Kinds of surname

Agent suffix (-er, -ster)

Also written or known as -er and -ster

An ending meaning "one who does", as in Baker or Webster.

The Old English endings -ere and -estre turned verbs into job names. -ster was originally used for women's work, so Webster (weaver), Baxter (baker) and Brewster first described women, though they were soon used for men too.