Meaning and Origin of: Bassett

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Old French : Short, low

Boy name variations

Basse
Basset

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from Old French basset, a diminutive of basse ‘low’, ‘short’, either a nickname for a short person or a status name for someone of humble origins.
  • William Bassett (c. 1598–1667) came to Plymouth, MA, from Kent, England, in the 1620s; in about 1650 he moved to Duxbury and subesequently to Bridgewater. He had many prominent descendants, among them one of the earliest families on Martha’s Vineyard.

Famous people with this last name

Angela Bassett