Family name origins & meanings

• English : occupational name for a keeper of swine, Middle English foreman, from Old English fōr ‘hog’, ‘pig’ + mann ‘man’.
• English : status name for a leader or spokesman for a group, from Old English fore ‘before’, ‘in front’ + mann ‘man’. The word is attested in this sense from the 15th century, but is not used specifically for the leader of a gang of workers before the late 16th century.
• Czech and Jewish (from Bohemia, Moravia) : occupational name for a carter, Czech forman, a loanword from German.