Family name origins & meanings
- English and German : metonymic occupational name for a glazier or glass blower, from Old English glæs ‘glass’ (akin to Glad, referring originally to the bright shine of the material), Middle High German glas.
- Irish and Scottish : Anglicized form of the epithet glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’ or any of various Gaelic surnames derived from it.
- German : altered form of the personal name Klass, a reduced form of Nikolaus (see Nicholas).
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Glass ‘glass’, or a metonymic occupational name for a glazier or glass blower.