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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Dutch : nickname for a big man, from Middle Dutch reuse(n) ‘giant’.
  • German : topographic name from Middle High German riuse ‘fish trap’ (Middle Low German ruse) or from a regional term reuse ‘small stream’, ‘channel’.
  • Catalan : habitational name from Reus in Tarragona province. However, this source seems not to have contributed greatly to the American name.

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