The surname Ash is of English origin. The name is a Southern English topographical name for someone who lived by an ash tree, derived from the Middle English ‘atten ash’, at the ash. The name thus comes to signify ‘dweller by the Ash tree’. A family could acquire a place name as a surname under three different circumstances: 1. the gentleman lived or worked in or near some topographical formation or landscape feature, either natural or artificial. 2. he formerly lived in a village and thus acquired the reputation of being from that place. 3. he owned or was lord of the village or manor designated. However, it is safe to say that in most cases a placename merely identifies the place where the original bearer of the name formerly resided; as is the case with the surname Ash. The name may also be Jewish of unknown origin, possibly an anglicization of one or more like sounding Jewish names. The surname Ash is also now common in Ireland, where it was taken by a family who established themselves in County Kerry in the thirteenth century, during the second wave of Anglo-Norman settlement. Abner Nash ( 1740-86 ), governor of North Carolina, …
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