An English and Irish surname the Farmer family name which originally meant a collector of taxes from farming leases. It was an Old French term of ‘fermer’ and a Latin term ‘firmus’ which both refer to the collection of taxes.

Spelling variations for Farmer include Farmere, Farmers and Fermare.

In Scotland the Farmer surname is scattered across the country and especially centered in Lanarkshire and Fife. In England the Farmer name is in London, Kent, Hampshire, Staffordshire, Essex, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire.

Across the central and eastern portions of the United States the Farmer surname is popular. Highest percentage of Farmer families live in Georgia, Illinois, New York, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and Virginia.

Famous: Desmon Farmer (professional basketball player), Evan Farmer (actor and musician), Jeff Farmer (professional wrestler), Moses G. Farmer (19th century electrical inventor of the telegraph), Tom Farmer (founder of Scotland’s Kwik-Fit - chain of garages), Suzan Farmer (actress from England), Mylene Farmer (singer and songwriter from Canada) and Fannie Farmer (chef and cookbook author).