English: habitational name from Lancaster in northwestern England,
named in Old English as ‘Roman fort on the Lune’, from the Lune river,
on which it stands, + Old English cæster ‘Roman fort or
walled city’ (Latin castra ‘legionary camp’). The river name is
probably British, perhaps related to Gaelic slán ‘healthy’,
‘salubrious’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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