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.