Explore the Family Name Bais

The meaning of Bais

1. Italian (Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino-South Tyrol): nickname derived from German weiss ‘white’. 2. Dutch (mainly North Holland): patronymic from the personal name Baije, which is a derivative of an ancient Germanic name beginning with the element bern- ‘bear’, or possibly a variant of Boije, which may be a derivative of Boidin and thus a variant of Baldwin. 3. Americanized form of Croatian and Slovenian Bajs: nickname from dialect bajs ‘bass’ (the musical instrument), figuratively ‘fatty, potbelly’. The surname in the form Bais is found in Croatia, too, where it is a less common variant. 4. Indian: Kshatriya Rajput name found among the Dhangar people of Maharashtra, ultimately from Sanskrit vasati ‘dwelling’, and by extension ‘one who owns land’. This is the name of a tribe originally found in the Manjhi Paithan region of the Deccan; Baiswada in Ganga-Yamuna Doaba is a district named for them. History: All members of the Dutch Bais family (see 2 above) in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands are descendants of Dirk Evertsz Bays, who lived around 1700.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.