Harper : English (Staffordshire) Scottish Irish (Antrim and Down) and Dutch: occupational name for a player on the harp from Middle English harper(e) ‘harper’ (Old English hearpere) and Middle Dutch harper herper. The harper was one of the most important figures of a medieval baronial hall especially in Scotland and northern England and the office of harper was sometimes hereditary. The Scottish surname is probably an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Chruiteir ‘son of the harper’ (from Gaelic cruit ‘harp’ ‘stringed instrument’). This surname has long been present in Ireland.
Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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