Find out how popular the last name Haff is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Haff.

Haff, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Haff surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Haff in America

Haff is the 22573rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Haff surname appeared 1,138 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Haff.

We can also compare 2010 data for Haff to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Haff

The surname Haff has its origins in the German language and can be traced back to the medieval period. It is believed to have originated in the regions of northern Germany, particularly in the areas bordering the Baltic Sea. The name is likely derived from the Old German word "haff," which referred to a shallow coastal inlet or lagoon.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Haff can be found in the Pomeranian Duchy records of the 14th century. These records mention individuals with variations of the name, such as Haffe and Haffen, residing in coastal towns and villages along the Baltic Sea.

In the 16th century, the name Haff appears in various municipal registers and church records in the Hanseatic cities of northern Germany. Notable individuals from this period include Johann Haff, a merchant from Lübeck who lived from 1512 to 1587, and Margarethe Haff, a landowner from Rostock, born in 1543.

During the 17th century, the name Haff spread to other parts of Germany and neighboring regions. In 1622, a man named Hans Haff was recorded as a resident of the town of Königsberg, now known as Kaliningrad, Russia. Additionally, the Haff surname appeared in the records of the Duchy of Pomerania in the late 1600s.

As the Haff family dispersed throughout Germany and beyond, various place names and regional variations of the surname emerged. For instance, in the 18th century, the name Hafft was documented in the Swabian region of southwestern Germany, while the spelling Haf was found in the Rhineland area.

Prominent individuals with the surname Haff include Johann Friedrich Haff (1755-1832), a German theologian and author from Saxony, and Karl Ludwig Haff (1801-1872), a Prussian military officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars.

Other notable figures bearing the Haff surname include the German painter Wilhelm Haff (1839-1913), known for his landscape and genre paintings, and the American physicist Donald R. Haff (1924-2021), who made significant contributions to the field of plasma physics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Haff

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Haff.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Haff was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Haff has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Haff was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Haff, please contact us.

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