Wolf
A surname from the Germanic word for the wolf, often used as a byname or old personal name.
The #474 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,409 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wolf comes from the ancient Germanic word for the animal wolf, found in Old English wulf, Old Norse ulfr, Old High German wolf, and related forms across the Germanic languages. As a surname, it could begin as a nickname for someone thought fierce, bold, or wolf-like, or as a shortened survival of an old personal name built with Wolf- as its first element. Some early writers also linked such names to older pagan naming habits, where animal names were common.
History
Medieval English and German records show Wolf both as a nickname-style byname and as a continuation of older compound personal names such as those ending in -wulf. In English-speaking areas it could also develop independently from the animal term itself, while in continental Europe it is especially common as a German and Jewish surname. The name is widespread today because the wolf word and the personal-name element were both long-lived across northern Europe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The wolf was one of the favorite animal elements in old Germanic personal names, appearing in names like Æthelwulf and Rudolf.
From the historical record
“Cp. Waud. WOLF 1 the anc. Teut. animal-name [O.E. WOLFE J wulf = O.Sax. wulf = O.H.Ger. wolf = L.Ger. (incl. the Anglian dialect spoken between Schle.'^wig and Flens- burg) wulf = Dut. and Fris. wolf = Goth. wulf-s = O.N. ulf-r]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)