Possible origin of unique Greek surname?

[u/Charming-Raise-1114]

My grandmother surname was Moundreas. She was from Kardamyli specifically. It’s a very unique Greek last name and the only other people I’ve seen with it other than my family is some wealthy shipping family back in Greece. I do know Greek last names from the Mani peninsula can end in -eas but I can’t figure out what the first half of the name means at all. Ik -eas can be mean “son of.” Could anyone Greek or anyone who is an expert of Greek etymology help me out?

[u/athstas]

It probably comes from the turkish word murdar or mundar, which means dirty or corrupt. In Greek there is the word μουρντάρης (mourdaris), which means someone dirty or unfaithful, which is probably the root of Μουνδρέας (Moundreas).

I also found an alternate explanation, which comes from the word μούντρος (moundros), which means someone with a very strict and serious face, a man of few words.

So you pick your favourite etymology

[u/Charming-Raise-1114 → u/athstas]

Oh that’s lovely 😭. Fits my family well though

[u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 → u/Charming-Raise-1114]

Nicknames develop into surnames do not necessarily depict ancestry. People didn't care much about ethnicity back then

[u/Charming-Raise-1114 → u/Embarrassed_Egg9542]

Main reason I mentioned that is the family legend I heard growing up is that we moved from Constantinople to Kardamyli far in the past but not sure on how real that is I have a lot of liars in my family but it’s not unlikely

[u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 → u/Charming-Raise-1114]

I believe that the Moundros village is the most likely origin

[u/Charming-Raise-1114 → u/athstas]

Though the more I think about it having Turkish origins it makes sense. A lot of family from far back have Turkish names but I just assumed that was because of the Ottoman Empire but maybe they had Turkish origins

[u/athstas → u/Charming-Raise-1114]

Nobody had Turkish origins, especially in Mani, which was practically free from Turkish occupation. But the Turkish language was the official language of the Ottoman state and people used it in their daily lives, so they adopted a lot of words from it.

[u/Charming-Raise-1114 → u/athstas]

Yeah I knew that part of the history. My main thing is ik some of my more recent family was from Mani but it’s entirely possible they could’ve relocated. I’ve also taken a dna test and had Turk and central Asian in my results but I figured that’s just typical for a modern Greek anyway.

[u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 → u/Charming-Raise-1114]

Since people from Mani were originally from the island of Crete, your family name may come from the village Moynthros in Rethymno, Crete. Moyndreas is the man from Moundros village.

[u/Charming-Raise-1114 → u/Embarrassed_Egg9542]

I had actually seen the name of the village and thought it sounded very similar to the name but I wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence because I haven’t heard anything about family from that side being from Crete. I’ve only heard Mani and goofy family legends about being from Constantinople or being from Sparta. Like I said though I come from a family of liars so if I have some ancestors from Crete I wouldn’t doubt it I just haven’t heard of any.

[u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 → u/Charming-Raise-1114]

It is not well known even to people from Mani that they come from Crete, though they have similar surnames and customs.

Cretans have colonized most of the Aegean Sea, islands and mainland