Gass
A surname that can be German, often tied to a lane or street, though some bearers may have other origins.
The #5,133 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,284 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation is German: Gass is linked to Middle High German and Old High German words for a lane, alley, or street, especially German Gasse. In this sense it likely began as a habitational or locational name for someone who lived by or in a lane. Some older writers also suggested other possibilities for certain families, including short forms or altered spellings of other names, so the surname is not always from the same source everywhere.
History
German-language surnames from Gasse are well attested in the onomastic literature, and the name also appears in variant spellings such as Gasse, Gasson, and similar forms. English surname writers occasionally treated Gass as an altered or shortened form of other surnames, showing that the name could have multiple local histories. In North America, the surname is found in modest numbers and may reflect immigration from German-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname dictionary explicitly glossed Gass as meaning “street, lane, path” in German.
From the historical record
“GASS "1 (Ger.) Street, Lane, Path [Ger. GASSE / gasse, O.H.Ger. gazza] GERHARD(T (Ger.) see Gerard in Diet. GINSBERG I f„, „,. ^ ^ GINSBURG ) '^°'^ GCinzburg, q.v. GIRARDIN \(Tr.) forms of Gerard (q.v. in GIRARDOT J Diet.), with Fr. dim. suff. -in, -ot. GIRAUD (Fr.) form of Gerald, q.v. in Diet.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)