Moses
A biblical surname and given-name form meaning “son of Moses,” later also used as a straightforward hereditary family name.
The #887 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,873 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Moses usually comes from the biblical personal name Moses, ultimately from Hebrew Mosheh. In medieval England it could function as a patronymic, meaning “son of Moses,” and many later spellings were reduced or reshaped through English and French usage. Some historical writers also note that in certain Irish contexts the spelling Moses was used as an Anglicized form of Gaelic names, but that is a separate local development rather than the main surname origin.
History
Moses appears in medieval English records as a personal name and then as a surname derived from it. Bardsley notes that Moses was popular as a font-name in the 13th and 14th centuries, which helped the surname become established. The name also spread through Jewish and Christian communities in Britain, and some unrelated local or Gaelic forms were occasionally pulled into the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers specifically observed that some Jewish families in England altered Hoses to Moses, showing how fluid surname spelling could be in the past.
From the historical record
“In Wexford Mo-aedh-og is common; but the Catholics make it Mogue and the Protestants Moses! (Joyce) MOIR (Celt.) Big, Great [Gael, (and Ir.) mdr = Wei. mawr] In Aberdeen this name is pronounced”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)