Family name origins & meanings
- Muslim : from an Arabic personal name, As‛ad ‘happiest’, ‘luckiest’, a superlative adjective derived from sa‛īda ‘to be lucky or happy’. Compare Said.
- Muslim : nickname or ornamental name from Arabic asad ‘lion’. This was adopted as a surname by ̣Hafẹz al-Assad (1928–2000), president of Syria from 1971 until his death.