Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : status name for someone who was master of his craft, from Middle High German meister ‘master’ (from Latin magister). The surname Meister is established throughout central Europe; in Poland it is also spelled Majster. As an Ashkenazic Jewish surname it denoted a rabbi as a leading figure in a Jewish community.