Kloster

This is a Swisse-German surname. Recorded as Kloster, Klosterle, Klosterbauer, Klosterbuch, Klostermann, Klostermeier, and many others, it is either locational from the town of Klosters in Switzerland or from residence at or by a monastery. In some cases it is occupational for a secular person, one who worked at a monastery, but was not bound by Holy Orders, which prevented marriage. The origination is from the Roman (Latin) word 'clostrum', and is found in the English word 'cloisters'. It is also claimed that the name may relate to a tenant farmer. One who paid rent to a monastery in the form of services or perhaps food, rather than money. Perhaps not surprisingly the surname is one of the earliest recorded in the Swisse-German records and registers. These early recordings include such examples as Franz Kloster of Zurich, Switzerland, in the year 1298, Albert Closterman of Greifswald, in 1331, and Hans der Chloserlin of Prag in Regensburg, Germany, in 1375. Pierre Klosterman of France was a famous hero of the Second World War (1939 - 1945). He flew for the Royal Air Force, after the invasion of France in 1940.