Lazar Family History

Jewish, Assyrian/Chaldean, German, Czech, Slovenian, and Croatian; Polish (also Łazar); Slovak (also Lazár and Lázár); Hungarian (Lázár); Romanian (Lazăr): from a Biblical personal name of Aramaic origin, a shortened form of the Hebrew name Elazar composed of the elements El ‘God’ + azar ‘help’ and meaning ‘may God help him’ or ‘God has helped (i.e. by granting a son)’. This was established in central Europe as a Jewish name but was also popular among Christians because it is recorded in the New Testament.

Lazaros is the New Testament Greek form of the name of the brother of Martha and Mary who was restored to life by Christ (John 1:1–44). As a non-Jewish name, it was also used as a nickname for a beggar or an outcast leper; this use arises from the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 1:19–31).

In North America, this surname has also absorbed various other European cognates and their derivatives e.g. Albanian Lazri, Lazëri, and Llazari (from the personal names Lazër and Llazar; see Lazer), Greek patronymics like Lazarakis, Lazaridis, and Lazaropoulos, Serbian patronymic Lazarević (see Lazarevic).

Slovenian: from lazar, a topographic name for someone who lived in an area of cleared woodland itself derived from laz ‘cleared woodland’. Compare Austrian German and Gottscheerish (i.e. Gottschee German) Lasser and Loser and also Lazzari.