Studiegroep Geslachten Drost

Where did the name Originate?

What is the meaning of the name Drost and where did it originate? The Meertens Institute, the organization that looks into questions of names, writes:
“A Drost was someone with an important and responsible function working for a monarch, earl or duke. The family name probably gives a very close relationship to a drost: the first person employed by a drost carried the name Drost, or he was an adopted child or a child born out of wedlock. The highly responsible administrator probably did not carry the family name Drost.”

Variances to the name are:
Dros, Drost, Droste, Drosten, Drostenborg, Drosterij, Drosthagen, Therhaar sive Droste.

Below is listed the number of namesakes according to the 1947 census.