WEBSTER

(male) Transferred use of the surname, in origin an occupational name for a weaver, Old English webbestre (a derivative of webb ‘web’). The -estre suffix was originally feminine, but by the Middle English period the gender distinction had been lost. Use as a given name in America no doubt owes something to the politician and orator Daniel Webster (1782–1852) and the lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843).