hello alwayslooking - thats a tricky one to find and answer to . Some would say it came from the borders of scotland/ england away back in 1340's . to prove it could be a nightmare even if their is a possible bit of truth in it . America certainly has - moss - that go away back . So does europe in germany where it is spelt- ' moos ' - you could travel to a lot of world places and find traces of them . However to put your finger on it and say _ Bingo -thats where they came from would be a hell of a big guess- Hope you find the real answer and if you ever do this website would be very pleased to read about it .regards - edmondsallan
Hello Edmondsallan If I ever find the answer I will post it on here first thats for sure. Thanks for getting back to me. Appreceate it alot. Alwayslooking
Hi alwayslooking, The Moss surname from the Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, says that the: English and Welsh: was from the personal name Moss, a Middle English vernacular form of the Biblical name Moses.
English and Scottish: was the topographic name for someone who lived by a peat bog, Middle English, Old English mos, or a habitational name from a place named with this word. (It was not until later that the vocabulary word came to denote the class of plants characteristic of a peat-bog habitat, under the influence of the related Old Norse word mosi.)
Americanized form of Moses or some other like-sounding Jewish surname.
Irish (Ulster): was a part translation of Gaelic Ó Maolmhóna ‘descendant of Maolmhóna’, a personal name composed of the elements maol ‘servant’, ‘tonsured one’, ‘devotee’ + a second element which was assumed to be móin (genitive móna) ‘moorland’, ‘peat bog’.
In 1920 the surname MOSS was most prevalent in New York with 7% down through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Alabama to Texas with 5%
There is a very informative notice board on the Moss family at GenForum with one lot of decendants noting ... "Two Scotch boys named Mathew and James, from the Highlands of Scotland, enlisted in the English army, and at the expiration of service were disbanded, or dischargedd, in the Northern part of England, near border of Scotland. Instead of returning to their native land, they secured employment in that locality, later marrying and settling near where they had lived. After they had quite large families, they concluded to go where they could have more room, so the emigrated to America" ...
Famous artist Michael Martin aka Chief Silvermoon (1891-1969) of the Caddo tribe (of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, which lived in east Texas) has a grandson, John T. Moss, Advisory Board member of Bluestone America, Inc.
Moss Family researchers at TribalPages may have some interesting info
the Moss Genealogy and Family Tree Resources has many links and research tools with Countries of Origin and the distribution of the name (unfortunately a number of the links are now broken but hopefully you will find something to lead you to the origins). It has American Civil war records and UK leads
Search All Resources has over 560 Moss names from all over the world - UK, South Africa, India, Netherlands, USSR, Switerland in 1552 !!, through to Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and America
hello alwayslooking - thats a tricky one to find and answer to . Some would say it came from the borders of scotland/ england away back in 1340's . to prove it could be a nightmare even if their is a possible bit of truth in it . America certainly has - moss - that go away back . So does europe in germany where it is spelt- ' moos ' - you could travel to a lot of world places and find traces of them . However to put your finger on it and say _ Bingo -thats where they came from would be a hell of a big guess- Hope you find the real answer and if you ever do this website would be very pleased to read about it .regards - edmondsallan
Hello Edmondsallan If I ever find the answer I will post it on here first thats for sure. Thanks for getting back to me. Appreceate it alot. Alwayslooking
Hi alwayslooking,
The Moss surname from the Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, says that the:
English and Welsh: was from the personal name Moss, a Middle English vernacular form of the Biblical name Moses.
English and Scottish: was the topographic name for someone who lived by a peat bog, Middle English, Old English mos, or a habitational name from a place named with this word. (It was not until later that the vocabulary word came to denote the class of plants characteristic of a peat-bog habitat, under the influence of the related Old Norse word mosi.)
Americanized form of Moses or some other like-sounding Jewish surname.
Irish (Ulster): was a part translation of Gaelic Ó Maolmhóna ‘descendant of Maolmhóna’, a personal name composed of the elements maol ‘servant’, ‘tonsured one’, ‘devotee’ + a second element which was assumed to be móin (genitive móna) ‘moorland’, ‘peat bog’.
In 1920 the surname MOSS was most prevalent in New York with 7% down through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Alabama to Texas with 5%
There is a very informative notice board on the Moss family at GenForum with one lot of decendants noting ... "Two Scotch boys named Mathew and James, from the Highlands of Scotland, enlisted in the English army, and at the expiration of service were disbanded, or dischargedd, in the Northern part of England, near border of Scotland. Instead of returning to their native land, they secured employment in that locality, later marrying and settling near where they had lived. After they had quite large families, they concluded to go where they could have more room, so the emigrated to America" ...
In the Native American Names & Meanings the name Moss is not seen, although there is a MOSI: Navajo name meaning "cat."
Famous artist Michael Martin aka Chief Silvermoon (1891-1969) of the Caddo tribe (of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, which lived in east Texas) has a grandson, John T. Moss, Advisory Board member of Bluestone America, Inc.
Moss Family researchers at TribalPages may have some interesting info
the Moss Genealogy and Family Tree Resources has many links and research tools with Countries of Origin and the distribution of the name (unfortunately a number of the links are now broken but hopefully you will find something to lead you to the origins). It has American Civil war records and UK leads
Search All Resources has over 560 Moss names from all over the world - UK, South Africa, India, Netherlands, USSR, Switerland in 1552 !!, through to Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and America
Thank you Ngairedith,
I will sure check out what you have sent to me. Thank you so much.
Alwayslooking