Hollister

Hollister is an English family name from the Gloucestershire region of England, now most numerous in the United States of America. In 1992, it was estimated there were 2204 households in the US, 94 in Canada, 81 in Australia, 21 in New Zealand, 3 in Denmark and 371 in Great Britain. Derivation One source suggests that the name Hollister is associated with Hollier, in the same way that Baxter is known to be a feminine form of Baker. The IGI suggests that the stronghold of the Hollister name is Wickwar in Gloucestershire, which happens also to be the stronghold of the Hallier surname, rather than Hollier. The surname dictionaries usually reference a link between Hollister and Hollier and variously describe its meaning as relating to Old English or Old French words meaning "dweller by the holly tree" or "whoremonger". Such dictionaries rarely give any proof of such assertions and so must be considered as speculative.