Meaning and background
The story behind Foster
Foster has more than one documented personal-name route. It can come from an English surname with several origins, while a separate use is an English form of Vaast associated with Saint Vedastus. These histories should stay distinct rather than being replaced by the modern verb foster. The British reference pronunciation has two parts. For a dog, a family name, a historical association or simply the sound may motivate the choice; the spelling alone cannot identify which background an owner intends.
- Origin
- English name with surname routes of several origins; a separate English form of Vaast refers to Saint Vedastus. Source · Source 2
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About Foster
Recorded as a dog’s name
Foster appears in 5 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/fɑstɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/fɑstɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1F AA1 S T ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.