The name is derived from the Slovene common noun most 'bridge', corresponding to the Bavarian Middle High German root pruk 'bridge' seen in medieval attestations of the name, referring to a settlement with a bridge.

Structurally, the name may be based on the old locative form mostě '(at the) bridge' and later reanalyzed as a feminine plural noun.

[3] The old village core of Moste stood north of the point where the Gruber Canal currently empties into the Ljubljanica River.

After the 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, small one-story buildings for laborers and low-ranking civil servants were built in Moste, which is also reflected in the street layout.

Other prewar industries included Saturnus (founded in 1912), which made metal containers, and a tar distillation plant.