Last name origins & meanings:
- English: from the Middle English personal name Rolf,
composed of the Germanic elements hrōd ‘renown’ +
wulf ‘wolf’. This name was especially popular among Nordic
peoples in the contracted form Hrólfr, and seems to have
reached England by two separate channels; partly through its use among
pre-Conquest Scandinavian settlers, partly through its popularity
among the Normans, who, however, generally used the form Rou(l)
(see Rollo).
- North German: from a personal name, a
contracted form of Rudolf, cognate with 1.
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