This surname is derived from an official title. 'the naper,' 'napier,' or 'napper,' from Old French nape, a cloth; the Frenchnappe, a table cloth. Diminutive nap-kin. 'Napet or napekyn': Promptorium Parvulorum 'The over nape schall double be layde': The Boke of Curtasye. Thus the naper or napier had charge of the table-linen; whence also the form 'de la naperye,' corresponding to 'de la paneterie,' 'de le eurerie,' 'de le butterye,' &c. With the intrusive 'i' in Napier, compare the 'y' in Sawyer (Sawer), Bowyer (Bower), or lawyer for lawer.

John le Naper, Close Roll, 43 Henry III.

Jordan le Nappere, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Thomas le Nappere, Oxfordshire, ibid.

John le Naper. Close Rolls

Robert Napparius. Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinesi.

Walter de la Naperye. Calendarium Genealogicum.

Robert le Nappere, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

1546-7. Edward Napper and Anne Peytoo: Marriage Lic. (London).

1784. Married — The Right Hon. Francis, Lord Napier, and Maria Margaret Clavering: St. George, Hanover Square.

1794. — Henry Rycroft and Jane Naper: ibid.

This surname comes from an office attached to the royal court. In England, in the reign of Henry I, William de Hastings held the manor of Ashele in Norfolk by the service of taking charge of the napery, i.e. tablecloths and linen at the coronation of the English kings. The first record of the name in Scoi id is c. 1290 when John Naper obtained from Malcolm, earl of Lennox, a charter of the quarter-land called Kylmethew (Irving, History of Dumbartonshire, p. 328). This John Naper is included in the inhibition by the bishop of Glasgow directed against Malcolm, earl of Lennoy and his adherents in 1294 (RMP., p. 203) and is doubtless the John le Naper of the county of Dunbretan who rendered homage in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 202). Matheu le Naper of Agheleke (i.e. Affleck in Angus) took the oath of fealty at the same time (ibid., p. 200). Alexander Naper was one of the commissioners for concluding a peace between Scotland and England in 1451 (Bain, IV, 1239), and John Napier (1550-1617), the famous mathematician, was the inventor of logarithms. There have been also several other distinguished bearers of the name within the last two hundred years. For the intrusion of i in the modern form of the name compare Sawyer (Sawer), Bowyer (Bower), etc. Innes (p. 45) says: "There are Napiers in the North vulgarly called Lepers-euphoniae causa." Naiper 1679, Napare 1455, Neaper 1625, Neper 1651, and Napar, Nepare.

A variant of Napier, which see. Adam Napparius witnessed ratification of gift of the church of Lescelyn to the Abbey of Lindores, 1243 (LAC., p. 90). Robert Napper, baker and feuar in Kelso, 1783 (Heirs, 423). Reorded in Edinburgh, 1941.

( Anglo-French-Latin ) Napery – Keeper [Middle English nap(p)er(e, keeper of the napery or table-linen; Old French naperie, Low Latin naparia, mapparia, napery-department of a household; Latin mappa, a table- napkin: cp. French nappe, a table-cloth] John le Napere.—Hundred Rolls Jordan le Nappere.— do.

Though this name occurs occasionally in mediaeval Irish records it did not become prominent till a branch of the well known west of England family settled in Meath early in the seventeenth century. The name is a variant of Napier (from the French word meaning a maker of tablecloths). SIF 119

The names Napper and Tandy are closely associated by reason of the prominence of James Napper Tandy (1740-1803), the United Irishman, and I will deal with them together here. They have much in common, both families being Protestant settlers owning neighbouring estates in Meath. Tandy, also spelt Taundy, occurs several times in the fourteenth century in Counties Kilkenny and Wexford and there was a landowner of the name in the vicinity of Navan, Co. Meath, mentioned in an Inquisition of 1618. Napper, also spelt Naper, occurs occasionally in mediaeval Irish records. Jordan le Naper, who died in 1284, had a life tenure of the “bailiwick of the sergeancy” of Connacht. In 1593 Sir Robert Napper, of a well-known west of England family, and afterwards Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Ireland, was made Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes; he married a sister of Sir William Petty. From him descended the principal family of the name, viz Napper or Naper of Loughcrew, Co. Meath, a number of whom served as High Sheriffs of that county between 1671 and 1911; two were Meath M.P.s and others occupied official positions, legal, administrative and military, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A Captain Napper, of Col. Ingoldsby's regiment, obtained the Meath estate following the disbandment of the Cromwellian army, and by 1660 was appointed a Poll Money Commissioner for Meath with others of the local gentry. The Meath Book of Survey and Distribution shows that about the same time the Tandys' property was not far away in the parish of Kells, and an Inquisition of 1695 finds the estates of the two families adjacent. In 1878 Major James Napar (so he spelled his name) of Loughcrew owned 18,863 acres of prime Meath land, but Thomas Tandy of Jonesbrook had a mere 623 acres in the same county. References to both Nappers (or Napers) and Tandys occur frequently in testamentary and other records of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Both these Meath families had branches in Co. Wexford.

According to Reaney Naper and Napper are synonyms of Napier, which is derived from Old-French le napier (nappe means a tablecloth). Reaney does not give the derivation of Tandy, which Bardsley states is equivalent to Dandy, a pet form of Andrew. Naper has been recorded as synonymous with the much more numerous Napier in Co. Down, where Neper and Neeper have also been similarly used.

Both Napper and Tandy are rare names in Ireland today.

“Servant in charge of Napery or Table Linen” in Old French.

An officer in the king's household-the same as Naper. A Scottish legend, however, assigns a widely different origin. In a great battle between the Scots and some enemy, whose nation is not specified, the former were on the point of losing the day, when one Donald, son of the then Earl of Lennox, seized a standard, and rallied the retreating soldiers. This act of prowess changed the positions of the combatants, and resulted in the complete triumph of the Scots. The king on hearing of Donald's bravery, declared that he had NA PIER-no equal; commanded him to assume those words as a surname; and gave him lands in Fife, and the lands of Goffurdor Goosford. This 'mighty pretty story,' though evidently invented to explain the name, was certified to the heralds under the hand and seal of Sir Archibald Napier of Merchistoun, in 1625. It is proper, however, to remark, that the Napiers sprang from the house of Lennox, and that their early members wrote themselves Lenox alias Napier; and it is no derogation of the dignity of this illustrious family to suppose that an earl's son, their ancestor, should have held the office of Napier in the royal household.

Another form of Naper. Le Naper, Le Nappere. H.R.

King David II, in his wars with the English, about the year 1344, convocating his subjects to battle, the Earl of Lennox sent his second son, Donald, with such forces as his duty obliged him; and coming to an engagement where the Scots gave way, this Donald taking his father's standard from the bearer, and valiantly charging the enemy with the Lennox men, the fortune of the battle changed, and the Scots obtained the victory. After the battle, the king declared that they had all done valiantly, but that there was one among them who had na pier, no equal; he then granted to Douald the lands of Gosfield in Fifeshire, and bade him assume the name of Napier.

It is said that Donald, a son of the Earl of Lennox, for his bravery in battle, had his name changed by the king to Napier. After the battle, as the manner is, every one advancing and setting forth his own acts, the king said unto them, "Ye have all done valiantly, but there is one among you who hath 'Na Pier, '" and the king gave him lands in Fife and Goffurd. The name came, however, from taking charge of the king's napery or linen at the coronation of English kings, an office held by William De Hastings, in the time of Henry I.

From Nappa; a location name in Yorkshire.

Napper: the servant who attended to the napery. Hence Napier, and perhaps Knapper.

The name of Napper may find its explanation in similar names that occur in the Hundred Rolls; in the 13th century John le Naper lived in Essex, and Jordan le Nappere in Oxfordshire (H. R.).