[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Name variations etc.

[GVLESS at aol.com]

Since everyone is now discussing the variations of names and origins I  would 
like to know if anyone can clarify for me the LESS name.  My husband  and 
other family members have always thought that perhaps this was a shortened  
version of a name, sometimes thought it must be Jewish (which the family insists  
is not as my husband's father spoke platdeutsch), and of course where in Poland 
 may this family have been before they moved into Volhynia.
Some researchers in past have said they have found the name in Polish  church 
microfilms in villages northwest of Warsaw.  We estimate the  migration of 
husband's grandparents into Volhynia about 1875 or so.   (Birthdates of an uncle 
and husband's father in St. Pete films put them there  about  this time.  We 
have tried variations in immigration research in  the spelling of name like 
Lass, Loes, Loesch.  The Ellis Island  immigration lists do show about 85 Less 
names.  But no listing though  yet for my husband's father who arrived in 1903 
as an 18 yr. old. And  Ancestry insists the Less name is Jewish when in 
contact with them.  
 
I intend to do more research after I move into a retirement facility early  
this summer but since this discussion on variations of names is being discussed 
 now I thought I'd ask something at this time about the Less name.  
 
Is this name still around in Germany is another question I have had.  
 
An off-again-on-again researcher, Virginia Less