Lazer

Lazer is a Yiddish form associated with the Hebrew name Eleazar, meaning God has helped, and with the closely related Lazar family. Short forms of Hebrew names have a long place in Yiddish-speaking Jewish communities, allowing a name used in religious or family records to take a familiar everyday shape. Lazer belongs within that tradition.

The related name Eliezer means my God is help, so family histories can connect similar short forms to slightly different full Hebrew names. That distinction is useful when a child is being named for a relative: the family's own records may identify which longer name was intended. Lazer itself has an established personal-name background, even though its spelling may remind an English reader of the modern word laser.