Family name origins & meanings
- French and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : perhaps, as Morlet suggests, a derivative of Hebrew chalfi (Aramaic halphaï) meaning ‘God has replaced (a dead child)’, or from Hebrew chalfon ‘money changer’.
- French and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : Alternatively, it could be a habitational name for someone from Heilbronn (see Halpern).