Hi,

The name is German - it means "little cousin" - a male relative other than the father. Fetterly is a derivative of Vetter. There are lot of them throughout Europe, Canada, and USA. Your line may have originated as mine did in the Mohawk Valley of NY. Peter Fetterly (UEL), son of Philip Fetterly and Anna Margaretha Schumann, left NY after the Revolution. They settled in the Williamsburg area. Several descendants spread out from there in the early 1800s. My line comes from their son Philip Fetterly (married to Maria Ouderkirk). Philip's son John Peter Fetterly (wife Nancy Hanes) moved to the Muskoka area. He established one of the early sawmills in that area. They all had large families, so there are a lot of descendants with many collateral names.