In their dictionary "Etymologisches Lexikon der juedischen Familiennamen",
E. and H. Guggenheimer write about two sources of this name. When used by
Ashkenazic Jews, the forms TOFF (found in Italy) and Touff are a variation of the
name Tov / Tow, which is derived >from Hebrew tov = good. The Arabic tawwaf =
obedient servant (in modern Arabic wanderer, emigrant) became Toaff or Toef
in Sephardic usage.

One source for the authors is the book "Who's Who in World Jewry".

Gerhard Buck, Idstein, Germany >buckidstein@aol.com<