Dempster Family History
Dempster Name Meaning
English Manx and Scottish: occupational name for a judge or arbiter of minor disputes from Middle English demester(e) ‘judge’. Although this was originally a feminine form of the masculine dēmere (see Deamer ) by the Middle English period the suffix -stre had lost its feminine force and the term was used of both sexes. The surname is not common in England where the term was early replaced by Anglo-Norman French juge (see Judge ) but relatively frequent in Scotland where until 1747 every laird of a barony could have certain offenses within his territory tried by his dempster and on the Isle of Man where deemsters also played an important part in the administration of justice.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
