Neff Surname

13,179th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 42,513 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Liechtenstein

Neff Surname Definition:

(German) A nephew.

Read More About This Surname

Neff Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States31,2331:11,6051,448
Germany6,2461:12,8891,668
Switzerland1,5311:5,364812
France1,0631:62,4868,539
Canada7291:50,5436,124
South Africa3561:152,18517,237
Austria2561:33,2635,353
Russia2061:699,62659,491
Spain1091:428,91822,835
Portugal941:110,8325,195
Ireland671:70,2834,402
Australia591:457,55435,515
Thailand531:1,332,799187,598
Kazakhstan521:340,04827,669
Brazil441:4,865,326126,089
England391:1,428,66862,556
Dominican Republic391:267,5119,432
Hungary301:327,20924,029
Paraguay281:258,4554,403
Poland261:1,461,87585,446
Singapore211:262,27211,611
Estonia191:69,56912,771
Ukraine151:3,034,846176,305
Croatia121:352,38432,084
Liechtenstein121:3,198355
New Zealand121:377,36028,765
Czechia111:966,67976,885
Philippines111:9,203,475207,772
Belarus111:863,73365,346
Argentina111:3,885,765145,016
Mexico91:13,791,80145,470
Chile81:2,202,05930,910
Netherlands81:2,110,89788,902
Iceland71:54,2993,881
Sweden61:1,641,126116,183
Scotland51:1,070,76331,189
Costa Rica51:956,0146,058
Finland41:1,374,17650,379
Ecuador41:3,976,46228,589
United Arab Emirates41:2,290,56860,372
Peru31:10,594,70845,902
South Korea31:17,080,0852,793
Japan31:42,614,76459,022
Norway21:2,571,14395,402
Namibia21:1,204,70016,113
Northern Ireland21:922,51818,701
Algeria21:19,315,77697,017
Luxembourg21:290,2718,611
Italy21:30,578,344160,757
Denmark21:2,822,35876,882
India21:383,532,6911,645,216
Bahamas21:195,8761,708
Belgium21:5,748,322130,559
Bosnia and Herzegovina21:1,768,20116,841
Turkey11:77,821,422191,047
Bulgaria11:6,978,90586,260
Brunei11:418,7313,893
Sudan11:37,510,19514,259
Bolivia11:10,616,43417,077
Taiwan11:23,444,74693,622
Bermuda11:65,2793,010
Tunisia11:610,62630,336
Afghanistan11:32,153,18360,828
Armenia11:2,930,18022,770
Venezuela11:30,204,07785,459
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
Colombia11:47,774,07244,230
Cyprus11:884,87613,055
Egypt11:91,935,754132,737
Romania11:20,077,87089,414
Puerto Rico11:3,550,1399,109
Greece11:11,079,790145,225
Grenada11:108,5351,793
Guam11:160,1214,893
Honduras11:8,816,4429,272
Hong Kong11:7,335,48316,643
Pakistan11:178,643,885213,220
Nicaragua11:6,021,0908,768
Israel11:8,557,634182,558
Montenegro11:639,5659,092
Moldova11:3,561,36878,271
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland111:402,71514,385
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States7,4531:6,738850

Neff (262) may also be a first name.

Neff Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(German) A nephew.

Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

French, Naif, artless, candid. Nef, a water—mill; the nave of a church.

An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names (1857) by William Arthur

User-submitted Reference

The Family name Neff has its origin in Switzerland, in the Kanton (state) of Appenzell.

There are 4 different ways to write the name: Neff, Näf, Nef and Naef.

Originally it was most likely one tribe but after the reformation by Zwingli, they separated:

- the ones who write their name "Neff" and "Näf" are usually Roman Catholic and life in Appenzell Innerroden

- the form "Nef" and "Naef" is common in Appenzell Ausserroden and this people are usually reformed Christians who followed Zwingli

- in Zwinglis home town/state, Zürich (Switzerland), there are also families writing their name "Naef"

My family name "Nef" is very common in Appenzell Ausserroden and specifically in a little town called Urnäsch, of which I'm citizen (Swiss people have a triple citizenship: the country, the state and the place of which their family is originally coming from.

