Dreyfus Family History

Jewish (western Ashkenazic): habitational name from Trevis, an old name of the city of Trier on the Mosel, known in French as Trèves; both the French and German names come from Latin Augusta Treverorum ‘city of Augustus among the Treveri’, a Celtic tribal name of uncertain origin. The form of the surname has been altered from Trevis by folk etymological association with modern German Dreifuss ‘tripod’. Compare Trier.

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