Lasker is a surname with multiple origins. The most commonly cited origin is Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic), derived as a variant of the surnames Lask or Laski combined with the Yiddish suffix -er, denoting an inhabitant of a place. The root Lask / Laski itself is of Polish origin (Łaski), a habitational name for someone from Łask (formerly Łasko) in Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, named from łaz / łazy meaning "clearing in a forest." Some sources also suggest a possible German topographic origin from the Middle High German word lāsche, referring to a forest clearing.
Geographic Distribution: According to surname frequency data, the surname Lasker is most prevalent in Bangladesh, followed by the United States, India, and Israel. In the United States, the 2010 Census recorded approximately 1,084 individuals with the surname, ranking it 23,457th in popularity. The surname is also found in the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other countries.
Notable individuals bearing the surname Lasker include:
- Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941), German chess player, World Chess Champion from 1894 to 1921, and mathematician.
- Albert Lasker (1880–1952), American advertising executive and philanthropist; namesake of the Lasker Awards for medical research.
- Mary Lasker (1900–1994), American health activist and philanthropist; wife of Albert Lasker.
- Eduard Lasker (1829–1884), German politician and jurist, a leading figure in the National Liberal Party.
- Edward Lasker (1885–1981), German-American chess and Go player, and engineer.
- Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), German Jewish poet and playwright.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 1925), German-British cellist and Holocaust survivor.
- Morris E. Lasker (1917–2009), United States federal judge.
- Lawrence Lasker (born 1949), American screenwriter and film producer.
- Jonathan Lasker (born 1948), American painter.
- Reuben Lasker (1929–1988), American fisheries scientist.
- Gabriel Lasker (1912–2002), American physical anthropologist.
- Daniel J. Lasker (born 1949), American-born Israeli scholar of Jewish philosophy.
Related surnames: Lask, Laski, Lasky, Laske, Laskey, Laskin.
