Origin
Appenrodt : German: habitational name from any of several places in Germany which are so named from the personal name Aben + Middle German rot ‘cleared land’. Compare Abendroth.
Eckenroth : North German: from Middle Low German eke ‘oak’ (plural eken) + rot ‘cleared land’; a topographic name for someone who lived on a piece of land which had been cleared of oaks.
Grubbe : 1: German: from an ancient Germanic personal name formed with an element reflected in Gothic hrotheigs ‘victorious’ (which in Old High German merges with rōt ‘red’).2: English: variant of Grubb.3: Danish: from the nickname Grubbi ‘coarse wrinkly lined’.
Lindroth : Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements lind ‘lime tree’ + roth an ornamental spelling of rot ‘root’.
Ratley : English: perhaps a habitational name from Ratley part of Ratley and Upton (Warwickshire) recorded as Rotelei in 1086. The placename derives from Old English rōt ‘tree root’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. However better late medieval bearer evidence is needed to establish that this is the origin of the surname.
Root : 1: English: perhaps a nickname for a cheerful person from an unrecorded Middle English rote (Old English rōt) ‘glad cheerful’.2: English: from Middle English rote route rotte ‘rote’ (of uncertain origin but apparently ultimately akin to Welsh crwth) perhaps used for a player of the medieval stringed instrument a kind of harp or fiddle. Compare Rutter.3: English: perhaps a habitational name from Wroot (Lincolnshire) from Old English wrōt ‘snout spur of land’.4: Dutch (also Op 't Root): topographic name for someone who lived by a retting place (Dutch root a derivative of ro(o)ten ‘to ret’ akin to modern English rot) a place where flax is soaked in water until the stems rot to release the linen fibers.5: German: variant of Roth and in North America possibly also an altered form of this.6: Americanized form (translation into English) of French Racine.
Rootsey : from Rotsea (ER Yorks) which is recorded as Rotesse in 1086 Rottese Rotese in the 13th century Rottsey alias Rottyssey in 1577 and Ratsey in 1606. The place-name derives from Old English sǣ ‘lake’ with an uncertain first element probably either hrot ‘scum’ or the Old English personal name Rōt (genitive Rōtes).
Rotan : Probably an altered form of German Rothan a nickname meaning ‘red John’ for someone with red hair from Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + Han a short form of Johannes.
Roth : 1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a person with red hair from Middle High German rōt German rot ‘red’. As a Jewish name it is at least in part artificial: its frequency as a Jewish surname is disproportionate to the number of Jews who one may reasonably assume were red-headed during the period of surname adoption. This form of the German surname (especially in this sense and in the sense 2 below) is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine) where it is most common and in some other European countries e.g. Czechia and Croatia.2: German and English (Middlesex): topographic name for someone who lived on land that had been cleared from Old High German rod Middle English roth(e) (Old English roth) ‘clearing’. In England the name may also be a habitational name from any of the places like Rothend in Ashdon (Essex) Roe End in Markyate (Hertfordshire) Roe Green in Hatfield (Hertfordshire) or Roe Green in Sandon (Hertfordshire).3: German: from a short form of any of various ancient Germanic personal names with the first element hrōd ‘renown’. Compare Rode 1 Ross 4.4: German: habitational name from any of numerous places so named. See also Rott.5: German (Röth): habitational name from any of several places so named in Schleswig-Holstein Baden-Württemberg.
Rothbart : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with a red beard from Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + bart ‘beard’ German rot + Bart.
Rothbaum : Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name composed of German rot ‘red’ + Baum ‘tree’.
Rothfeld : Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name composed of German rot ‘red’ + Feld ‘field’.
Rothfuss : German:: 1: from Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + vuoz ‘foot’ a nickname for someone who followed the fashion for shoes made from a type of fine reddish leather.2: alternatively a variant of Rotfuchs from the Middle Low German form fos ‘fox’ a nickname for a clever person.
Rothkopf : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with red hair from Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + kopf ‘head’ German rot + Kopf.
Rothrock : German: from Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + roc ‘tunic’; hence a nickname probably for someone who habitually wore a red tunic. This surname is no longer found in Germany. Compare Rodrock and Rotruck.
Rothschild : German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by a red sign (Middle High German rōt ‘red’ + schilt ‘sign shield’) the earliest recorded example dating from the 13th century. The famous banking family of this name took it from a house so marked in the Jewish quarter of Frankfurt-am-Main but the name has also been adopted by many Ashkenazic Jews unrelated to the family. In Britain the surname is normally given the spelling pronunciation ‘Roths-child’; the original pronunciation is ‘Rote-shilt’.
Rothstein : 1: German: habitational name from a place so named near Merseburg.2: German: from an ancient Germanic personal name Hrodstein (hrōd ‘fame renown’).3: Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial compound of German rot ‘red’ + Stein ‘stone’.
Rott : German:: 1: variant of Roth.2: habitational name from any of several places so named for example in Bavaria or of places called Rot or Roth. This form of the German surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine) and in some other European countries especially Czechia.
Rotton : English: habitational name from Rotton Park in Birmingham England. The placename derives from Old English tūn ‘farmstead estate’ with an uncertain first element possibly rōt ‘cheerful’.
Rutland : English: habitational name from the county of Rutland from the Old English personal name Rōta (from rōt ‘cheerful glad’) + Old English land ‘land’.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
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