Cuff Family History

English: metonymic occupational name for a maker and seller of gloves or a nickname for a wearer of particularly fine gloves, from Middle English cuffe ‘glove’ (of uncertain origin; attested in this sense from the 14th century, with the modern meaning first in the 16th century). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhuibh, a variant of Mac Duibh ‘son of the black one’ (see Duff). Irish: approximate translation of Gaelic Ó Doirnín (see Dornan). Cornish: nickname from Cornish cuf ‘dear’, ‘kind’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press