Buss
A surname with multiple possible roots: a locative name for someone “at the bush,” a nickname, or possibly an old Norse personal name.
The #3,865 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,643 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Buss appears to have more than one plausible source. In English records it was explained as a local name meaning “at the bush,” essentially a variant of Bush or Busk. Other writers connected it with an older Norse personal name, noting early forms such as Buss and Bussa and suggesting a link with a Norse word for “stout” or “burly.”
History
Early documentary forms appear in medieval English records, and the name was later found in both English and Scandinavian contexts. In southern England, Buss was also noted as a nickname for Barnabas, showing how a surname could develop from a familiar shortened personal name as well as from place or descriptive usage. Because the evidence points in different directions, the name’s origin is best treated as mixed or uncertain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname scholar even grouped Buss with “Bush” and “Busk,” treating it as a name for someone living “at the bush.”
From the historical record
“B.L.G. BUSS. Ferguson says a " stout man." A Sivard Buss occurs in Domesd. and there were Norsemen and Norsewomen called respectively Buss and Bussa. Hence M'ould come the 0. Norse bustuDi, burly — our name Bustin. Ferguson. In the S. of Engl. Buss is a conmion nickname of Barnabas. BUSTARD, See Birds, BUSTIN, See…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom