Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : nickname for someone who was wise and knowledgeable, from Middle High German list, Dutch list ‘wisdom’, ‘ingenuity’.
- Dutch : habitational name from Ter List, the name being derived from the plant lis ‘iris’, ‘flag’.
- Americanized spelling of Hungarian Liszt, a metonymic occupational name for a miller, from liszt ‘flour’.