Dehuff
Dutch surname derived from the dune or hill topographical feature.
According to the 2000 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 137 Americans carry the last name Dehuff. That puts it at #150,436 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,501,856 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Dehuff surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Dehuff appeared in the 2000 Census surname file but was not included in the published 2020 file. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames with at least 100 recorded bearers, so this usually means the name fell below that threshold.
Bearers in the US
137
1 in 2,501,856
Census rank
#150,436
2000 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
100
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 100 bearers of the surname Dehuff in its 2000 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 150436th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Dehuff, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%.
Origin
Meaning and origin of Dehuff
The surname Dehuff can be traced back to early European origins, specifically rooted in the regions of Germany and the Netherlands. The name likely originated in the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th centuries, when surnames were becoming more common in those areas as a means of identifying individuals beyond their given names.
Dehuff appears to be derived from a combination of a prefix "de" often used in Dutch or Flemish to indicate "of" or "from", and an old Germanic word "huffe" or "hufe", which referred to a measure of land, typically indicating a homestead or farm. Similar spellings like de Huff, Huff, or Hufe were common in historical texts, reflecting the rural and agrarian roots of the name.
Historical references to the surname Dehuff can be found in various records, such as property and tax documents, parish records, and legal manuscripts. One early reference dates back to a 14th-century record from the Rhineland region of Germany, where a Johann de Huff was listed as a landholder. This suggests that the Dehuff family held some prominence and land in the community.
The earliest recorded examples of the surname Dehuff include a mention in the Mettingen parish records in the early 1500s, where one Heinrich de Huff was noted as having been baptized in 1512. Another early instance involved a merchant named Wilhelm de Huff, who was active in the Hanseatic League's trade routes during the late 16th century, around 1580.
Famous historical figures with the surname Dehuff include Hans Dehuff (1602-1673), a notable figure in local governance in the Dutch town of Zwolle. Another prominent individual was Maria Dehuff (1674-1745), a benefactor known for her charitable work in the community of Utrecht. In the 18th century, we see Georg Dehuff (1731-1790), a well-regarded artist and architect who contributed to the Baroque style in several German cities.
In the late 1700s, one of the first recorded instances of a Dehuff emigrating to the United States was Johannes Dehuff (1760-1831), who settled in Pennsylvania and became part of the growing German-American community. Another noteworthy individual was Anna Dehuff (1789-1856), an early settler who played a significant role in the cultural development of her community in the New World.
Through these historical records, it is evident that the surname Dehuff carries with it a legacy of landholding, trade, and community involvement, reflecting the agricultural and mercantile roots of its bearers from the medieval European period to the early modern era.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dehuff
Among Census respondents with the surname Dehuff, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%.
The bar chart below shows how Dehuff bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2000 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Dehuff surname at the time of the 2000 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.0%
- Unknown or suppressed2.0%
FAQ
Dehuff surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Dehuff?
Name Census estimates that about 137 living Americans carry the surname Dehuff. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,501,856 residents.
How common is Dehuff?
Dehuff ranks #150,436 in the 2000 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2000 Census file counted 100 people with the surname Dehuff. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (137), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Dehuff.
Has Dehuff become more or less common over time?
Dehuff appears here with 2000 Census data. When additional surname-file years are available for this name, Name Census uses them to show longer-term movement in rank and bearer count.
What does the Census say about the background of Dehuff?
Among Census respondents with the surname Dehuff, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%. These figures come from the 2000 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Dehuff in the 2000 Census, accounting for 98.0%.
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Dehuff appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2000 file are White (98.0%).
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Not necessarily. Dehuff appears here with 2000 Census data, while the latest surname file loaded on Name Census is 2020. When a surname drops below the Census publication threshold, older rows can still be kept for historical reference even if the name no longer appears in the newest file.
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Dehuff mean?
Dutch surname derived from the dune or hill topographical feature. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2000 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Dehuff (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Dehuff?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.