German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): descriptive epithet for a wise
person or counselor, from Middle High German rat ‘counsel’,
‘advice’, German Rat ‘counsel’, ‘advice’, also ‘stock’,
‘supply’.
German (also Swiss Räth): from a
short form of any of the various Germanic compound personal names
formed with rad, rat ‘counsel’, ‘advice’ as the
first element.
German (Rhineland): habitational name from any of
various places called Rath, which derives from Middle Low German
roden, raden ‘to clear land for cultivation’.
Irish: in some cases a habitational name from a place called Rath;
in County Derry it is a reduced form of McIlwraith (see
McIlrath).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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