BRUSTER Family History

This interesting surname, with variant spelling Bruster, has two distinct possible origins, the first and most likely being an occupational name for a brewer of beer and ale. The derivation in this instance is from the Old English pre 7th Century verb "breowan", to brew , which gave rise to the medieval English "brewestere" and "browestere", originally denoting a female brewer, but used equally for both male and female brewers from the early twelve hundred onwards as the following recordings show: Roger Breuestere, (Suffolk, 1221), and Emma le Breuestere, (The Hundred Rolls of Berkshire, 1279).