Kasten Family History

Dutch and North German: from a vernacular personal name, a variant of Karsten. German: from Middle High German kasten ‘chest’, ‘coffer’ or kornkasten ‘grain bin’, hence a metonymic occupational name for the manager of a granary, and later for the treasurer of an estate or guild. See also Kastner. South German (Bavaria): topographic name from the dialect word Kasten ‘crag’, ‘steep rock’. Swedish (Kastén): from an unexplained first element, perhaps part of a place name, + the adjectival suffix -én, a derivative of Latin -enius.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press