AUSCHER

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.

Auscha/Ausche is the German name of the Czech town of Ustek, in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Auscher, in which the German ending "-er" stands for "of/from", is recorded as a Jewish family name in Alsace, eastern France, in 1784. As a Jewish name, Ausch is also linked to variants of the biblical As(c)her. As(c)her, meaning "the happy one" in Hebrew, was a son of Jacob and Leah's handmaid Zilpah (Genesis 30.12). The form A-s-sa-ra is mentioned in Egyptian documents from the days of Seti I (1309-1291 BCE). The German spelling, Ascher, is recorded as a Jewish family name in 1196 in Worms in western Germany. Many variants have evolved, some of which became the source of other groups of names, among them Anselme, mentioned in Wuerzburg, Germany, in 1212, and later also in North Africa; the Latinized Anzelinus, recorded in Savoy in 1294; Oscher, documented in 1495 in Lutzelbourg in the French department of Moselle; Amschel, found in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, in 1691, and others. Auscher is recorded as a Jewish family name in Alsace, eastern France, in 1784.