English (northern; also found in southern Scotland): perhaps from an unrecorded sense of Middle English trotter ‘one who rides a trotting horse’, a derivative of Middle English trotten ‘to ride at a trot, at a fast pace’. It may have been given to a messenger (see Trotman ). Alternatively, perhaps from a shortened form of an unrecorded Middle English trotterer ‘dealer in trotting horses’, a derivative of Middle English trotter (Old French trotier) ‘horse that trots’.

German: occupational name for a vintner, from a derivative of Middle High German trot(t)e ‘winepress’ (a loan translation from Latin calcatura). The word and the surname are confined largely to Alsace, Lorraine, Switzerland, and Swabia.