Family name origins & meanings
- Catalan, southern French (Occitan), and Portuguese : from mestre ‘master (craftsman)’, denoting the head of a craft or trade guild. Compare French Maitre.
- Jewish (Sephardic, especially in Italy) : status name for a rabbi, translation of Aramaic Rabbī ‘teacher’.
- Italian : habitational name from Mestre, now one of the most densely populated areas of Venice.