Given name & surname · also German
Buster
“pockmark, boil”
Buster is a surname from German (ultimately Latin).
Meaning & origin
What it means
Buster goes back to German Buste, meaning “pockmark, boil.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Buster comes from German, and ultimately from Latin.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From German Buste (“pockmark, boil”), from Latin apostema (“boil”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Buster through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 8,178
- 8,173 boys · 5 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 251 babies
- 2025
- 12
- #6,871 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +10%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 12 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,871 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 10.2% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 246 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,949 as a first name in 2020; 2,682 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
People named Buster
- Buster DouglasAmerican boxerborn 1960
- Buster PoseyAmerican baseball executive and former player (born 1987)
- Buster WilliamsAmerican musicianborn 1942
- Buster BaileyAmerican musician (1902-1967)
- Buster BrownAmerican blues and R&B singer best known for his hit, "Fannie Mae" (1911–1976)
- Buster MartinBritish marathon runner (1906-2011)
- Buster LarsenDanish actor (1920-1993)
- Buster MottramEnglish tennis playerborn 1955
- Buster PhelpsAmerican actor (1926-1983)
Characters named Buster: Buster Brown (comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Buster, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Lambert
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“resembling a young goal”
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Urban
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>99% boys