Ras is a surname with a variety of origins. In Dutch ras means "nimble, swift", but it is a patronymic surname: the archaic given name Ras, Raas, or Raes was short for Erasmus or was a derivative the Middle Dutch male name Razo.^[1][2] In Polish or Serbian the name is likely also patronymic, while in French the meaning "bare" or "shorn" may indicate a topographic name for someone who lived on bare or razed land.^[3] People with this surname include:

• Barbara Ras (born 1949), American poet, translator and publisher
• Eva Ras (born 1941), Serbian actress, writer, and painter
• Hans Ras (1926–2003), Dutch professor of Javanese language and literature
• Koos Ras (1928–2001), South African singer and comedian
• Leopold Willem Ras (1760s–1823), Dutch merchant-trader and diplomat, opperhoofd in Dejima
• Marthinus Nikolaas Ras (1853–1900), South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker
• Maxime Ras (born 1988), French football striker
• Radomir Stević Ras (1931–1982), Serbian painter, illustrator and designer
• Tony Ras [de] (born 1994), Dutch ice hockey player

• Ireneusz Raś (born 1972), Polish politician
• Jan Raas (born 1952), Dutch cyclist
• Raes, Belgian surname of the same origin

Surname list

This page lists people with the surname Ras.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.