Oss Family History
Oss Name Meaning
North German: from Low German oss ‘ox’, hence a nickname for a farmer or a stupid person, or in some cases a habitational name for someone living at a house or inn distinguished by the sign of an ox. South German (especially southern Bavaria (Allgäu)): from a short form of the personal name Oswald. Dutch (van Oss): habitational name from Oss in North Brabant. Probably an Americanized form of any of a number of common Norwegian habitational names from farmsteads named with Old Norse áss ‘hill’, ‘ridge’ (see Aas).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press