Jaffe

Jaffe is a surname of Jewish origin. It is commonly traced to the Yiddish given name Yaffe (Yaffe), meaning “beautiful,” and was adopted as a hereditary surname among Ashkenazi communities in Central and Eastern Europe. The name spread with Jewish migration to North America, Israel, and other regions during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Spelling variants arise from transliteration differences and linguistic context. Common forms include Jaffé (with an acute accent, used in some German-speaking contexts), Jaffe, Joffe, Yaffe, and Yaffe. These variants reflect changes in pronunciation and alphabet when the name moved between languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and English.

In contemporary contexts, Jaffe appears as a widely dispersed surname across the Jewish diaspora and beyond. Notable bearers have been recorded in fields such as academia, law, business, literature, and the arts, though individual biographies are treated separately in reference works. Because the name is common and has multiple spellings, it typically functions as a family name rather than a single topic of study.

Origins and distribution of the surname are often explored in genealogical and demographic sources addressing Ashkenazi Jewish surnames. For related surnames and variants, see also Joffe and Yaffe.