Furber surname

I've just come across the surname FURBER in the course of my research
( the name is found in Swansea and FBMD gives 39 examples between 1850
& 1915.

It's not a name I've come across before and was idly wondering where
it may have originated

Anyone got any ideas?

Richard N...

The Welsh clusters on the 1841 census are mostly transcribed as Ferber,
in 1851 they are mostly Furber, oldest male members in 1851 (Who also
have likely Ferber matches on the 1841) are from Shropshire
(Llangattock) & Stoke on Trent (Swansea), so dont seem to be connected
to my Ferbers.

Cheers

Richard N...

Peter,
I am descended from a Victor Ferber who was born in Boulogne
in 1820. He was from a maritime family, his father, Augustin, was born
in Genoa in what is now Italy in 1780 (His mother was from Middlekerke
in what is now Belgium), I have both of their parents names but have
yet to trace their birthplaces.

Victor moved to Wales in the 1840s and worked as an
interpreter/shipping agent in Cardiff, he was married (To a girl from
Swansea) in 1851 and had a number of children though I havent found any
males that survived to maturity yet. He did have at least one brother,
Yves Hypolite Ferber, b 1817, so there is at least the tenuous chance
of a link. I'm off to do some census digging, I suspect that the family
were literate given Victors occupation so a consistent difference in
spelling seems less than likely, but its worth a look as the name is
not a common one. The demographic distribution of the name suggests its
German in origin to me btw, but I'm a complete amateur so add as much
salt as you like.

Cheers
Richard

Richard