Rolfe (surname)

The unusual English surname Rolfe derives ultimately from the Old Scandinavian and Germanic pre 5th century personal name "Hrodwulf". This was composed of the elements "hrod", meaning "renown", and "wulf", a wolf. In Norse the contracted form was "Hrolfr", in Danish and Swedish "Rolf", and it is said that these personal names reached England first through their popularity with Scandinavian settlers before the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Normans thereafter introduced their own form of the name, generally found as "Rou" or "Roul" and often Latinised as "Rollo".