Rose Family History

English, Scottish, French, Walloon, Danish, and German derive from the name of the flower, with origins in Middle English, Old French, and Middle High German rose (from Latin rosa) in various applications. In part, it is a topographic name for someone who lived at a place where wild roses grew or a topographic or habitational name referring to a house bearing the sign of the rose.

Additionally, it is found, especially in Europe, as a nickname for a man with a ‘rosy’ complexion. In North America, the English form of the surname has absorbed cognates and similar-sounding names from other languages, e.g., Hungarian Rózsa, Slovak Róža, and Czech Roza. Compare French Larose and English origins from the Middle English female personal name Rohese, Roese, later Rose, Royse.

This name stems from ancient Germanic Hrodohaidis, Rothaid, composed of the elements hrōd meaning ‘fame, renown’ and haid(is) meaning ‘kind, sort’. The English and Scottish variant of this name is Ross, while French and Walloon use Rosé as a nickname for someone with a rosy complexion derived from rosé, meaning ‘pinkish, rosy’.

French habitational names often come from (La) Rose, referring to several places in various parts of France. This surname is also found in the West Indies and Mauritius. In Italian (Calabria), it can refer to a habitational name from Rose, a place in Calabria. In some cases, it is an Americanized or Italianized form of Slovenian Rože, stemming from a short form of any old vernacular form of the personal name Erazem, which is Latin Erasmus.

Jewish (Ashkenazic) origins stem from the Yiddish female personal name Royze, derived from the Yiddish word royz meaning ‘flower’, or it can be an artificial name created from the same word.