Family name origins & meanings
- Dutch and North German : from Old French and Middle Dutch bras ‘arm’. This was probably a descriptive nickname for someone with some peculiarity of the arm, but the word was also used as a measure of length, and may also have denoted a surveyor.
- Spanish : from the personal name, a vernacular form of Blasius, popularized through the cult of the 4th century Christian martyr. Compare Portuguese Braz