Explore the Family Name Chausse

The meaning of Chausse

French: 1. (Chaussé): from chaussé ‘shod’, the past participle of the verb chausser ‘to put (shoes) on’, designating, in a rural area, a person distinctive in wearing leggings (on Old French chausse; see 2 below) when bare legs were more common. Alternatively, from Old French chaussier, an agent derivative of chausse, used as a nickname for a maker or seller of footwear or leggings. Compare Chaussee 1. 2. from Old French chausse ‘footwear’ or ‘leggings’ (from Late Latin calcia, for classical Latin calceus ‘sandal, shoe’), hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of shoes or leggings, or a nickname for a wearer of distinctive ones. In medieval Europe the Late Latin term denoted boots, shoes, leggings, leg armor, gaiters, hose, breeches, pantaloons, and so on. 3. habitational name from Le Chausse, the name of several places in various parts of France, e.g. in Haute-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, and Dordogne, of the same etymology as Chaussee 2. History: François Han/Jahan dit Chaussé from Poitiers in Vienne, France, married Marie-Madeleine Prunier in Repentigny, QC, in 1685. Some characteristic forenames: French Armand, Dominique, Henri, Lucien, Marcel, Maxime, Pierre.

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