Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Arabic and Jewish (Sephardic) : occupational name from Arabic ̣saffār ‘worker in copper or brass’.
  • Muslim : from Arabic ̣Safar, name of the second month of the Islamic calendar. This is sometimes chosen as a personal name for children born in this month.
  • Czech (Šafář); Slovak (Šafár), Croatian, and Slovenian (Šafar); and Hungarian (Sáfár) : status name from Czech šafář, Hungarian sáfár ‘steward’, ‘bailiff’. Compare German Schaffer.

Join the Family

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

Subscribe