Sass
A surname with several possible roots, most often linked either to a river lock or sluice, or to old Germanic words for an inhabitant or settler.
The #6,909 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Sass has more than one possible origin. One line of explanation connects it with Dutch or Low German sas, meaning a lock, sluice, or floodgate, so it may have begun as a topographic name for someone living by such a feature. Another tradition links it to old Germanic forms such as Old German sass / sasso, meaning a settler or inhabitant, which could also have developed into a surname. The historical sources also note French and Norman forms, so the name may have arisen independently in more than one place.
History
Historical surname dictionaries record Sass in medieval England and Normandy, and also note related forms such as Sasse, Satow, and Sassier. In English records it appears early enough to suggest either a local topographic byname or an inherited continental name. Because the spelling is short and simple, it may have been reinforced by more than one linguistic source over time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars sometimes treated Sass as part of a wider family of names built from old words for settlement, place, or occupation, so it was not always assigned a single fixed origin.
From the historical record
“SASS 1 (Fr.-LaU Dweller at a WILLOW- SASSE J Tree [O.Fr. sas for sals, etc., Lat. salix] (Teut.) Dweller at a Lock or Sluice [Dut. sas] SATCHELL, the French Sachel: i a palatal form of 5ac [v. Sack"] with the Fr. dim. suff. -el, Lat. -ell-us.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)