Ras is a surname with a variety of origins. In Dutch ras means "nimble, swift", but it is a patronymic surname: the archaic given name Ras, Raas, or Raes was short for Erasmus or was a derivative the Middle Dutch male name Razo.Ras at the Database of Surnames in The Netherlands.Raas at the Corpus of First Names in The Netherlands In Polish or Serbian the name is likely also patronymic, while in French the meaning "bare" or "shorn" may indicate a topographic name for someone who lived on bare or razed land.Ras Name Meaning at ancestry.com, sourced from Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press People with this surname include:
Barbara Ras (born 1949), American poet, translator and publisher Eva Ras (born 1941), Serbian actress, writer, and painter Hans Ras (1926–2003), Dutch professor of Javanese language and literature Koos Ras (1928–2001), South African singer and comedian Leopold Willem Ras (1760s–1823), Dutch merchant-trader and diplomat, opperhoofd in Dejima Marthinus Nikolaas Ras (1853–1900), South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker Maxime Ras (born 1988), French football striker Radomir Stević Ras (1931–1982), Serbian painter, illustrator and designer (born 1994), Dutch ice hockey player
See also Ireneusz Raś (born 1972), Polish politician Jan Raas (born 1952), Dutch cyclist Raes, Belgian surname of the same origin
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