Wiest
A German surname, most likely from a place-name or a nickname based on a German word for a meadow or waste land.
The #9,108 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,049 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wiest is generally treated as a German surname. It is likely connected either to a place-name formed from a German word such as "Wiese" meaning "meadow," or to a related dialect word with a sense like "waste" or "open land." In older surname scholarship, forms like Wiese, Wiesenthal, and Wiest are grouped together because they share this same broad landscape root.
History
The name appears in German-speaking areas and later spread with German migration to North America. In English-language surname books, Wiest is usually mentioned alongside related German names rather than given a long separate analysis, which suggests it was already recognized as a standard German family name. U.S. usage today reflects that immigrant history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Related surnames such as Wiese and Wiesenthal are built from the same meadow/landscape root and show how often German surnames came from local geography.
From the historical record
“Wiese, 225. Wiesenthal, 225. Wiest, 454. * Of the same length as tliis name is the English surname of Abergavenny. t WiDDRiNGTON, an ancient English name, is found in Lower; as is also Wiuk-”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)Notable people named Wiest
- Dianne Wiest (b. 1948)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.