ROSS. This surname is susceptible of several explanations. 1. In some cases it is undoubtedly of foreign local origin. In Domesday we 'find, in Kent, a tenant called Anschitil deRos, and, in Buckinghamshire, another named Ansgotus de Ros. These probably came from Ros, a commune in the arrondissement of Caen, in Normandy. 2. It is of British local origin. The great barons Ros, or Roos, of Hamlake, co.York, sprang from one Peter, who, in the reign of Henry I., assumed his surname from his lordship of Ros, in Holderness. Bai'onage. The Rosses of the South of Scotland appear to have sprung from the English family, and to have passed into Renfrewshire, as the Aassals of Richard de Moreville in the XII. century, settling at Halkhead, co. Renfrev, and at Dalton, co. Dumfries. 3 There are several towns and villages in North and South Britain called Ross, and these, as well as ross, a heath or morass, and ross, a promontory, may have a claim. 4. The name seems sometimes to have had reference to the colour or complexion of the first bearer, and to have been a modification of Le Rous, Rufus, or the Red. The ancient family of Ross of Renfrew, descending from Alysandre, who flourished at Renfrew, so early as the reign of King David I., wrote themselves the Ross of Renfrew," apparently down to the XV. century. See Knowles's Genealogy of Coulthart, p. 16. 6. Mr. Ferguson claims the name as Teutonic, deriving it from O. Sax., hros, 0. Norse, hross, &c., a horse. 6. Mr. Skene insinuates a claim on behalf of the Gaelic. " It is AvcU known," says he, "that the surname of Ross has always been rendered in Gaelic, Clan Avrias, or Clan Gillc Avrias." Scottish Highlanders, ii. 224.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.