Easter
A surname with several possible roots, most likely linked to the Easter season or to a place-name in Essex.
The #2,769 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,684 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname has several possible origins, and older writers did not agree on a single source. It may come from the Christian festival of Easter, as with other season- or feast-based surnames; from the Essex parish names Good Easter and High Easter; or from the older Germanic goddess-name Ostre/Eastre, which is behind the English word Easter itself. Some 19th-century sources also suggested a link with Eastman/Easterling, so the name is best treated as historically multiple in origin rather than one fixed derivation.
History
Bardsley and Lower both treated Easter as a surname with more than one plausible source, which usually means the name arose independently in different families. The Essex place-name explanation is especially common in surname dictionaries, while the feast-name explanation fits the broader pattern of surnames formed from religious festivals and seasons. The surname is now established in English-speaking countries, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root that gave the English word Easter also lies behind old forms like Pascha/Paske, which produced related surnames such as Pask and Pace.
From the historical record
“&c. EASTER. This name may be derived with nearly equal probability from several distinct sources, as : 1. From the parishes called Easter in Essex. 2. From the Christian festival, like Christmas, Noel, Pentecost, &c. : we have also Pask fi'om Lat. Pascha, 0. Fr. Pasche. 3. From tlie old Teutonic divinity, Ostre or…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom