Like many other widespread English names, Baker is an occupational name, Brewer and Taylor being two other common examples. The name Baker derives from the Old English word ‘baecere’, for the man who worked in the ‘baechus’ (bakehouse).

Throughout history the baker has played an important part in community life. According to feudal law, peasants (or serfs) were allowed to grind corn only at their lord’s mill. Likewise, they were allowed to bake only at their lord’s oven. Thus the village oven became a vital part of the community, and its overseer was a personage of some importance. Soon the name ‘baecere’ acquired many variations. The fourteenth-century Midlands poet, Langland (author of Piers Plowman), mentions ‘bakesteres’ and ‘brewesteres’. This form contains the female suffix -ester as in spinster (compare spinner), a more recognisable modern form. Later, this feminine form became standardised as Baxter or Backster-two names which remain widespread to this day.

Names related to the original ‘baechus’ include Backhouse, Bachuss and Backus. (Contrary to popular myth, these last two names have nothing whatsoever to do with the Greek god Bacchus or any nickname stemming from associated bibulous characteristics.) Other names which are synonymous with Baker include Bullinger, Pullinger and Pillinger, from the Old French ‘boulenger’ which means ‘baker’, and Pistor and Pestor, Latin translations which were felt to have snob appeal.

As the centuries passed, the public baker became an integral part of medieval urban life. As with many other trades, bakers would often congregate on one street. This sometimes accounts for the occurrence in towns of street names like Baker Street and Baxter Street.

One of the first mentions of this name comes in the Norfolk Pipe Rolls of 1177, where one William le Bakere is listed. By the time of the Hundred Rolls of 1273, the name was being listed all over the country-from Walter le Baker in Devon to Alan le Baker in Sussex. This year also saw the first listing of the feminine form; in the Rolls for Norfolk one John le Bakestere is listed.

London’s Baker Street is named after the manager of the Portmans’ Marylebone Estates, William Baker. He leased fields for building.

221B Baker Street was Sherlock Holmes’s address, according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The number doesn’t actually exist but a building society which has the nearest real address receives thousands of letters sent to Holmes each year.

London’s Bakerloo Underground line is so named because originally it ran from Baker Street to Waterloo.

‘The Baker’ was the derisory nickname given to Louis XVI after he and Marie Antoinette (known as ‘the Baker’s Wife’ ever after, which wasn’t long) dispensed bread to the rioting mobs at Versailles in 1789.

Robert Baker was a seventeenth-century London tailor whose collar borders were called pickadillies, the origin of Piccadilly. The land he willed to his two sons, John and James, is also commemorated today as Upper and Lower John and James Streets.

The ‘Baker Flying’ is a red flag used by the US Navy to warn those in the vicinity to stay well clear when a dangerous operation such as loading ammunition is under way.

A Baker’s Dozen is 13 rolls for the price of 12, as well as being a nickname for the 13th Hussars.

The London livery company, the Worshipful Company of Bakers, dates from 1486.

Bakers are geographically well represented. The UK has towns called Baker’s End and Baker Street. No fewer than 8 US states have towns called Baker, and there are 3 Bakersfields as well. The United States also oversees an uninhabitable South Pacific Baker Island which was once British. Canada, Australia and the United States have Baker Lakes, while Chile has a Baker Canal.

With about 145,000 namesakes Baker is the 31st most popular surname in England and Wales. (The name is not common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Baker is notably popular in and around Bristol where an estimated one in about 275 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Birmingham, Cardiff and Leicester are other Baker strongholds. Around the world Bakers are most common in Sydney (one in 638 families), Canberra (one in 657) and Auckland (one in 723). The United States has more Bakers than the entire population of Bristol-an estimated total of just under 433,000 makes this their 33rd most popular surname.