Recorded as Esser and apparently Essery, this is said to be a medieval surname. Recorded in England from the late Stuart period, it is believed to be of German origin, and found particularly in the Niederrhein area of that country. It is occupational for someone employed in the making of wheels or carts, and is one of a group of similar surnames dating from the main period of European surname formation, when important skills were marked by becoming surnames. Examples of other surnames which also describe wheelwrights and carters are Essenmacher, Achsenmacher, Wagner, and Stellmacher. Such job descriptive surnames became hereditary when a son followed his father into the same line of business. Examples of the recordings from surviving German church registers include Jan Esser who married Heildergraff Ketelbuiter at Heinsberg, Rheinland, on May 1st 1585, and the marriage of Leonardus Esser and Agnes Knoren, at the same place in 1587. In England Elizabeth Esser married Humphry Hill at the famous church of St Marylebone in the city of London on May 22nd 1689, whilst on April 22nd 1776, Henricus Essery married Marie Collindridge, at Lincolns Inn Fields R C church, also in the city of London. A coat of arms depicted in Rietstap's "Armorial General", has the blazon of a red shield charged with an arm sinister, holding in the hand a silver sword edged with gold Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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