Most Family History

German: metonymic occupational name for a producer or seller of must, i.e., unfermented grape juice. Middle High (and Low) German most (from Latin mustum vinum ‘young (i.e., fresh) wine’). The same term was also used to denote perry and cider since these do not keep well and need to be drunk while still fresh.

Dutch (Van der Most): topographic name for someone who lived by marshy land from Middle Dutch mos, most ‘pool, swamp, bog’. Polish and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): topographic name from Slavic most ‘bridge’ or a habitational name from any of several places called with this word.

Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): from German Most ‘young (i.e., fresh) wine’ (see 1 above), one of surnames distributed at random by Austrian clerks. English (Lancashire): variant of Must.

This form of the surname is rare in Britain.