VALERIE MILLER

From the French form of the Latin name Valeria, feminine of Valerius, an old Roman family name apparently derived from valere ‘to be healthy, strong’. The name owes its popularity as a male name in France to the cult of a 3rd-century saint who was converted to Christianity by Martial of Limoges. The masculine form Valery is found occasionally in England in the 16th century, but by the 17th century had fallen into disuse.

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.