Origin of the Name Webster
The origin of the name
Webster was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Webster is of English origin and is usually an occupational name, describing a weaver of cloth, a very important job in medieval times. Variants of the name include Websteer, Weaver, Weavers, Weevers, Weafer, Wafer, Wever and many others. Thee root of the name is the old English word 'wefan', meaning 'to weave'. The Cheshire town of 'Weavers Hall' is recorded in the ancient 'Domesday Book' as Wevre and Wevre and is located upon the river Weaver, which provides an alternative origin of the name, from the word 'wefere' meaning a winding river or stream. An early bearer of the name was John Webster who, in the year 1631, emigrated to America and who later became Governor of Connecticut in the year 1656. A John le Webestere was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls of Norfolk' in the year 1275.
Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by creating, maintaining and updating these reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Webster coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Webster descendants.