Basa Family History

Catalan: variant of Bassa a topographic name from bassa ‘pool pond’. Basque: topographic name for someone who lived by a wood a derivative of baso ‘wood forest’. Hungarian: from the old personal name Basa or from Bazsa a pet form of Bazsil from Greek Basileios (see Basil). In some cases the Hungarian surname could be a derivative of basa ‘pasha’ (see Pasha) probably as a nickname for a self-important person or someone who had dealings with the Turkish authorities or occupying forces.

Polish: metonymic occupational name for a musician from basa dialect form of bas ‘bass viol violoncello’. Slovenian and Croatian (Baša): from an old short form of the personal name Sebast(i)jan (see Sebastian). The Slovenian surname may be in part also of different Croatian origin (see below).

Croatian and Serbian (Baša): status name or honorific title from baša ‘senior chief distinguished person’ a loanword from Turkish baş (see Bas 7 and compare Turkish name in 8 below). Croatian: nickname or metonymic occupational name from basa ‘kind of sheep's milk cheese’.

Turkish (Başa): ornamental or status name from başa a regional variant of baş ‘head’ also ‘chief’ (see Bas) denoting someone who is senior e.g. ‘senior colleague’ (compare Croatian and Serbian name in 6 above).

Filipino: from basa ‘to read’ a loanword in various languages of the Philippines from Malay baca which originates from Sanskrit vac ‘to speak’; probably a nickname for a learned person. Indian (Himachal Pradesh and other parts of northern India): ethnic name from the name of a scheduled tribe claiming descent from Asa and Basa two mythological brothers.