Moss
Usually a topographic surname for someone who lived by a moss, moor, or marsh; in some cases it may also be a form of Moses.
The #423 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,014 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English and Scots usage, moss refers to a bog, marsh, or wet moorland, from Old English and Old Norse words for that kind of ground. As a surname, Moss therefore most often began as a location name for someone who lived by such a place. Some older writers also noted a separate Jewish use of Moss as an English shortened form of Moses, so the surname can have more than one origin.
History
The name is widely found in northern and midland English records, which fits its topographic sense. It also appears in Scots and in place-names such as Chat Moss, reinforcing the marshland connection. Because the same spelling could arise independently from different places or from Moses, the surname may represent several unrelated families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older commentators even described the nickname 'moss-troopers' as people who lived in the marshy border country, showing how strongly the word was tied to landscape.
From the historical record
“:X§I^^^y}-"°-'^^- MOSS (Eiig. and Scand.) Dweller at a Marsh or Moor i' [O.E. mds — O.N. m6si\ A Richard del Moss was Bailiff of Liverpool in 1405. — Baines, Hist. L'pool, p. 193. (A.-Gr.-Heb.-Copt.)an English abbrev. form of Moses, q.v. Cp. the French form Moise.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)