Frequency: (201)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. North German: variant of Haff.
2. South German: metonymic occupational name for a potter, from Middle High German hafen ‘pot’.
3. Swedish: topographic name, an altered spelling of hav ‘sea’, ‘ocean’, or an adoption of the North German name (see 1 above).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
