Foster
A boys’ name of Old English origin, meaning one who keeps or tends forest.
How Foster has moved
View as table
| Year | US rank |
|---|---|
| 2016 | #963 |
| 2017 | #936 |
| 2019 | #946 |
| 2020 | #961 |
| 2023 | #967 |
| 2025 | #901 |
Foster by the numbers
In 2025, 4 babies in England and Wales were named Foster. In the US, 238 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given several times more often in the US than in England and Wales.
Its best year in America so far is the most recent one on record, which means it was still climbing when the records end.
At its height, in 1885, about 1 in 4,600 American boys born that year was called Foster.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Foster. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
Other names that mean a forest or wood
Like Foster, each of these has a forest or wood in its meaning. Different names, different histories, the same idea.
- Sawyerone who saws wood; woodcutter5,531 in the US (2017)
- Silasof the forest, woods3,309 in the US (2017)
- Lennoxelm grove or from the place of the elms1,200 in the US (2017)
- Emberglowing piece of coal or wood192 in England and Wales (2025)
- Henleyhigh wood or clearing670 in the US (2017)
- Keithforest; from gaelic cèith582 in the US (2017)
Names about as common as Foster
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