The Schloss family were originally named Schochet (kosher butcher) or Parnes (community leader). They originally came from the Rhineland, and lived in the Judengasse from about 1550. For nearly 200 years they lived in the Schlüssel, but their real family house was the adjoining Schloss, from which the family took its name. At the beginning of the 18th century there were four distinct branches of the family living in various houses in the Judengasse. A number of members of the family worked as kosher butchers and took the Hebrew word shochet as their name. Others held office as rabbinic judges; others were merchants and brokers.