Family name origins & meanings
- English : topographic name for someone who lived near a piece of open ground used as a meeting place, from Middle English motestow ‘meeting’, ‘assembly’ (Old English (ge)mōt) + stōw ‘place’, ‘site’ (see Stow). The surname Musto is now found mainly in South Wales.
- Italian and Greek (Moustos) : probably from Greek moustos, Latin mustus ‘must’ (fermenting wine), hence perhaps a nickname for someone who made wine. Combinations such as Moustogiannis ‘musty John’ are also found.