Last names are a living link to every family's past. Therefore it is fitting to go into some detail about our Lasher surname to learn more about our ancestors, our past, and also ourselves.

The Lasher surname went through various changes in different times and locations. As was common with German-American names, the spelling eventually reflected phonetically the sound of the name to the English speaking ear. Whereas, our German surname Lescher (sometimes spelled Loescher or Löscher) was subsequently anglicized to Lasher, Lesher, Leashure, Lisher, and a plethora of other versions. In the end, when literacy was more common and spelling and grammar became more standardized, our name became finalized as LASHER here in the "New World."

This new spelling existed along side the original for some time. This was evident in the German Lutheran and Reformed Dutch church records at the time. The Lasher family, in general, were members of small German speaking enclaves that remained ethnocentric to some degree, and maintained their native language for more than a century in some locations (Palatine, Stone Arabia, and Germantown, New York respectively). In the church records for these places the Lasher name was still recorded as Loescher, Löscher, and Lescher (depending on the dialect of the writer). Outside these communities the name was usually spelled Lesher or Lasher.

The earliest recorded mention of our surname was in 1261 CE in southwest Germany. At this time it was spelled Lescher or latinized forms thereof. In our verifiable family line the earliest record of our family name was found in the form of a Christening record of Anna Elisabetha dated February 03, 1695, the daughter of Sebastian and Elisabetha 'Loscher' in Hochspeyer, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany. There are other church records from the greater Kaiserslautern area (a metropolitan area 8 km west of Hochspeyer) that have similar spellings, alternating between Lescher, Loescher, and Loscher dating to the late 1500's, and are undoubtedly earlier family members.

According to various sources on the study of German surnames Löscher is the most recent spelling of the old surname/word Lescher. Today, in modern German the word means 'fire-extinguisher.' Lescher is, as a word and surname, derived from Middle High German . Lćschere is derived from Old High German 'to snuff out, extinguish.' The word can be divided etymologically into two root words <*loh> 'a burning or flaming ember', and 'to cut off, shear.' So, the basic concept of the word is "to cut off the flame/burning ember." As a surname the flame element in the word was used metaphorically to mean strife or unrest. As a surname it came to mean a 'peacemaker', 'arbitrator/judge', or 'middle man'; possibly an occupational surname, but more likely a personality trait of our ancestors or a outstanding event where one of our ancestors acted in this fashion, and was henceforth known as "____ der Lescher." In either case our name literally means "one who cuts off the flame of strife"; a peacemaker.