Family name origins & meanings
- English : probably an occupational name for a maker of arrowheads, from an agent derivative of Middle English tippe ‘tip’, ‘head’. On the other hand it may possibly be a bawdy nickname from an agent derivative of Middle English t̄pe(n) ‘to knock over’ (of obscure origin; here with a sexually suggestive sense). The same name has been established in Ireland, in County Kildare, since the beginning of the 14th century.
- German : topographic name from a Westphalian field name, Tippe, of unexplained etymology.