Mister Foster went to Gloucester …
The data base obviously got its information from Hanks & Hodges (Oxford Dictionary of First Names, 1992). So far, so good. On the other hand I have read in some books that Foster is the English version of the name Gaston (obviously of doubtful origin). Does anyone know anything about this connection?Andy
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Foster -> Forster -> Forester would have been my guess! Am I being naive?
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Foster is my former French teacher's last name. :) Though he's French (In the Quebec sense which means very little to France) I seriously doubt it relates in any way to Gaston.
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I think it's unlikely - fostering is a practice with a very long history in English society, and it would be strange if there wasn't a surname associated with it!
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I am sure you are right and the same applies to the other three meanings given on this site. But maybe there were other reasons for adopting the name Gaston that way … That's what I was wondering about. But then again: maybe the GASTON-FOSTER-theory is wrong altogether.Andy ;—)
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Yes, there could have been reasons, but it strikes me as unlikely. For a start, from what I've done of linguistics the sound change would be a very strange one - I can't think of a single hard-g-name/word that's ended up an f-word in English having come from French.:-)
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This is indeed a bit mysterious. So I've done some more research and Ifound out that St.Foster is the English name of St.Vedastus, also known as St.Vaast or Wadast (so from V to F it's not really a big step). And this guy was also called Gaston. So the real question should be: How did Vedastus become Gaston? This site lists two possibilities:
a) It was influenced by the German(ic) word "gast" (guest, stranger)
b) It has something to do with GasconyNow, is this more satisfying?Andy ;—)
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That's an interesting trail - it does start to look a bit more convincing when you see it all laid out like that!One thing that springs to mind: when the Romans colonised England, quite often the Gaelic-speaking populace, pressed into becoming servants, were given common Roman/Christian names that were similar to their Gaelic names. Thus Aine would be called Anne, or Aoife would be called Eve, etc. Something similar might be happening here: Vedastus isn't a name that translates into English, but Foster might have sounded similar enough that the English used it instead of Vedastus. The same might have happened between Vedastus and Gaston in French.WDYT?
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Re:Don't wanna be a thorn in a very productive discussion, but it wasn't the Roman invasion of England that made these changes.The Roman Empire only encountered 'P' Celtic languages (Brythonic). The Gaelic (Goidelic) tongues were found in the (for once) uninvaded regions of Ireland and Scotland. The changes of which you speak (Aine, Aoife, &c) came later, after Christianization of the continent was widespread and so were the great Irish religious scholars.Post Rome, the closest the English and French came together was the invasion of the Normans.
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Re:Ok, thanks :-) I knew I was oversimplifying! That's one bit of history I haven't covered very well in my studies.
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Sounds convincing to me! Andy ;—)
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