Berkhoff (surname)

Berkhof or Berkhoff is a surname from Dutch and German origin. The name falls under the so-called farm names. Such a name served as an address in a time when street names were not commonly used. The name has two meanings. In the Netherlands that is 'birch-farm' or 'birch-farmhouse'. To leave no doubt there would have stood one or more birch tree(s) in the yard. In Germany the name means 'farm on a hill'. The name is here a variant of the surname .
Origin.
Fairly common practice in farm names was that the lessee (tenant) of the farm and his family received the farm name as an addition behind the first name and the patronymic. Primarily, however, was the name connected to the farmhouse and the yard. This meant that a new, succeeding lessee and his family could also become known by the farm name. This way several unrelated families can have their name derived from one and the same farm. Because the lessee and his descendants that had left the farm, often continued in using the farm name by which they had become generally known. In The Netherlands as well as in Northwest-Germany several of these farms-of-origin are known. The oldest known references of these date from the early sixteenth and even one from the end of the fifteenth century.