# Forster (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/forster/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An occupational or topographic surname originating as an occupation for someone who worked or lived in a forest.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,116 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,895 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 33,869 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.9% (9,033 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from the noun forester. * Also as an English surname, borrowed from French fustrier (“blockmaker”), from fustre (“baulk of timber”). * As a French and Norman surname, from Old French forcetier (“cutter”), from forcettes (“scissors”). * As a German surname, spelling variant of Förster and Först (both related to Forst (“forest”)).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Forster in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Forster in the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Cisleithania, Austria and Brazil.

## People named Forster

- Robert Forster, American actor (1941–2019)
- Ludwig Förster, Austrian architect (1797-1863)
- Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster, British astronomer, naturalist, and philosopher (1789-1860)
- Rudolf Forster, Austrian actor (1884–1968)
- Rafael Forster, Brazilian association football player
- Robert Forster, Australian singer-songwriter
- Emanuel Aloys Förster, Austrian composer
- Brian Forster, American actor (born 1960)
- Laura Forster, Australian nurse, physician and surgeon
- Edward Forster, British botanist (1765-1849)

## Similar surnames

Forrester, Forester, Foerster, Frost, Forrest, Forsythe, Forsyth, Forest, Forst, Frausto, Firestone, Frechette.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.