Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : occupational name for a servant, from Middle English knave ‘boy’, ‘youth’, ‘servant’.
  • English : possibly a metonymic occupational name for a maker of wheel-hubs, Middle English nave (from Old English nafa, nafu).
  • German (also Näve) : variant of Neff (see Neve).
  • Dutch (de Nave) : variant of Naef 1.
  • In some cases possibly Portuguese : topographic name from nave ‘plain’ (a variant of nava), or a habitational name from a place named with this word. Compare Nava.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe