SARAH MILLER

Biblical name, borne by the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. According to the Book of Genesis, she was originally called Sarai (possibly meaning ‘contentious’ in Hebrew), but had her name changed by God to the more auspicious Sarah ‘princess’ in token of a greater blessing (Genesis 17:15, ‘And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be’). This has been one of the most enduringly popular girls' names. A meaning of the name Sarah is Princess.

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.