Family name origins & meanings
- Respelling of German Backofer, a topographic name for a person living next to the village baking oven or a metonymic occupational name for a baker, from back(en) ‘to bake’ + ofen + the suffix -er denoting an occupation. Alternatively, though less likely, it could be from Bockhof(f)er, a habitational name for someone from Bockhop near Vechta.