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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch : nickname for a tall, lanky man, from Middle Dutch mast ‘(ship’s) mast’.
  • Dutch : metonymic occupational name for a swineherd, from Middle Dutch mast ‘mast’, ‘swine fodder’ (the same word as the English word for beechnuts).
  • Dutch (van de(r) Mast) : topographic name for someone from a place rich in animal fodder, for example acorns.
  • German and Swiss German : nickname from Middle High German mast ‘fat’, ‘stout’.

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