Frequency: (341)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English (Devon), Dutch, and German: occupational name for a baker, from Anglo-Norman French pestour, pistour, Middle Dutch pester, pister ‘baker’ (Old French pestor, pesteur, German Pistor, from Latin pistor).
2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): unexplained. Possibly a habitational name from someone from Pest, the eastern half of the city of Budapest, Hungary.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
