Last name origins & meanings:
- Muslim and Christian Arabic: from an Arabic personal name
āsaf, of unknown etymology. This was the name of Suleiman’s
grand wazir, whence it came to be used proverbially as a name for any
wise counselor.
- Jewish (Sephardic): either an adoption
of the Arabic name or from the Biblical name Asaph, name of a
counselor of King David and King Solomon, to whom authorship of twelve
of the Psalms is attributed (1 Chronicles 16:4–5; Psalms 50,
73–83).
|