Family name origins & meanings
- English : of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of northern English Aculf, from an Old Norse personal name Agúlfr ‘terror wolf’.
- Probably also of German origin : an Americanized form of Eckhoff or Eickhoff.
- The name first appears in North America in VA and PA in the early 1700s and later became concentrated in the Appalachian regions of NC and TN. The earliest records of Acuff occur with the personal names Timothy and David, indicating (in PA at least) Episcopal Church membership, thereby implying English origin, although no records of the name have been found in England.