As Switzerland was a "poor house" until approx. 20th century (in late 19th century the country suffered a hunger crisis) a lot of people migrated: to various European countries, Russia, the US (founded cities like e.g. New Bern (NC), New Glarus (WI) etc.) and Latin America (Nouva Friburgo in Brazil).

Lots of people migrated to Germany (similar culture & language, neighbor countries) and were known as "Schweizer" (Swiss). They were mainly active in farming, a "Schweizer" was a guy hired by German farmers to milk the cows on the farm. As those guys stayed, the Family name also became more common in their new home countries. But no where in the world the popularity of the Family name reached the level of Switzerland, especially the state of Appenzell.

- hansruedi.nef

Neff Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Neff Come From? nationality or country of origin

Neff (Russian: Нефф) is more frequently found in The United States than any other country/territory. It may appear in the variant forms:. Click here for other possible spellings of Neff.

How Common Is The Last Name Neff? popularity and diffusion

Neff is the 13,179th most widespread family name internationally, held by approximately 1 in 171,419 people. Neff is primarily found in The Americas, where 61 percent of Neff are found; 60 percent are found in North America and 60 percent are found in Anglo-North America. Neff is also the 549,774th most commonly occurring first name internationally, held by 262 people.

Neff is most commonly held in The United States, where it is held by 31,233 people, or 1 in 11,605. In The United States Neff is primarily found in: Ohio, where 11 percent live, California, where 8 percent live and Texas, where 5 percent live. Outside of The United States Neff exists in 80 countries. It is also found in Germany, where 15 percent live and Switzerland, where 4 percent live.

Neff Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Neff has changed over time. In The United States the share of the population with the surname grew 419 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in Ireland it grew 609 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Neff Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the surname is principally Catholic (100%) in Ireland and Orthodox (86%) in Russia.

In The United States those bearing the Neff last name are 19.2% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than the national average, with 65.97% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Neff earn in different countries varies greatly. In Peru they earn 193.72% more than the national average, earning S/. 56,938 per year; in South Africa they earn 4.42% more than the national average, earning R 248,148 per year; in United States they earn 2.31% more than the national average, earning $44,144 USD per year and in Canada they earn 0.6% less than the national average, earning $49,384 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Neffe89549/
Neiff89428/
Neeff89356/
Neuff8925/
Neffs894/
Hneff891/
Neyff891/
Nejff891/
Nieff891/
Neaff890/
Newff890/
Nef862,839/
Gneffe8054/
Neeffs8041/
Neiffe8018/
Neddff801/
Hneeff801/
Neef755,845/
Neft75724/
Nief75554/
Nefs75391/
Neuf75348/
Nehf75253/
Neif75246/
Nefe75217/
Nepf75162/
Neaf75116/
Näff7561/
Niff7521/
Nesf7514/
Nhef7511/
Ngef7510/
Neyf753/
Nefh752/
Newf751/
Nyff751/
Nnef751/
Neffová7317/
Neefs671,766/
Neefe67383/
Neeft67274/
Hneef67216/
Naiff67214/
Neife67158/
Gnepf67121/
Niffe6716/
Hneif6714/
Nheef678/
Neift677/
Neefh673/
Nayff672/
Nedft672/
Neshf672/
Neuhf672/
Nyoff671/
Hneaf671/
Neesf671/
Nefsj671/
Nezfe671/
Neftd671/
Nettf671/
Nhefe671/
Gnefe671/
Ñeffe671/
Neyfe671/
Niffs670/
Neifs670/

Neff Name Transliterations

TransliterationICU LatinPercentage of Incidence
Neff in the Russian language
Неффneff-

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Neff Reference & Research

NEFF NAVE NAFF FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Neff
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis