Kaufman
A German surname meaning “merchant” or “trader.”
The #1,007 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,861 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kaufman is from German kauf, meaning “purchase” or “buying,” plus Mann, “man.” In origin it named a merchant, trader, or someone engaged in buying and selling. The form is closely related to the modern German word Kaufmann, “merchant.”
History
The surname arose independently in German-speaking areas as an occupational name and later spread with German migration to other countries, especially in North America. Anglicized spellings such as Kaufman and Kauffman became common in immigrant records and census lists. The name is widespread enough in the United States today to be familiar in Jewish, German, and broader Ashkenazi-German surname traditions, though it is not exclusively Jewish.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname dictionaries often glossed Kaufman very simply as “merchant, trader,” reflecting how transparent the word still was in German.
From the historical record
“KAUFMAN. (Ger.) A merchant, a trader. KAVANAGH. (Celtic or Gaelic.) Coamhanach, mild, be- nevolent, merciful ; a friend, a companion. Mr. John O'Donovan says, that Donnell Cavanagh was so called from having been fostered by the Coarb of St. Cavan, at Kilcavan, in the present county of Wexford, Ireland. KAY. Local…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names