Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : topographic name for someone who lived at, worked on, or managed a farm, from Middle High German hof ‘farmstead’, ‘manor farm’, ‘court’ + the agent suffix -er. Compare Hoffmann.

Subscribe to Family Education

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe