ROGER MILLER

From an Old French personal name, Rog(i)er, of Germanic (Frankish) origin, from hrōd ‘fame’ + gār, gēr ‘spear’. This was adopted by the Normans and introduced by them to Britain, replacing the native Old English form Hrōðgār. Roger was one of the most popular boys' names throughout the medieval period, but less so after the Reformation, though it has continued in regular use to the present day. Roger, Count of Sicily (c.1031–1101), son of Tancred, recovered Sicily from the Arabs. His son, also called Roger, ruled Sicily as king, presiding over a court noted for its splendour and patronage of the arts.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc.