to test a common name against a parish.
Remember, before you go looking, that a surname's best-documented bearer is not always its most admirable one. Turner gifts are here.