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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • French : habitational name from Pîtres in Eure.
  • French : variant of pestre, pistre, agent derivatives of Old French pestel ‘pestle’, hence a metonymic occupational name for an apothecary or grocer.
  • Italian (Pitrè) : unexplained.
  • According to Canadian records, this surname is documented in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, in the 17th century, being described as English. There are VT records of a certain “Lajambe, also called Pitt or Pitre”. Another Pitre is recorded in the Montreal area in 1661, said to be of Dutch origin. In the mid-18th century, there are Acadians bearing this name from the Belgian province of Hainault.

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