Question

Is Haas a Bohemian or Czech surname?

Comments

In my family, German.

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In 1921 about 30% of the population in Bohemia was German. so if your Haas was from Bohemia he/she was a member of the German minority there. The Czech equivalent would be Zajíc.

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Thanks Helmut! Good information!

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Hello Karel,

just the time span doesn't tell much. In 18th century, what is today the Czech Republic was part of the Austrian Empire, a conglomerate of many different ethnics: German, Austrian (which both speak German), Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarian, Serbs etc.. In my "Haas" case the evidence is clear: all records are held in German language, well back into the 17th century, so she was certainly of German origin.

You might wanna check your ancestor's records, to see what origin they were.

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This is really an interesting topic to me. My mother was a Haas of Bavarian descent. My father is mostly Czech, but his great-grandmother was one of the Germans living in Bohemia. My dad always said he was Czech, but when his grandfather immigrated to the US and he became a citizen, he was renouncing his Austrian citizenship. I had never thought of Haas as being anything other than German. To think of the Bohemian or Czech roots is quite personal. :)

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If your Haas ancestor renounced allegiance to Austria, it was probably during the time that the area in which he lived had been conquered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which controlled much of central Europe before World War I. My husband's Hvozdovich and Boris grandparents from Slovakia lived under Austrian rule and so may my great grandfather Versch in Bavaria whose family was considered Austro-Hungarian even tho they lived in Bavaria. They may have come over the border from Czech or Slovak areas because I don't know if Austria ever really controlled Bavaria (Bayern)

Answer 1

Haas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haas

1.  

Wikipedia

Haas, also de Haas, is a German and Dutch surname, usually from Hase or de Haas, the German and Dutch words for "hare". Notable people with the surname ...

Comments

For what it's worth, I had an English prof who had the Haas surname. He mentioned to the class that there is a quote in J. C. Sallinger's book,  "the Catcher in the Rye" about an individual named Haas. It reads in part "they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas,..." The Prof said that it was a very good book. 

Answer 2

About the Haas surname. From Ancestry Dutch, German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle Dutch, Middle High German hase, German Hase 'hare', hence a nickname for a swift runner or a timorous or confused person, but in some cases perhaps a habitational name from a house distinguished by the sign of a hare.

HAAS surname - Geni

https://www.geni.com/surnames/haas

Geni