Family name origins & meanings
- German, Swiss German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : variant of Rau.
- German, Swiss German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : perhaps an occupational nickname for a blacksmith or charcoal burner, from Middle High German rouch, German Rauch ‘smoke’, or, in the case of the German name, a status name or nickname relating to a hearth tax (i.e. a tax that was calculated according to the number of fireplaces in each individual home).
