I still wish to know the origins of the surname Laff?

Question

susan moran

Answer 1

There isn't any real way for you to learn the origins of your own family other than to research the name back over generations.

Answer 2

Susan... there might not BE any legitimate or provable origins to find. You are far more likely to be able to find legitimate origins for an individual person, than a surname.
An example for you to consider is one of my lines, which is Fullingim. With solid research, I learned that the name is not the original.. Henry's father was actually Fillingim... and HIS ancestry worked back to Fillingham. So the origin of Fullingim? Some county clerk in Alabama in the 1850's who took his best guess at the "right" spelling, and it went from there.
Many new researchers have this concept that "somewhere" there was "one" Laff, who is the ancestor of everyone with that name. Unfortunately, that concept is a generalization, and not consistent with facts.

Answer 3

Its either Irish or English in origin, probably. It must be a very rare name. The nearest matches i can find to it are these:

http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/NameSelection.aspx?name=LAFF&year=1881&altyear=1998&country=GB&type=name

Answer 4

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
doesn't have it in
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Neither does
http://www.houseofnames.com/
which sells "Family" coats of arms.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
is down this morning. When it comes up you could look to see where the LAFFs came from. Make sure you check "Exact Spelling".

Answer 5

google search - surname origin - or Laff family history - then look up every web page listed. that's what doing your research is all about.

Answer 6

Gosh that sounds fun