Bosse
A surname that most likely began as a nickname or place-name linked to a hump, bump, or hill.
The #8,222 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,498 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In French and related dialects, bosse means a hump, bump, or swelling, and it could also be used more loosely for a hill or rounded rise. That makes Bosse most likely a nickname for someone with a hump-backed appearance or someone from a hilly place. Some continental German evidence also shows Bosse as a related surname form, but the French explanation is the clearest in the excerpts.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records across French-speaking areas and also in Germanic surname traditions, suggesting more than one independent source. Related forms such as Bossard, Boscher, and Bossis show how widely the root spread in French surname formation. In English-speaking countries, Bosse is often encountered through immigration from France, Belgium, or German-speaking Europe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same French word behind Bosse also survives in ordinary modern French, where bosse still means a bump or hump.
From the historical record
“G. Boscher ; p.n. (stall warrior) Boss. A.S. Bos, Bosa (stall keeper (?) ) ; Fr. Bosse ; D. Boss ; G., Dch. Bos ; p.n. In Rot. Obi. et Fin. Bossey. Fr. Bossis ; a p.n. See”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)