Rasp
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Frequency: (208)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. German: from Middle High German raspen ‘to scrape together’, ‘amass’, a nickname for a greedy person.
2. North German: metonymic occupational name for someone who made rasps or used one in his work, from Middle Low German raspe ‘file’, ‘rasp’, ‘grater’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
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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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