What's In A Name ?

      

     Where did the English Baker family come from?  What is the English Baker family crest and coat of arms?  When did the Baker family first arrive in the US.  Where did the various ranches of the family go?  What is the baker family history?  All questions that I will eventually find the answers to. 

     To start with, there are origins available in Dutch, English and German.  The Baker of the Finchum/Baker family all began in England. 

The distinguished surname Baker comes from the ancient culture of 

 the Ango-Saxons.  The name is derived from the Old English “baecere, ”meaning “baker” and was the first borne as an occupational name.  Much like the name Carpenter was the name of a builder; a carpenter. 

     The name Baker, appeared in many references, and from time to time, the surname was spelled Baker, Bakere, Baiker, Backer and others.  First found in Durham, where the Baker family held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066.  Due to its occupational origins, its likely that the name emerged independently in different areas, thus creating several early branches of the Baker family.

Famous Bakers –

Norma Jean Baker (1926-1962) American actress, who used the name Marilyn Monroe

Carroll Baker (born 1931) American actress, both a serious dramatic actress and , in the 1960’s, a movie sex symbol

      Kyle Baker Chesley “Chet” Baker Jr. (1929-1988) American jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and singer.

     Kyle Baker (born 1965)  American cartoonist, comic book writer and artist, and animator

Ray Stannard Baker (1870-1946) American journalist and author

     James Addison Baker III (born 1930) American attourney, politician, political administrator, political advisor and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

     Johnnie B “Dusty” Baker (born 1949) American baseball player turned manager

      Lieutenant Colonel Addison E Baker (1907-1943) awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1943

     Russell Wayne Baker (born 1925) American reporter who won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary

     Howard Baker Jr. (born 1925) recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

      And last but not least –

     Henry Baker of Columbus, Indiana, the great grandfather of my children.  Here pictured with Marti, their first meeting in December 1972.