Huff History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Etymology of Huff

What does the name Huff mean?

The ancestors of the name Huff date back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from their residence near a hill or steep ridge of land. The surname Huff is usually derived from the Old English word hoh, which means heel or projecting ridge of land. However, it is sometimes derived from the Old Norse word haugr, which means mound or hill. Furthermore, the name Huff may be derived from residence in one of a variety of similarly named places: Hoe is in Norfolk, Hoo is in Kent, places called Hooe are in Devon and Sussex, Hose is in Leicestershire, places named Heugh are in Durham and Northumberland, and settlements called Hough are found in both Cheshire and Derby.

Early Origins of the Huff family

The surname Huff was first found in Cheshire at Hough, a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East which dates back to the 13th century when it was first listed as Hohc. 1 2 3

Dusting off some centuries-old records we found, Wilielmus de Huff, registered in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 4

The name is “especially common in Bedfordshire and Northants, fairly so in Suffolk, Essex, Herts and Bucks, and very common in Northumberland and Durham. The nominative singular gives Hough, in Scotland and Northern England Heugh.” 5

Huff Spelling Variations

Huff has been spelled many different ways. Before English spelling became standardized over the last few hundred years, spelling variations in names were a common occurrence. As the English language changed in the Middle Ages, absorbing pieces of Latin and French, as well as other languages, the spelling of people’s names also changed considerably, even over a single lifetime. Many variations of the name Huff have been found, including Hough, Huff, Houfe, Hoff, Hoffe and others.