Schuster
A German occupational surname meaning “shoemaker.”
The #2,088 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,821 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Schuster is a German occupational surname for a shoemaker. It comes from Middle High German forms built on words for “shoe” and “maker/cutter,” and was later leveled into the familiar surname form Schuster. In older scholarship, it is glossed straightforwardly as “shoemaker.”
History
The name is common in German-speaking regions and appears in records from the Middle Ages onward. Like many craft-based surnames, it was inherited by later generations long after the family no longer practiced the trade. German immigration also carried the name widely into North America and elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries often grouped Schuster with other trade names such as Schütz and Schwab because they were among the most common German family-name types.
From the historical record
“Schumacher; and -|- mann, man] SCHUSTER (Ger.) Shoemaker [M.H.Ger. schuoch-, schuoh-sAtare; Lat. sutor, cobbler] SCHUTZ (Ger.) Archer; Ranger [Ger. schUtz{e, (mod.) marksman, rifleman, archer, &c.; M.H.Ger. schiitze; O.H.Ger. scuzzo] SCHWAB 1 (Ger.) Swabian [Ger. Schwdbe, SCHWABE J M.H.Ger. Swdbe ; O..E. Swdsfe…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)