Royster
An English surname that likely began as a nickname for a boisterous, rollicking fellow.
The #4,409 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,325 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Royster is generally treated as a nickname surname built on the older English word royster, meaning a noisy, boisterous, swaggering person. The form is closely related to the adjective boisterous and to older English roister, "to revel noisily". In surname use, it would have described someone remembered for loud, exuberant, or rough behavior.
History
The surname appears in English records as a nickname-type name rather than from a place or occupation. It is not especially common, but it fits a broader medieval and early modern pattern of surnames formed from vivid character labels. Literary use, as in Ralph Royster Doyster, helps show the word’s older sense, though the surname itself may have different local origins in individual families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The word royster survives in the phrase roistering, meaning noisy, high-spirited revelry.
From the historical record
“" Ye are suche a calfe, suche an asse, such, a blocke " (Ralph Royster-Doyster, iii. 3). With this group of names goes Whipp, a nickname for a carter [Allan Wyppe, Hund. R., Roger Wyppe, Archbp. Romeyn's Reg. 1286-96] ; cf. William Whippe- stele, i.e. whiphandle (Pat. R.). Purse, Pouch, Pockett,”
— Surnames