Palmer surname meaning

Palmer began as the Anglo-Norman and Middle English word for a pilgrim who had travelled to the Holy Land and returned carrying a palm branch. Old French palmier and related forms supplied the vocabulary; the palm was a recognizable badge of pilgrimage. The surname therefore identified a person by a public religious role rather than by a village or parent. Medieval usage could also include an itinerant religious traveller who moved between shrines. Palmer, Palmere, and Paulmier preserve the same family of forms. In this catalog it sits under occupation: the original label described what the bearer did.