Vassar

Recorded as Vaissiere, Vassar, Vasser, Vassier, Vosser, Vasseur, Vaseur (England), and Vaisse, Vayase, Vaisset, Vaysset, Vaissiere, Vaissier, Vaseur, and others (French), this is a surname of French origins. It is occupational and described a servant usually of the bed chamber. For some reason not known it was originally to be found in the region of France known as the Massif Central and later elsewhere. Like many such names it appears to be of humble origins, but in fact most surnames of this type had considerable status, and whilst Butler, Steward (Stuart), and Constable, may seem ordinary surnames, they are in fact those of the heads of state of Ireland, Scotland and later England, and France! In this case the name is also associated with Hugunenot Protestant refugees who fled France in th 17th and 18th centuries to avoid religious persecution. It is not clear as to when the first nameholders arrived in England but the earliest that we can find in the registers is that of Jan Vaseur at Threadneedle Street French Church, in the city of London, on June 9th 1605, and Jacob Vaissiere and his wife Mary, who were christening witnesses at the famous church of St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on February 28th 1633.