A surname; historically, a baker or person who bakes bread.
From Old English 'bæcestre' or 'baxtre,' the feminine form of 'baker.' The '-ster' suffix indicated the person performing the action, and many surnames derive from occupations.
Baxter is a occupational surname from a time when job skills were so tied to identity that they literally became your family name—if your dad baked, you were the 'baker's kin,' and that became your last name forever.
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