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ArchivesThe surnames Roeg and Rossif.
After learning that actor Donald Sutherland named two of his sons after film directors, I was interested in finding out the meaning of those surnames. Donald's son Roeg was named after British director Nicolas Roeg, and son Rossif after French director Frédéric Rossif.
I am clueless about the origin of the Roeg surname, though I suspect it may be German (it doesn't sound exactly British or Celtic). As for Rossif: it sounds Arabic, but the director bearing this surname originally came from what used to be Yugoslavia but is now Montenegro.
I would like to know what the meaning and origin is of these two surnames; thank you very much for any information that you can give me. :)
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
I am clueless about the origin of the Roeg surname, though I suspect it may be German (it doesn't sound exactly British or Celtic). As for Rossif: it sounds Arabic, but the director bearing this surname originally came from what used to be Yugoslavia but is now Montenegro.
I would like to know what the meaning and origin is of these two surnames; thank you very much for any information that you can give me. :)
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
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Replies
All I can tell you is that Roeg is Dutch.
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Funny, I'm Dutch myself, but it didn't appear Dutch to me at all. The bearers of the surname seem to have been Jewish (who lived in Amsterdam in the early 19th century), so perhaps they are descendants of Jewish Germans who settled in Amsterdam.
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You'll find the surname Roeg in the Dutch online telephone book at http://tinyurl.com/8sby9n. On the other hand, Roeg is not listed in Guggenheimer & Guggenheimer's or Kaganoff's dictionaries of Jewish family names.
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I agree on Roeg being Dutch, not German. There is also a Dutch surname, Roege, probably the same, which, it is suggested, may be connected to a minor place name, 't Roege, near Groningen. It's further suggested that the place name could be related to the Dutch word, ruig, "rough".
As for Rossif, I wonder if that was Frédéric R's original surname. I note that he served in the French Foreign Legion prior to settling in France. There was a custom in that force of adopting "noms de guerre". I've found no other instance of Rossif as a surname, only the instance of Frédéric Rossif. I have to add that his forename, Frederick, doesn't sound Serbian/Montenegrin. I wonder if that was his original given name.
As for Rossif, I wonder if that was Frédéric R's original surname. I note that he served in the French Foreign Legion prior to settling in France. There was a custom in that force of adopting "noms de guerre". I've found no other instance of Rossif as a surname, only the instance of Frédéric Rossif. I have to add that his forename, Frederick, doesn't sound Serbian/Montenegrin. I wonder if that was his original given name.
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