Meaning and background
The story behind Webster
Webster began as an English and Scottish occupational surname for a weaver. Its older word, webbestre, once had a feminine association in Old English, although that distinction had largely faded by the time hereditary surnames developed. It is related to Webb and Webber rather than the ordinary spider's-web noun. Those details make the historical surname more interesting than a made-up literal translation.
- Origin
- English and Scottish occupational surname “weaver”, from Middle English webbester, Old English webbestre. Source
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About Webster
Recorded as a dog’s name
Webster appears in 3 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
/wɛbstɚ/
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
/wɛbstɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1W EH1 B 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.