The Andrist family name is of Swiss origin. There are parish books which show the existence of Andrist family in the Canton of Berne (State of Berne). I found proof of family vital records at least back to the 16th century.
There are four national languages in Switzerland (German, French, Italian, Raeto Romantch). The Andrist name is of Swiss German origin. Local people will pronounce the name as 'Undrisht'.
The Andrist name is a folksy version of 'Andreas' (Engl.: Andrew) . I was told when people got registered in middle age, countryside they usually had no family name. Therefore the first name of the father or the profession (Miller, Shoemaker) has later often been taken as the family name.
Edited by william (at) andrist. com above content is released freely under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), this as well includes usage with wikipedia.
There is not known alot on different spelling and links to the Andrist name. Other derivatives for Andreas (Andrew) are 'Andris' or 'Andres'. Both are independant Swiss surnames today. 'Andris' (no 't') is a surname of former German origin. They immigrated Switzerland around 1910. No Andrist family links to this surename are known.. For 'Andres' (which is of Swiss origin) there is known a completly different family tree. The places of origin are not similar to Andrist's. 'Andress' name, since 1953 citizen of Teuffenthal, Berne, is of German origin. 'Andrisch' (which sounds quiet close to what Swiss German people would say for Andrist in their dialect) are reported to be registered in the USA but there is no such Swiss surname. There is no known link to them today.
There are 'Andrish' families in the USA. I asked Jack Andrish, what his name is derived from Andrish: "No. Our name is a shortened version of a middle European name (Check../Hungarian) but not Andrist. Thanks for the query, though." Jack Andrish M.D. ANDRISJ with cesmtp.ccf.org.
There are US census records on Andrest. They are supposed to be a misspelling of Andrist name or a later change in name (there are also Social Security Death Records for Andrest and some other information andrist_puzzles2.htm#andrest )
Edited by willi (at) andrist. com above content is released freely under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), this as well includes usage with wikipedia.
Index: Table of Contents - What's new - Introduction - Andrist Name - Places of origin - Family trees - Heraldry - Hear Swiss - Mountains - Legends - E-Mail addresses - Phone numbers - Chat - Individual Web pages - Andrist E-mail for you - Guestbook - Register for newsletter - Back to the Welcome Page