Bash
An English surname that may have begun as a nickname for a bashful or shy person, though the evidence is not secure.
The #9,646 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 91,779 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is probably connected with the English word bash, in the sense of being shy, timid, or self-conscious, and may originally have described someone with a bashful manner. The historical material provided does not give a firm dictionary entry for the surname itself, so this explanation is best treated as a plausible nickname origin rather than a certainty. It is also possible that some bearers represent shortened or altered forms of longer names.
History
The name appears in English records, and by the early modern period it was established enough to occur as a surname in London and later in the United States. Because the excerpted sources do not discuss the surname directly, there is no secure evidence here for a single original family line or locality. In modern usage it remains relatively uncommon in the U.S.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A related 19th-century surname dictionary note linked the idea of 'bash' to bashfulness, which is why this name is often interpreted as a nickname surname.
From the historical record
“■: SlMi . ... _ ricd-Edward BasH, tallow ; St. Hichad, ComhilL p. Hi. LADdon, 11; Philadelphia, 13.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances