origins
English
variant spelling of Fosse. A moat or defensive ditch in a fortification, usually filled with water.
Danish
from fos, vos ‘fox’; a nickname for a sly or cunning person or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a fox.
Norwegian
habitational name from a farmstead so named from Old Norse fors ‘waterfall’, examples of which are found throughout Norway.
Altered spelling of German Voss or the Dutch cognate Vos.
sources
- Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press