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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Scottish and English : from the Norman personal name Wazo, which is probably derived from a compound Germanic name with a first element wad ‘to go’. Compare Wade 1.
  • German and Swedish : nickname from Middle High German was(se), Swedish vass ‘sharp’, ‘cutting’. The Swedish name is a soldier’s name, one of the identifying names adopted by soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries, before the use of surnames became general in Scandinavia.
  • Swedish : ornamental name from vass ‘reed’, ‘marsh’.
  • German : metonymic occupational name for a seller of wax, from Middle Low German was ‘wax’ (see Wax).

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