Masse
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Frequency: (1223)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: variant of Mace 1.
2. French (Picardy): metonymic occupational name from masse ‘mace’, ‘hammer’.
3. French: habitational name from places called Masse (Allier and Cô-d'Or), or La Masse (Eure, Lot, Puy-de-Dôme, Saône-et-Loire).
4. French (Massé): habitational name from a place called Massé in Maine-et-Loire, so named from Gallo-Roman Macciacum (from the personal name Maccius + the locative suffix -acum).
5. Dutch: from Middle Dutch masse ‘clog’; ‘cudgel’, perhaps a metonymic occupational name for someone who wielded a club.
6. Dutch: possibly a variant of Maas 1, or a patronymic from Mas.
GIVEN NAMES: French 15%. Armand (11), Marcel (8), Normand (8), Pierre (6), Lucien (2), Michel (2), Serge (2), Alain, Alban, Alcide, Andre, Aurele.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
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Masse
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Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
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