Family name origins & meanings
- North German, Danish, and Dutch : topographic name for someone who lived near a post or pole (Middle Low German, Middle Dutch post, from Latin postis), presumably one of some significance, e.g. serving as a landmark or boundary, or a habitational name from any of several places in northern Germany called Post, probably from this word.
- North German : occupational name for a mounted messenger or courier Middle Low German post.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : metonymic occupational name for a mailman, from German Post ‘mail’.
- Probably an altered spelling of German Pfost.