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Surname Etymology and Meaning of CHESTER

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Local) From the city of Chester, the capital of Cheshire, England, founded by the Romans. The name is derived from the Latin Castrum; Saxon, ceaster, a fortified place, a city, a castle or camp, it being a Roman station where the twentieth legion was quartered. The Roman stations in England were generally so called, being sometimes varied in dialect to Chester, Chaster, or Caster, the termination of many English towns, as Colchester, the camp on the river Coln; Doncaster, on the Don; Lancaster, on the Lon or Lune, etc.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

English: habitational name from Chester, the county seat of Cheshire, or from any of various smaller places named with this word (as for example Little Chester in Derbyshire or Chester le Street in County Durham), which is from Old English ceaster ‘Roman fort or walled city’ (Latin castra ‘legionary camp’).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)