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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Catalan, southern French (Occitan), and Portuguese : from mestre ‘master (craftsman)’, denoting the head of a craft or trade guild. Compare French Maitre.
  • Jewish (Sephardic, especially in Italy) : status name for a rabbi, translation of Aramaic Rabbī ‘teacher’.
  • Italian : habitational name from Mestre, now one of the most densely populated areas of Venice.

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