Ras is a surname with a variety of origins. In Dutch ras means "nimble, swift", but it is a patronymic surname: the archaic given name Ras, Raas, or Raes was short for Erasmus or was a derivative the Middle Dutch male name Razo.[1][2] In Polish or Serbian the name is likely also patronymic, while in French the meaning "bare" or "shorn" may indicate a topographic name for someone who lived on bare or razed land.[3] People with this surname include:

  • Barbara Ras (born 1949), American poet, translator and publisher
  • Eva Ras (born 1941), Serbian actress, writer, and painter
  • Hans Ras (1926–2003), Dutch professor of Javanese language and literature
  • Koos Ras (1928–2001), South African singer and comedian
  • Leopold Willem Ras (1760s–1823), Dutch merchant-trader and diplomat, opperhoofd in Dejima
  • Marthinus Nikolaas Ras (1853–1900), South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker
  • Maxime Ras (born 1988), French football striker
  • Radomir Stević Ras (1931–1982), Serbian painter, illustrator and designer
  • Tony Ras [de] (born 1994), Dutch ice hockey player

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Ras at the Database of Surnames in The Netherlands.
  2. ^ Raas at the Corpus of First Names in The Netherlands
  3. ^ Ras Name Meaning at ancestry.com, sourced from Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press