Loos
A surname with several possible roots, including a place-name, a Dutch/Flemish form, or a name tied to “praise” or even “louse.”
The #8,159 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,971 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical surname writers give several different explanations for Loos. In English contexts it is often treated as a habitational name from Loose in Kent, or as a spelling related to similar continental forms such as Dutch Loose/Loos or Flemish Loze. Some older sources also connect it with words meaning “praise” or, less probably, with a nickname from a word for “louse”; because these explanations point in different directions, the surname is best treated as mixed and uncertain.
History
The name appears in English records in forms that overlap with Loose, Luce, and other similar surnames, which makes it hard to separate one family line from another. It may have been reinforced by immigration from the Low Countries, where comparable spellings were also in use. Because the spelling is short and unstable in older records, later bearers may have inherited more than one independent origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname guide even glossed Loos as a word meaning “praise,” while another linked it to a Kent place-name—showing how often old surname etymologies disagree.
From the historical record
“ii. 3<7. looS. ~~ Joseph Thompson and Ann Slockham : St. Geo. Han. Sq. ii. 386. London, 7, o^ 0,0,0; MDB. (co. Devon), a, o, o, o. o ; Boston (U.S.), o, 18, o, «, I ; New York, o, 8, 1,0,0; Phila-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)Notable people named Loos
- Adolf Loos (1870–1933)
- Anita Loos (1888–1981)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.