The Souster name

This most interesting surname is an English occupational name for a tailor, a seamstress or for one who sews.

From the Medieval English “Soustere, Sewester, Sowester”, from the old English “Seowian”, to sew. Originally, the agent suffix “-ster” was applied only to women, but by the end of the Middle English period it was applied to both sexes. Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation followed by an individual and later became hereditary.

Juliana le Suster was recorded in 1309 in the Bedfordshire Subsidy Rolls. The earliest appearance of the name in London Church Registers is on August 9th 1674 when Lucia, daughter of Samuelis Sowster, was christened at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. Anne Souster was christened on October 28th 1756 at Putney, London.