This most interesting and unusual name derives from "Ulph" which itself has two distinct possible origins. Firstly it may come from the Old Norse, Old Danish and Old Swedish personal names "Ulfr" and "Ulf", meaning "wolf". The second possibility is that the name may be of English locational origin from "Uoph", the name of a parish in the diocese of Norwich. The personal name, which was given to people with the attributes of the wolf, which were much respected by the Anglo-Saxon. Viking and Norman invaders, was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1066, as "Vif", "Ulfus" and "Olf(us)", while the surname itself first appears in records in the late 12th Century (see below). The London Church Registers first record the surname on August 24th 1662 when Thomas Uffe married Mary Robbins at St. Bartholomew the less. On June 23rd, 1695 one Anne Uff married a John Wayt at St. James, Duke Place, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Vif, which was dated 1166, The Pipe Rolls of the County of Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry 11, the "Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1184. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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