This long-established surname may be either of
Anglo-Saxon or
Old Norse origin, and is an
occupational name for a maker of sacks, deriving from the
Olde English pre 7th Century "sacc" or the Old Norse "sekkr", sack, with the addition of 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 originally denoted the actual occupation of the
namebearer, and later became
hereditary. Early forms of the name include: Ralph Sakeman (Huntingdonshire, 1209); Symon Sac (Cambridgeshire, 1250); and Henry
le Sacwebbe (Somerset, 1279). The last mentioned example refers specifically to the occupation of sack weaver. Geoffrey Sakker was noted in "Early London
Personal Names", by E. Edwall, circa 1250, and in 1277, Eva le Seckere appears in the
Court Rolls of the
Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire. Adam the Sakker of le Sakkere was entered in the London Fines Roll of 1321. On May 19th 1622, Edward, son of John and Marie Sackler, was
christened at St. Andrew Undershaft, London, and in 1624, John Sacker, aged 20 yrs., and an early
settler in the
New World, appears on a
Muster of the Inhabitants in Virginia in 1624. He travelled from London on the ship "Marget and John" in 1623. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh le Saker, which was dated 1225,
witness in the "
Assize Court Rolls of Somerset", 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.