Brust Family History

German: from Middle High German brust ‘chest’, ‘breast’; also ‘vest’, presumably a nickname for someone with a particularly broad chest or alternatively for the wearer of a distinctive upper garment. Swiss German: topographic name for someone living near a down-fault in a mountain range, probably a crevasse, from Brust, a noun derivative of bresten ‘to burst’. French: from Old French brost ‘shoot’, ‘young growth’. Morlet suggests this is a topographic name for someone who lived by an area of low growth suitable for grazing. Jewish (Ashkenazic): presumably from German Brust ‘chest’ (see 1) or from the Yiddish equivalent, brust.

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