Kalas Family History

Czech and Slovak (Kalaš): from a derivative of the personal name Kála, a short form of Kalist, Late Latin Calixtus (see Kalista). Slovak (also Kalás): probably an altered form of klas ‘ear spike’ (compare Hungarian name below).

Croatian (Kalaš): unflattering nickname from kalaš ‘wastrel debauchee’, a word of Turkish origin. Americanized form of Hungarian Kalász: metonymic occupational name from kalász ‘ear or stem of wheat or other cereal’, a word of Slavic origin (compare Slovak name above).

Alternatively, it may be a habitational name from any of various places such as Kalász (now in Slovakia) and Budakalász (Pest County), named after the ancient Turkic people known in Hungarian as the Kaliz and in English as the Khalyzians or Khwarizmians.