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Rouse sir name is from ols French, meaning , one with red hair.It probably came from Normandy, around1066.However, it is known to be of Sottish, Irish, and Welsh decent==Also the word in German means " get out" Some researchers believe that the name may have been Rousseau; Anglised to Rouse!I In Shakespeare, it is found throughput his work;"to take one's rouse, is to take some wine.My particular name comes from England; Stayley Bridge, in Lanchishire. At least ,the family can trace it to circa, 1780.That's as far as we can go, at present.
Note: There are several sources for the name. 'The Red' is probably one, but is a descriptive of an individual at a time when the le Rouse family seem to have already adopted it as a sir name (although they seem to have used the Fitz name along with it also (Robert FitzAllen le Rouse). Not all Americans by the name are Anglo-Norman, some are actually Rauch (and other spellings) of Palatine origin. The Scottish branch is actually Anglo-Norman, and at least one Dutch branch is Anglo-Norman (having exiled themselves during Tudor times from England...some of which returned, some of which stayed in Deventer Netherlands). The Anglo-Norman name might also be from Rollo, who was called Rou, the se being 'small,' or little, or child of Rou. The Duchess of Cleveland suggested as much in the Battle Abby Rolls. Many Scot and Irish names are actually Norman, with Norman knights taking up lands in both countries, as well as becoming march lords in Wales.In many cases it is an error of applying soundex without foundation. It is unlikely that Rouse, Rowse, and Roose are related directly to Ros, and even when related, like Lench, Boughton, and Stradbroke, they are really only Rouse by marriage. The Devon/Cornwall branch, and a branch that went north after Hastings (some taking the name FitzAllen), are believed to be the descendants of a knight named Turchel le Rous who fought at Hastings. They still held land near Rouen after 1066.
Several members of the family moved to America early. Two John Rouses (one the Quaker) were in New England in the very early 1600s, Thomas (the brother of one of the Johns) was part of buying Shelter Island as a refuge for Quakers in the mid 1600s. My 7th g-grandfather Emmanuel Rouse was born in Rhode Island in 1673. All these people were related in some way, but none of them were in anyway related to the Palatine family of New York, and only distantly related to the French branch along the Hudson and Dutch branch in New Amsterdam. There are no German Rouses that I know of except part of the Dutch branch that married into a Belgian noble house and moved to Germany for Hanseatic League business. I know very little about the family that remained in England except Francis (a relative) was involved in killing king Charles I, and a John Rouse (not sure the relationship) was drawn and quartered for rebellion (Rye House Plot) against Charles II.
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