Foster
A surname that can mean “fosterer” or “one who brings up children,” and may also sometimes come from Forester.
The #99 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,356 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained from Middle English fosterer, meaning a person who fed, cared for, or brought up children in place of their parents. It may also in some cases be a reduced form of Forester, an occupational name for someone who worked in or managed a forest. The older sources therefore treat it as having more than one plausible root, with the childcare sense often judged the stronger explanation.
History
Foster is an old English surname and remains very common in English-speaking countries. Because the name has several possible origins, different Foster families may not share the same ancestral source. In some places it also developed independently from spellings or shortened forms of related names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In medieval legal records, a child's fosterer could be important enough to be specifically named among the rights a man might take with him when leaving his land.
From the historical record
“fication of earth. FOSTER. Sometimes a contraction of Forester : but tliere is an origin at least equally probable, viz : fosterer, one who feeds and has the charge of children instead of their parents. " When a gesithcund- man left his land, he was at liberty to take away his Reeve, his Smith, and his child's…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom