Gross
A nickname surname from a word meaning “big,” “thick,” or “heavy.”
The #440 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,144 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as a nickname from a word meaning “big,” “large,” or “stout.” The chief source in the English surname tradition points to French gros, and related continental forms show the same root, with German Gross and Dutch/Germanic spellings also reinforcing the sense of size or bulk. In medieval records it could be attached to a person’s build or general appearance.
History
The name appears early in medieval records in forms such as Grossus and Grose, and it spread in several related spellings across English-speaking and continental Europe. In Britain and Ireland it was often treated as a descriptive nickname surname rather than an occupational one. The surname is also well established in Germany and among German-speaking emigrants, which helped maintain the straightforward spelling Gross.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers regularly glossed Gross as simply “the gross,” meaning large or heavy, which is very close to its plain medieval sense.
From the historical record
“GROSER. See Grocer. GR OS JEAN. See John. GROSS. GROSSE. Fr. gros. Great, big, as to stature. GROSS^IITH. See under Smith. GROTESTE. See Greathead. GROSVEXOR. Le Gros Fencwr— "the GUB 140”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom