Family name origins & meanings
- German : nickname for a swift runner or a timorous person, from Middle High German, Middle Low German hase ‘hare’.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Hase ‘hare’.
- English : from a Middle English nickname, Hase, from Old English hās ‘harsh, raucous, or hoarse voice’.
- Japanese : usually written with characters meaning ‘long valley’; habitational name from a place in Yamato (now Nara prefecture). Listed in the Shinsen shōjiroku. Some bearers are descended from the Taira clan; they are found mainly in eastern Japan. Also pronounced Nagaya and Nagatani; the original pronunciation was Hatsuse, meaning ‘beginning of the strait’.