Frequency: (473)
(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: topographic name for someone who lived by an ash tree, from the Middle English phrase at(te) asche ‘at (the) ash’.
2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of bags and purses, from German Tasche ‘bag’, ‘purse’. Compare Taschner.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
