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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German (also Börst) : from Middle High German borst(e) ‘bristle’, ‘brush’, hence a nickname for someone with a prickly temperament.
  • Dutch : short form of de Borst, a nickname for someone with a peculiarity of the chest, from Middle Dutch borst ‘chest’, ‘breast’. Alternatively it may be a short form of van der Borst, a habitational name for someone from Burst in East Flanders (Belgium), or a topographic name for someone who lived by a fortification, Middle Dutch burcht.

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