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'''''Wulf''''' ([[Common Germanic]] {{lang|gem-x-proto|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/wulfaz|wulfaz]]}} "[[wolf]]") was one of the most prolific elements in early [[Germanic name]]s. 
It could figure as the first element in [[Germanic dithematic name]], as in ''[[Wulfstan (disambiguation)|Wulfstan]]'', but was especially common especially as the second element, in the form ''-ulf'', ''-olf'' as in  
''[[Cynewulf]]'', ''[[Rudolph (name)|Rudolph]]'', ''[[Ludolf]]'', ''[[Adolf]]'', etc. Förstemann<ref>E. Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' (1856; [https://archive.org/stream/altdeutschesnam00frgoog online facsimile])</ref> explains this as originally motivated by the wolf as an animal sacred to [[Wodanaz]], but notes that the large number of names indicates that the element had become a meaningless suffix of male names at an early time (and was therefore no longer considered a "[[Germanic paganism|pagan]]" element at the time of [[Germanic Christianity|Christianisation]]). Some early missionaries among Germanic folk still used it, like bishop [[Wulfilas]] however his family had been adopted earlier by the [[Goths]]. By the tenth century, there was clearly no pagan connotation left with such names, and saints and bishops bore names such as [[Wulfstan (died 956)|Wulfstan]] or [[Wolfgang of Regensburg|Wolfgang]]). 

Förstemann counts 381 names in ''-ulf'', ''-olf'', among which only four are feminine.

==Hypocorisms==
{{anchor|Offa}}{{anchor|Wuffa}}
The numerous names in ''-wulf, -ulf, -olf'' gave rise to [[hypocorisms]] from an early time, which were later also treated as given names in their own right. Among such names are the Anglo-Saxon ''Offa'',  ''Yffe'', ''Uffa'', ''Wuffa''. Corresponding continental forms are ''Uffo, Uffi''. The name of the ancient tribe of the [[Ubii]] may also be related.<ref>K. Müllenhoff, Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum und deutsche Literatur  9 (1853), 130f.</ref><ref>Finn Magnusen, 'A dissertation on the Ruthwell Obelisk and the Anglo-Saxon runes' in: Report addressed by the Royal society of northern antiquaries to its British and American members, Kongelige Nordiske oldskriftselskab (Denmark), trans.  George Gordon Macdougal, John M'Caul,  1836, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mdARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA148 p. 148]</ref>

[[Offa of Angel]] is a legendary [[king of the Angles]] recorded in the 9th-century [[Anglo-Saxon genealogies|genealogical tradition]] of the  ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]''. Most of this tradition is spurious, but in the case of Offa, a case for possible historicity of a 5th-century figure has been made because of a matching account by [[Saxo Grammaticus]]. [[Offa of Essex]] and [[Offa of Mercia]] are two historical  Anglo-Saxon kings. Offa of Mercia is said to have had been named Winfreth originally, and to have been the son of an ealdorman named Tingfrith. Because he miraculously recovered from a state of lameness and blindness as a child, he was called "the second Offa", after Offa of Angel, whose legend states that he underwent a similar recovery.<ref>Johann Martin Lappenberg, trans.  	Benjamin Thorpe, ''A History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings: From earliest times to 800'',   1845, p. 227.</ref>

[[Wuffa]] is recorded as an early kings of the East Angles, eponymous of the [[Wuffingas]] dynasty.

The Scandinavian form is ''[[Ulf]]'', e.g. [[Ulf the Earl]] (d. 1026).
The ''ylva'' in the name of [[Ingrid Ylva]] (13th century) is presumably an epithet and not a hypocorism of a dithematic name (i.e. "Ingrid the she-wolf").

==Surname==
{{further|De Wolf|Volf||Wolf (name)|Wolfe (surname)|Wolff|Woolf (surname)|Wulff (disambiguation)}}
The surname Wulf (and variants) is a typical example of a [[Surname#Given_name|surname derived from a given name]], often a [[patronymic]] in origin. These names by their nature can occur repeatedly and independently just based on the prevalence of the given name from which it is derived.
[[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] variants include  Wolfes, Woolf, Woolfe, Woulf, Wulff, Woof, Wooff, etc.

Early instances of this surname in Germany include one Tyle Wulf who lived in [[Treuenbrietzen]] in 1375 ({{lang|de|Archiv for Sippenforschung und alle verwandten Gebiete}}) and one Nivelung Wolf who was a citizen of [[Cologne, Germany|Cologne]]  in 1135 ({{lang|de|Kolner Schreinsurkunden}}).

Other people with the surname include:
*[[Andrea Wulf]] (born 1972), English biographer
*[[Berthold Wulf]] (1926–2012), German priest, poet and philosopher
*[[Christoph Wulf]] (born 1944), German anthropologist
*[[Georg Wulf]] (1895–1927), German aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer
*[[Hermann Wulf]] (1915-1990), German World War II officer and post-war Generalmajor
*[[Joseph Wulf]] (1912–1974), German-Polish-Jewish historian and Holocaust survivor
*[[Mareike Wulf]] (born 1979), German politician
*[[Marie Wulf]] (1685–1738), Danish pietist preacher
*[[Maurice De Wulf]] (1867–1947), Belgian philosopher and professor
*[[Oliver Reynolds Wulf|Oliver R. Wolf]] (1897–1987), American chemist, physicist, and meteorologist
*[[Rudi Wulf]] (born 1984), New Zealand rugby union player
*[[Rudolf Wulf]] (1905–1972), German Generalmajor during World War II
*[[Steve Wulf]] (born 1950), American sports writer and editor
*[[Theodor Wulf]] (1868–1946), German physicist and Jesuit priest
*[[William Wulf]] (born 1939), American computer scientist
*[[Vincent Wulf]] (born 1973), French rugby league footballer

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Franz Stark, ''Die Kosenamen der Germanen: eine Studie'', 1868, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MOtIAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA23  p. 23].

==See also==
*[[Wuffingas]]
*[[Wulfing]]
*[[Wolves in Germanic mythology]]

{{surname}}

{{wolf-surname}}

[[Category:Names of Germanic origin]]