Bill Kebel asked Simon Michael:

My roots are in Glouchestershire , under a surname of Wiles. I am told UK names often refer to occupation? In Wiles case it refers to either carpenter or tailor, I'm told- Does Michael" have any occupational reference?

Simon Michael Hi Bill. Lovely to hear from you. No, I don't think "Michael" has an occupational root. My family were refugees from the Spanish Inquisition and fled to London in 1492. They were Jewish and from Cordoba in what is now Spain, so family lore says the name was either originally the Spanish "Miguel" or the Hebrew "Mic-ha-el", meaning the rhetorical question "Who is like God?" (in my case, definitely not me).

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