Family name origins & meanings
- English (also established in Ireland), French, and Dutch : nickname for an inveterate gambler or a brave or foolhardy man prepared to run risks, from Middle English, Old French hasard, Middle Dutch hasaert (derived from Old French) ‘game of chance’, later used metaphorically of other uncertain enterprises. The word derives from Arabic az-zahr, from az, assimilated form of the definite article al + zahr ‘die’. It appears to have been picked up in the Holy Land and brought back to Europe by Provençal crusaders.