Last name origins & meanings:
- English and Scottish: nickname for someone who behaved in a
masterful manner, or an occupational name for someone who was master
of his craft or a schoolmaster, from Middle English maister
(Old French maistre, Latin magister). In early instances
this surname was often borne by people who were franklins or other
substantial freeholders, presumably because they had laborers under
them to work their lands. In Scotland Master was the title given to
administrators of medieval hospitals, as well as being born by the
eldest sons of barons; thus, the surname may also have been acquired
as a metonymic occupational name by someone in the service of such.
- Either a dialect form or
an Americanized form of German Meister.
- Indian
(Gujarat and Bombay city): Parsi occupational name for someone who was
a master of his craft, from the English word master.
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