Pastor Family History

English, French, Portuguese, Galician, Spanish, and Catalan: occupational name for a shepherd. Anglo-Norman French pastre (oblique case pastour), Old French, Portuguese, Galician, Spanish, and Catalan pastor ‘shepherd’ from Latin pastor, an agent derivative of pascere ‘to graze’. The religious sense of a spiritual leader was rare in the Middle Ages; it is unlikely therefore that this sense lies behind any examples of the surname.

German and Dutch: humanistic surname, a translation into Latin of German Schäfer (see Schafer) or any other surname meaning ‘shepherd’. Compare Pastorius.

Americanized form of Hungarian Pásztor: occupational name from pásztor ‘shepherd’.