Straus Family History

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Strauss. This form of the surname is also found in some other European countries e.g. in the Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia. In Slovenia, it is however much more commonly spelled Štraus and Štravs (see below).

The surname in the form Štraus is also found in Czechia and Slovakia. Slovenian (Štraus): nickname from štravs, a dialect loanword from German meaning ‘awkward fellow’ and ‘ostrich’ (see Strauss 1 and).

In North America, this surname is also an altered form of the standard variant Štravs. Compare Strauss.