# Neff (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/neff/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 22,764 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,577 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 13,563 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.1% (22,509 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /nɛf/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a German, Alemannic German and Jewish surname, from the noun Neffe (“nephew”). * Americanized variant of Naff. * As a Dutch surname, variant of Neve, related to the nephew sense above. * As an Irish surname, shortened from McNeff, McNiff.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Neff in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Neff in the United States and Austria.

## People named Neff

- Lucas Neff, American actor
- Wolfgang Neff, Austrian film director (1875–1939)
- Pat Morris Neff, American politician (1871-1952)
- Dorothea Neff, Austrian actress (1903–1986)
- John Neff, American investor (1931-2019)

## Similar surnames

Nava, Newby, Nave, Novoa, Nova, Nappi, Neve, Novy, Nephew, Niehoff, Novo, Neave.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.