Woolf
A surname usually meaning “wolf,” with some later bearers connected to Continental Germanic spelling forms.
The #7,426 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,840 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally treated as a spelling variant of Woolf, ultimately from the Germanic word for “wolf.” In medieval English records, forms like Wulf, Wolf, Wolff, Woolf, and Woof could all represent the same basic name. Some 19th-century sources also note that a number of Woolf/Woolfe families in London were of relatively recent Continental origin, which helps explain the German-looking spelling.
History
The name belongs to a wider family of surnames formed from the word for wolf, often used as a nickname or inherited personal name. In England it appears in several spelling forms over time, and later immigration from the Continent reinforced spellings such as Woolf and Wolff. Because spelling was fluid, Woof is often just a simplified or assimilated form of the same surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname dictionaries explicitly treat Woof as an assimilated or altered form of Woolf/Wolf rather than a separate origin.
From the historical record
“WOOLEY: V. Wool ley. WOOLF \ = Wolf(e, q,v. But most of the WOOLFE J Woolf(e)s in the London Directory are of more or less recent .Continental origin. WOOLFALL (Eng.) Bel. to Woolfall (Lane). 14th cent. Wolffal, Wolfall, 13th cent. Wolfal, Wulfhal = the Wolf-CqrjNEr or”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)