Jaffe

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name borne by many individuals, especially people of Jewish descent in Europe and North America
2. A surname shared by numerous people, often of Eastern European or German Jewish origin
3. The family name of various people, used as a personal surname in English-speaking and European communities

Etymology: Jaffe is a surname whose roots lie in Hebrew, where "yafé" means "beautiful" or "comely." The name is a transfer from a language of prayer and scripture into a family label, which is how many Jewish surnames in Europe came to be formed: a Hebrew word that described a quality could end up as the name of a household. The source records only that the name was borrowed from this Hebrew adjective, so the details of how it was first taken up as a family name, and where and when, are not recorded here. What can be said with confidence is that the surname carries the plain sense of its source word: beauty, or a person who was comely. The Hebrew word itself is a common adjective in the Bible and later texts, so the name draws directly on everyday vocabulary rather than on a rare or technical term.