Explore the Family Name Ras
The meaning of Ras
1. Dutch: from the ancient Germanic personal name Razo, a derivative of compound names with the first element rād ‘counsel’. 2. Polish (Raś) and Czech (Raš): from a short form of any of various Slavic personal names with the first element rad ‘merry, glad’ or rat ‘battle’, especially Polish Radosław and Czech Radoslav. The homonymous Sorbian surname, Raš, is found in Germanized forms, only (see Rasch and Rasche). Compare Rash. 3. German: variant of Rase. 4. French: nickname for someone with closely cropped hair, from Old French rasé ‘shaven’ (from Latin rasus). 5. Catalan and southern French: topographic name for someone who lived on bare, barren land, from Catalan and Occitan ras ‘shorn, bare, peeled’. 6. Spanish: from ras ‘level’ (ultimately from Latin radere ‘to scrape’), perhaps a topographic name for someone who lived on flat land.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Ras in the United States?
According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Ras has seen an increase between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Ras was ranked 36,572 in terms of popularity and had a count of 577 people with this last name. By 2010, it had risen in rank to 34,574, and the count of individuals with this surname had increased by 13.34% to 654. This represented a small rise in the proportion per 100k people, from 0.21 to 0.22.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #36,572 | #34,574 | 5.46% |
| Count | 577 | 654 | 13.34% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.21 | 0.22 | 4.76% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ras
The ethnicity data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals shifts in the ethnic identity associated with the surname Ras between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic saw significant increases of 26.60% and 39.60% respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of White individuals decreased slightly by 3.80%. The number of individuals identifying as Black or African American also emerged, going from nonexistent in 2000 to 1.22% in 2010. However, the percentage of those identifying with two or more races remained stable at 2.60%, while no change was registered among American Indian and Alaskan Native identifiers.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 78.68% | 75.69% | -3.8% |
| Hispanic | 7.45% | 10.4% | 39.6% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 7.97% | 10.09% | 26.6% |
| Two or More Races | 2.6% | 2.6% | 0% |
| Black | 0% | 1.22% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0% | 0% | 0% |