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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : nickname for a violent, aggressive person, from Middle High German buf ‘push’, ‘shove’.
  • German : from the Old German personal name Bodo or the compound name Bodefrit, containing the Old High German element buitan ‘to bid or order’ or boto ‘messenger’.
  • English : of uncertain derivation; possibly a nickname, either variant of Boff 1, or alternatively from Old French buf(f)e ‘blow’, ‘slap in the face’. Compare Buffin.

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