Karas Genealogy and Karas Family History Information

Polish (Karas); Hungarian (Kárász); Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian (Prekmurje), and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Slavic karas ‘crucian carp’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a carp fisher or possibly a nickname for someone with a fishlike appearance. As a Jewish name it is mainly an ornamental name.

Greek: from a nickname meaning ‘black’ (see Caras).

Hungarian: topographic name for someone living by the Karas river, a tributary of the river Danube, named with Turkish kara ‘black’ + sug ‘water’.

German: from a short form of the personal name Zacharias or of the Greek saint’s name Makarios, meaning ‘blessed one’.

(Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4)