Russen

Recorded in the spellings of Rose, Ross, and the patronymics Russan, Russen, Russin, Russon, Reson, Reyson, Rising and Rushinge, this is an English medieval surname.It has a number of possible origins. Firstly, it may be a topographical name for a person who lived at a place where wild roses grew, or it may be a nickname for a rose grower or his son. Roses were widely grown for the medicinal properties. The name may also be residential for somebody who lived by or at an inn called "The Rose". In some case it may be a nickname for a person of "rosy" complexion. In each of these instances the surname derives from the Olde English and French "rose" or the Germanic female personal name "Rose or Royse". These are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Rothais". Finally, the name may also have originated from the Yiddish female personal name "Royze", again derived from the word for the flower. Early examples of the name recording include: Richard Roys, in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1327, and Hugh Rosesone, in the rolls of Staffordshire in 1342. Richard Rosse was recorded in Cambridge in 1327, and Anna Russon in London in 1628, when she married Evan Daniell at St Dunstans, Stepney. Henry Rose, the Baron Strathnairn (1801 - 1885) served in Syria, India and Ireland with the British army and was appointed Field-Marshal in 1877. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Rose, which was dated 1302, in the "London Court Rolls Register", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.