Family name origins & meanings
- German : distinguishing epithet for the owner or tenant of a new farm or manor, standardized from Middle Low German nie ‘new’ + hof ‘farmstead’, ‘manor farm’ or a habitational name from any of several places so named, for example in Saxony and Thuringia. Compare Niehoff.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Neuhof ‘new yard’.