Family name origins & meanings
- Slovenian : nickname from the name of a mythological being, Pust, folk patron of Shrovetide, hence probably denoting someone born between the end of Christmas and the start of Lent. The name Pust is a shortened form of the obsolete word mesopust, from meso ‘meat’ and pust ‘abstain’, meaning ‘abstainer from meat’, ‘vegetarian’.
- German : variant of Pfaus (see Paus), or a topographic name from Sorbian pusty ‘wild’, ‘uncultivated’ (land).