Modesto Family History

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: either a nickname from modesto ‘modest’, ‘unassuming’ or from the personal name Modesto, from Late Latin Modestus (meaning ‘moderate’, ‘gentle’, ‘temperate’). The name was borne by several early saints, including a child martyred at Alexandria, Egypt, and an 8th-century evangelist of Carinthia.

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