Morris
The aristocratic name Morris, borne by many spooks, may be a pun with Semitic מראש m-rˀš mi-rosh meaning “from the top” or “of the top”.
Semitic m-rˀš meaning “from the top”
Just like the Rose part of Rosenberg and Roosevelt, the name Morris, plus its variants Morrison & Morrissey, may be a pun-transcription of Semitic Rosh.
Semitic ראש rˀš rosh means “leader” or “topmost”, and M-prefixed it would be מראש m-rˀš mi-rosh meaning “of leadership” or “from the top”.
Since most other spook names are also secretly puns that mean “ruler” or “secret ruler”, this is the most straightforward explanation.
Hebrew m-rˀš = from the top / summit
מראשה Mareshah is also is a Biblical name. It’s not explained, but since M is a common prefix in Hebrew, and H is a common suffix, especially for vowelization in names, the actual root of the name should be ראש rosh for “head”, which is also a title and a Biblical name.
מראשה mrˀšh Mareshah : a place in Judah, also two Israelites — Old Hebrew (Strong)
Modern Morris variants
As with many other aristocratic names, there exist many variants with different meanings but similar spellings. This is evidence that all these names are chosen for their consonantal footprint.
ThePeerage.com lists 1000s of Morris aristocrats, so I give you only some common variants here:
- Marsh (253)
- Morres (92)
- Morris (912)
- Morris-Marsham (27)
- Morrish (13)
- Morriss (15)
- Morrissey (10)
- Morrison (423)
- Morse (105)
The best example for a spooky Morris biography & genealogy is probably Jim Morrison, analyzed in-depth by Miles in his paper on “The Doors”: Officially, Jim Morrison was a counter-culture rebel. But actually, he owed his fame to his top-level insider family: He was the son of Golf of Tonkin commander rear admiral George Stephen Morrison, grand-nephew of WWII admiral John Hoover, cousin to US president Herbert Hoover through their Huber ancestors, and more.
Possible variants in Greek & Latin
In the Greek Septuagint, the name is spelled as Μαρισα Marisa.
And the sons of Chaleb the brother of Jerameel, Marisa his first-born, the father of Ziph, and the sons of Marisa the father of Chebron.
καὶ υἱοὶ Χαλεβ ἀδελφοῦ Ιερεμεηλ· Μαρισα ὁ πρωτότοκος αὐτοῦ, οὗτος πατὴρ Ζιφ· καὶ υἱοὶ Μαρισα πατρὸς Χεβρων.
The name Μάρις Maris appears in Greek myth as a Lykian prince fighting in the Trojan War.
The most famous Roman mrš name is the god Mars. He is universally etymologically linked to Greek Ares and Etruscan Maris. This makes sense, as Semitic mrˀš is simply an M-prefixed rˀš. Ares may thus be the un-prefixed variant.
There are also similar Roman cognomina that may (or may not) be derivations of mrˀš: