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Yashar comes from the Hebrew word Yashar (yud, sheen, raish) meaning straight or honest. My family comes from Iran, and there are many families in Iran with the last name of Yashar. My family is from the Persian-Jewish community, and I do not know if all of the families with that last name in Iran are Jewish, but it would seem to make sense. My grandfather, Habib Yashar of Hamadan, picked this last name about 1925 - 1930 when the first Shah of Iran of the Pahlavi dynasty decreed that every head of household was to select a surname for themselves as done in the western countries. Before that, people just went by "name son of name son of name" as done in biblical days. I can see several Israelis with the last name of Yashar or Ben Yashar on the Geni web site also, and Name Ben Yashar means Name, son of Yashar. The surname style of Ben XXX is often used in Israel. Dated: January 2011