The earliest people recorded with this name appear to be from southern Germany.
Other suggested sources have included a sharp strike (hit), a beard, the crust of a loaf of bread, or a small hill.
Known descendant variants of the name include Knaus, Knauß, Knous, Knause, Knouse, Kanouse, Kenouse, and Canouse.
It is possible that variant names without the initial "K" are descended from this line, but no evidence to this has been discovered yet.
A Slovene variant of that German name Knauss is Knavs and Knau´vs "On Surnames Knavs and Knaus".. Melania Trump germanised her name from "Melanija Knavs" to "Melania Knauss" as part of her modeling career.