Rossiter
A surname most likely from a place-name, especially the Shropshire village of Wroxeter, later reshaped in pronunciation and spelling.
The #9,770 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 93,108 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally treated as a locational name, linked by early writers to Wroxeter in Shropshire, the site of the Roman town Uriconium. The modern form likely arose through local pronunciation and spelling change from an older place-based form, rather than from a literal meaning built into the surname itself. Some older surname dictionaries also connected it with Rochester or similar place-names, so the exact path is not absolutely certain.
History
Nineteenth-century surname scholars repeatedly associate Rossiter with the Wroxeter area, and they note related spellings such as Rositer, Rossitor, and Rosseter. The name appears especially in Irish records, notably in Wexford, where it became one of the established local surnames. Because early sources sometimes disagreed on the precise English place behind it, the origin is best treated as probable rather than fully settled.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older etymologists even tried to explain Rossiter through more than one English place-name, showing how fluid surname spellings could be before standardization.
From the historical record
“ROSSINGROVE for Rosengrove, q.v. ROSSITER. Bel. to i Wroxeter (Salop), the A. - Sax. *Wredcen-ceaster (cp. A.-Sax. Wredcen-sete, i.e. the seittlers in the Wre- kin area), the first element of which is due to the Latin name Uriconium, Uiroco- nium, Urioconium, etc. [O.E. ceaster, a Roman city — Lat. castra, a camp…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)