This surname is derived from an occupation. German ritter, a rider, i.e. a trooper; 'rutter, a rider, a trooper, from the German' (Halliwell); a name given to mercenary soldiers engaged from Brabant, &c. (English Surnames, 3rd edit). An old song begins:

'Rutterkyn is come into owre towne

In a cloke withoute cote or gowne.

Save a ragged hood to koverhis crowne Like a rutter hoyda.' (ibid).

John le Rotour, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Thomas le Reuter. Rolls of Parliament.

Ranulph le Ruter. Placitorum in domo capitulari Westmonasteriensi.

Adam le Ruter. Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinesi.

Thomas le Roitour. Close Rolls, 9 Edward III.

1618. Ferriman Rutter, Gloucestershire: Register of the University of Oxford.

1627. Baptised — Mary, d. John Rutter, tayler: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1 like Reuter (q.v.), from the Dutch ruiter, ‘trooper,’ ‘horseman.’ Found in Early Mod. English also with the L.Ger, diminutive suff. -kin.

2 the Middle English rotour = Rote-Player [from Middle English Old French rote, a musical instrument (a kind of fiddle); O.H.Ger. h)rota, a rote; apparently of Celtic orig.: cp. Welsh crwth, a fiddle = Gaelic and If. ecruit, a harp, Old Irish crot, a harp] John le Rotour.—Soms. Subsidy-Roll, A.D. 1327.

Cp. Crowther.

Germ, ritter? A rider or trooper; also a veteran soldier. According to Halliwell "the term was usually applied to a fine, dashing, boasting gallant; one so fashionable as to speak much in foreign languages;" though the application of it in that sense is not very obvious.

For Roter. Fulco des Rotors, Normandy 1180-95; Fulco de Rotor, 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); Richard and Thomas Rotor or Rotour, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

From the Old Norse, Hrútr; from the Dutch, Rutter; a personal name.

Rutter or Roter, is the name of an ancient and influential family of Kingsley, where they owned considerable estates from the 13th to the 17th century (O.). The name of Rutter is now best represented amongst the farmers around Tarporley, which is only some seven or eight miles from Kingsley, so that we may repeat the remark made by Ormerod about 70 years ago "that the descendants are still living (as yeomen) and day labourers within the precincts of the feudal power of their ancestors." The name is also established in the counties of Northumberland, Durham, and Lincoln, and in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. As Rotar, Rotur, and Ruter, often preceded by "Le," it occurred in Shropshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, and in other counties in the 13th century (H. R.). Rutter is the old German word for a soldier (L.).