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Research dossier · General Reference

Porter (name)

name; male given name and surname

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2025
Entity authorityQ16290937 ↗
Source-derived summary

Porter (\p(o)-rter\) is an English surname and also a given name. The name originates as an Old French occupational name, portier (gatekeeper), or porteour ("to carry"). Its earliest public record is 1086 at Winchester Castle. With transferred use, Porter also became a unisex given name with varied popularity. According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Porter ranked #433 in 1907, declined to #1002 in 1944, and then rebounded to #476 in 2006.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Porter (name)” as name; male given name and surname. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1086, 1907, 1002, 1944—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Porter, name and male can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as name; male given name and surname. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16290937. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1086, 1907, 1002 and 1944.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Porter (name)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Porter (name) primary sources, Porter (name) archive and Porter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Porter (name)”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Porter (name)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.