Save Gender Masculine Usage French (Rare), French (Belgian, Rare) Pronounced Pron. A-REEST(French) [key·IPA] Meaning & History French form of Aristus. It appears in the play Les Femmes Savantes (1672) by the French playwright Molière. A known bearer was Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel (1805-1883), a French politician.