Boy · English · International
Sawyer
SawyerSay it SAW-yer
- Meaning today
- Woodcutter
- Original meaning
- "one whose work is sawing timber into planks and boards" Online Etymology Dictionary
- Say it
- SAW-yer
Sawyer
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Sawyer meaning
Sawyer is an international boy's name of English origin.
One whose work is sawing timber into planks and boards
Also used to mean: woodcutter
Sawyer is an English occupational surname for a man who sawed timber into planks and boards. The Online Etymology Dictionary records it as a surname from about 1200; the older spelling was sawer, and the -yer ending was copied from words such as lawyer and bowyer. In a two-man pit saw, the top-sawyer stood on the log while his partner worked below. The name is best known from Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, and it moved from surname to first name in the United States. Baby-name lists give 'woodcutter', which is close to the word. It is said SAW-yer.
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com) · entry sawyer · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Online Etymology Dictionary, sawyer · Online Etymology Dictionary, pit-saw
Popularity abroad
- #122 United States, boys 2025 (up 9 from 131 in 2024)
US Social Security Administration
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.