> Bardsley also includes the name "Sass, Sasse" and gives >examples of "Sas" as well. The word was used for "a lock in a river' >or 'a sluice or lock...." Could it be that a person who operated a >sluice gate (i.e., a sasse) came to be known as a "sasser?" I don't >see any mention of that possibility, and I am too much of a >dilettante in this field to want to propose such a hypothesis. > After reading the letter from Glenn I recall a day spent some 25 years age at the Los Angeles County library going through a book about names. Smith= A person that worked with steel, (A Blacksmith). Smithson= The son of a blacksmith. Shepard= One who tends sheep. (A Shepherd) Then it said: Sasser= Dweller on or near a river bank or at a lock in a lake. (A Lock or Sluice operator) Coming home with this new information some twenty five years ago I just couldn't wait to tell my wife. My wife is a R.N. trained at Whipps Cross Hospital, London, England now retired. She told me I should not be spreading that news far and wide as it was the sluice device that they used to clean the bedpans at the hospital in training. Kleinsasser, DeSaussure, hmm!... let's explore these names more closely. Cordially, Earl Sasser ------------------------------