Family name origins & meanings
- Americanized spelling of South German Kiefhaber, probably from Middle High German kifen ‘to gnaw or chew’ + haber ‘oats’ and hence a nickname for a poor person or an oats farmer.
- An alternative etymology has it as a topographic name, from Middle Low German kīf ‘feud’ + haber ‘oats’, denoting an oats field that had been the subject of a dispute.